RIDE88 Blogs
Benefits of the RIDE88 Mini Ramp Accessory
Using a Mini Ramp for your RIDE88 QR3 truck bed bike rack takes the edge off and streamlines loading your bike. Your browser does not support the video tag. Here's the story: The creator of RIDE88 had a great idea when trying to secure his new E-bike onto the rack. Realizing the need for a more efficient process, he envisioned an accessory to make loading the bike easier. He concluded that the mini ramp was a great addition to the bike rack for heavy bike users. Loading heavy Bikes Can Be Difficult If you frequently load heavy E-bikes in your truck you're likely seeking the easiest method to load and unload. Bike weight: E-bikes can easily reach 70Lbs or more. Lifting or pushing this weight takes a bit of effort, anything you can do to ease the process is likely a welcomed addition. limited space: Modern short bed trucks have limited runway. There is limited space to gain momentum to get your bike over the wheel chock and into the rack. This can add to the stress of frequent loading and unloading; that's where the Mini Ramp can help. How the Mini Ramp Makes a Difference Our mini ramp attaches securely to your existing bike rack, creating a gentle slope that guides your bike tire into the rack. This design offers several benefits: Reduces lifting effort: Instead of lifting the tire, you roll it up the ramp, using little momentum. Improves stability: The ramp keeps the bike steady as you load it, reducing wobbling or tipping. Saves time: The smooth incline speeds up the loading process, especially when handling multiple bikes. More loading options: With the Mini Ramp in place, you can easily load bikes from outside of your truck bed. Guide your bike inside the bed while walking along outside, let the ramp glide the tire into the rack station. Lock it down and you are loaded up! This method is ideal for many people, as long as your truck isn't too tall to reach, it works great! At RIDE88, our primary aim is to ensure that you enjoy exceptional and memorable experiences every time you ride. We understand that cycling is not just a mode of transportation; it is a passion, a lifestyle, and an opportunity to explore the great outdoors. Our commitment is to enhance your journey through every step of the process!
Learn more
Prevent Tailgate Bounce: Why RIDE88’s Tailgate Boss Is a Must-Have Truck Accessory
Looking for a smarter way to manage your truck’s tailgate when hauling oversized cargo? RIDE88’s Tailgate Boss and Tailgate Boss Pro are rugged, easy-to-install solutions that keep your tailgate secure and stable—whether it’s fully down or partially open. Built for compatibility with most American trucks and designed to work seamlessly with RIDE88’s back rack system, these tailgate supports are must-haves for any serious hauler.
Learn more
7 Benefits of Using a Truck Bed Bike Rack for Your Outdoor Adventures
Considering upgrading your bike transport solution? Explore seven key advantages of using a truck bed bike rack—like increased security, hassle-free accessibility, and better fuel economy—perfect for every cyclist and outdoor enthusiast.
Learn more
The Best Truck Bike Rack for DECKED Systems
For truck owners with a DECKED® drawer system, finding a secure, easy-to-use bike rack has always been a challenge. Most options either compromise stability, require permanent modifications, or simply don't offer the convenience needed for regular use. The RIDE88 QR3 bike rack is the best solution available, with an option designed for DECKED users. With a seamless, drill-free installation, it integrates perfectly with your DECKED system while keeping your bikes secure and your storage fully functional. No Drilling, No Hassle For truck owners with a DECKED® drawer system, finding a secure, easy-to-use bike rack has always been a challenge. Most options either compromise stability, require permanent modifications, or simply don't offer the convenience needed for regular use. The RIDE88 QR3 bike rack is the best solution available, with an option designed for DECKED users. With a seamless, drill-free installation, it integrates perfectly with your DECKED system while keeping your bikes secure and your storage fully functional. Custom-Tailored Mounting Kit for DECKED Drawers The QR3 system includes precision-engineered parts and brackets specifically designed to mount to the DECKED drawer system. This guarantees a rock-solid connection between your bike rack and the DECKED system, eliminating any unnecessary movement during transit and keeping your bikes stable. Durable, Weather-Resistant Build For Long-Lasting Performance Durability and reliability are at the core of the QR3 bike rack. Every component is made from high-quality materials for longevity and resistance to the elements: QR3 Racks: Electro-treated and powder-coated for superior corrosion resistance. Heavy-Duty Mounting Kit: Made from 1/8-inch thick carbon steel, powder-coated for maximum durability. No Wheel Removal - Quick and Easy Bike Access Unlike other bike racks that require removing your front wheel, the QR3 securely holds your bike with both tires attached. This saves time and hassle, ensuring you can load and unload quickly without dealing with loose wheels or extra storage concerns. How to Mount Your Bike in a DECKED System - Exploring Other Truck Bike Rack Options Some DECKED users attempt alternative mounting solutions, but they often fall short in security, convenience, and ease of use: DIY Clamps and Brackets: Custom brackets and clamping solutions lack the secure hold and durability of a dedicated bike rack like the QR3. Fork-Mounted Racks: These require removing the front wheel, creating storage challenges and adding time to the loading/unloading process. Hitch-Mounted Bike Racks: While hitch racks may seem convenient, they come with notable drawbacks. They extend the length of your vehicle, making parking and maneuvering more difficult. Additionally, they block access to your tailgate and DECKED drawers, reducing the overall usability of your truck bed. Hitch racks can also interfere with towing and add unnecessary weight, making them a less ideal option for DECKED system users. The QR3 bike rack is the best choice for DECKED users, offering a secure, non-intrusive, and highly efficient way to transport bikes without compromising storage space. Effortless, Convenience, First on the Trail, First Out of the Parking Lot The RIDE88 QR3 bike rack is the fastest and easiest way to load and unload your bike with a DECKED system. Thanks to its quick-release system, you can secure or remove your bike in seconds. Whether you're heading out for a ride or packing up after a long day on the trails, the QR3 ensures you're always the first on the trail and first out of the parking lot. Upgrade Your DECKED System With the Best Bike Rack The RIDE88 QR3 bike rack system is designed with convenience, durability, and full DECKED compatibility in mind. Whether you're an avid mountain biker, road cyclist, or weekend adventurer, this system guarantees safe, secure, and hassle-free bike transportation while keeping your DECKED storage fully accessible. Upgrade your DECKED system today with the QR3 bike rack from RIDE88—the ultimate bike transport solution for DECKED drawer system users.
Learn more
5 ways RIDE88 Beats the Competition in Truck Bike Racks
See 5 simple reasons why RIDE88 makes better truck bike racks. Built to last, easy to use, and perfect for your next ride.
Learn more
Creating the Ultimate Bike Rack (and More)
It all began with a new bike, a new truck, and a frustrating search trying to find a truck bed bike rack that could transport our mountain bikes securely without the hassle of always removing the front wheels, needing cumbersome tie-downs, or loading in a way that would damage the bike paint and forks or the truck (such as using a tailgate pad). From our original homemade design, to the Rev 2, we finally developed the patented QR3 (Quick Release 3) While the basic design of the QR3 remains the same, we are constantly seeking ways to improve our design, how to get our racks into EVERY make of truck, including the Rivian, Honda Ridgeline, Hyundai Santa Cruz, and all the old classics. Since we are still a small, family owned company, we are able to converse directly with our customers, and if we don’t have what you need, we look to find a solution. This is why our racks have been adapted to work in vans, trailers and with decked systems. And we are constantly working to find the next solution. We’ve also developed a number of accessories intended to make your ride even easier, such as the Tailgate Boss, built to stop that annoying bounce, or the Plus One Kit for that occasional extra bike. As bicycle and truck enthusiasts, our goal is to develop new ideas that add value and solve problems we deal with every day. We are artistic and creative people who like to add a large dose of style to well-engineered and heavily tested products. We have many more projects in the wings and are constantly developing and testing new ideas. Keep an eye on where we are heading and if you think of it on the trails, please spread the word that RIDE88 is a small company making a big statement in the world of truck bed bike rack systems and more.
Learn more
Electric Journey to Our National Parks
Our Adventure on E-bikes through National Parks using Rivian R1T. Here's what we discovered on this epic trip. We recently visited Grand Canyon National Park and soon followed up with a trip to our country’s first National Park, Yellowstone. What we found out is that biking the national parks was a wonderful new way to discover the environs. But before arriving at the parks, while road tripping in our electric truck, we had opportunities to take our bikes out for a quick spin while the truck recharged. This made the journey to the parks so much more enjoyable. The key was having our quick and easy Ride88 system for offloading and reloading the bikes. Once at the parks, we were pleasantly surprised to find the lodgings at both Grand Canyon and Yellowstone had plenty of places to charge our Rivian. Other than the one evening where every light went out in Yellowstone’s Mammoth Hot Springs area due to a lightning strike, we never had any worries about getting stranded due to “lack of electrons”. Luckily, they had the power back on in a couple of hours. Grand Canyon National Park: No Reason to Leave Your Bike at Home The Grand Canyon is a definite bucket-list destination. It’s South Rim is quite a busy place but there is plenty of room for people to spread out along the literally dozens of miles of roads and paved paths. And while you can’t ride down into the canyon, (Is that a bad thing?) there is so much to see up top that you won’t even miss it. It can be strenuous as many people forget that it’s more than 7000 foot elevation on the rim. This is another reason to skip the miles of hiking and bring along an e-bike. And the very best reason to bring the bike is to avoid the lines for the shuttlebuses, midsummer they can be massive. The Tusayan Greenway trail is the newest addition to the paved trail system at the Grand Canyon. It’s six miles uphill to get to the rim but if you’re on an e-bike and your hotel is in Tusayan, it’s a much better choice than the massive lines to get through the main entrance. Luckily, we stayed in Grand Canyon Village so we were only minutes from Hermit Road Greenway. With the road closed to cars, we felt like we had the place to ourselves! The Hermit Road Greenway is about 16 miles road trip. While riding the car-free road was a kick, the best part was the 3-mile Greenway Trail at the farthest end. It is a paved path that traces the canyon rim, separate from the road. We had a nice lunch at Hermit’s rest, on one of several picnic tables before returning to Grand Canyon Village. We did see some non-E-bike riders elect to return via the bike racks on the front of the shuttlebuses. We also took in the Grand Canyon Village Bicycle Loop and took a jaunt out to the South Kaibab Trailhead on the bikes. There are tons of spectacular viewpoints and somehow the canyon looks just a little bit different from each one. I highly recommend this trip! Yellowstone National Park: The Original We love Yellowstone. Living in Northern Utah, this seems like it’s in our backyard. We both remember frequent trips there during our youth. At first glance, with all of it’s ubiquitous wooden boardwalk surrounded hot springs, who would think of going biking there. And tipping your bike into one of them would be a serious bummer. But, believe it or not, there are miles of trails one can bike along through the park, like Lone Star Geyser, Fountain Flat Drive, Bunsen Peak, and Natural Bridge, as well as access to the Upper Geyser Basin Trail a couple mile paved mixed-use path between Old Faithful and Morning Glory Pool. The shortcut between Daisy Geyser and Biscuit Basin is also a fun way to get off the beaten path. On the way to Yellowstone, we were able to get a ride in at Idaho’s Harriman State Park. The Silver Lake loop was just amazing. It was a little muddy from recent rains but definitely worth the stop. Seeing a family of swans was very special. This trip to Yellowstone, we took in the Fountain Flat Drive, driving along the beautiful Firehole River and past the very steamy Grand Prismatic Spring. We went all the way to the Fairy Falls Trailhead but in doing so we did have to do battle with some rain that was moving through the area. Thank goodness for excellent raingear! We went next up to Mammoth Hot Springs thinking we would ride the Old Gardiner Road Trail into Montana. Apparently, the Park Service decided to pave this last year and now it serves as the main entrance into the North side of Yellowstone, NP. Not to be detoured we heard about an abandoned railbed trail along the Yellowstone River adjacent to this North entrance. We passed two different large herds of elk on this little excursion which turned out to be a nice flat single-track overlooking the river that was just our speed. Loads of fun!
Learn more
RIDE88 Craftsmanship
Ever wonder how quality bike racks are made? Building a tough truck bed bike rack goes a lot deeper than good looks and branding. We have to consider many details like geometry, durability, rust resistance, and materials compatibility. Each component on QR3 truck bed bike racks have been carefully selected for their ability to last and survive out in the real world. For example, our bolts have a high quality coating known as trivalent which gives our hardware a nice black colored appearance while providing superior corrosion resistance to standard standard zinc coated hardware. All bushings are made from aluminum and are also coated with Trivalent to match the durable black finish of the rack system. Welding Process We use robotic welding technology that creates near perfect repeatable welds. With this method we can ensure each rack is equal to the next in construction accuracy. This is also better for the environment by reducing waste while increasing production efficiency. With accurate and repeatable welds we reduce errors which often end up in landfill. Robotic welding arms allow the operator to avoid being too close to harmful fumes during the welding process. In the end we get welded products using advanced techniques that would be nearly impossible to repeat manually. This ensures that the all of our racks meet our specifications and our customers get consistent high quality products. Assembly Most products available to consumers these days require a quite a bit of assembly. This is done to lower production costs and make packages smaller which lowers shipping cost as well. We considered all this too, however our goals were driven by high quality design and function with as little assembly for the customer as possible. By welding parts together it makes the packaging larger but it's well worth the cost. In the end you get a product that few companies provide these days, a solid welded, rigid bike rack system that goes together fast and lasts a very long time. Materials For bicycle manufacturers light weight is critical. However, in a bike rack we worry more about durability. A bike rack should exceed the strength of your bicycle. When it comes to strong and tough, properly treated steel is a great option. Our rack systems are designed to handle forces such as swing weight that focus stress on construction joints. Imagine an E-bike weighing 55 lbs swinging left and right as your vehicle is driving around. These forces are transferred to the welded joints, rack connections and bolts in the rack system. That is why we choose to go overkill on our build methods. To best combat these forces we combine 1/16" treated steel for our main rack tubing and 1/8" thick steel on our crossbar support tubes. Rigid Is Important After working on prototypes we realized that this type of bike rack system has to be very rigid. There isn't anything like it on the market so we had to determine the best way to build it by doing lots of testing. We made models with 3/4" tubing and they did the job well, but we wanted something tougher that looked robust. We tried 1-1/2" tubing and the system looked overkill, so we went with 1-1/4" tubing for the whole rack system. This provided everything we were after and in the end and strikes the perfect balance of looks and rigid construction. Welding all this together makes it a super rigid system which keeps your bike steady in transit. Most of the movement we observe is coming from the bike tires, not the rack system. Weather Proofing Weather can be torture on metal so we use multiple layers of protection on our bike racks to combat moisture and heat cycles that are unavoidable from mother nature. All the tubing and stamped components are treated with Electrophoretic Deposition known as ED. This is a process that applies an even paint coating by submerging parts in water filled with paint particles. The metal parts are electrically charged causing the paint particles to adhere evenly on both inside and outside surfaces. After the ED coating we apply a 2nd layer of protection. We paint the system with a heavy duty powder coat finish. This is a dry paint powder that is also applied with electricity to attract paint particles evenly on all outer surfaces. The powder is applied and baked on at a high temperature which melts the powder and creates a tough shell on the outer surface. These two layers combined create an impenetrable shell from water on all external surfaces. Internally, Ride88 QR3 racks have integrated small holes throughout the system to allow any moisture to escape. Vehicles, bicycles and all kinds of products outdoors have hidden holes and eyelets that allow moisture to escape and prevent water from collecting internally. This is a common practice and works well to greatly increase the outdoor life of the product. Below is an example of one of the drainage holes in our Cross Bar system. Final Word We obsess over the details so you can focus on having a good time. We have spent countless hours testing our Ride88 QR3 rack systems for functional issues and solving them. We know there are other options out there but our system is truly the best way to carry a bike in the bed of your truck. I have personally searched the world over for something better and couldn't find it, that's why RIDE88 exists today. I hope you will give us a try and I am sure you won't regret getting a better system that looks good in your truck and loads bikes super fast.
Learn more
