Bicycle's as baggage

Just got back from a 3wk trip to Alaska. My wife and I took two Montaque
folding mtn bikes, camping gear, cookware, food, $ clothes in a 182.
Left the back seat home.

We put the bikes in last, putting them on top of all the other stuff, so
we could get them out easily when stopping at a place where we didn't
want to camp. For example, we could fly into a place where the restaurant
was a mile or two from the airport, get the bikes out, and ride into
town without first unloading all the other gear.

I have carried (with the back seat out) two regular mtn bikes (remove
seat, front wheel, pedals) and the same lot of camping gear described
above, but we had to put the bikes in first, and then load all of the
other gear around them. This requires almost totally unloading everything
else just to get the bikes out.

With the load of stuff we hauled to Alaska, I was worried about the
load shifting forward and pinning us to the panel in the event of a
ditching, or emergency landing. I devised a plywood bulkhead, and an
elaborate set of tie down ropes to keep the bikes (and other gear)
from shifting forward. Fortunately, never had to test it...

btw: of the three weeks we just spent in AK, we were down waiting
for VFR wx only two days, including flying down the entire SE coast
from Valdez to Seattle.

MikeM
Skylane '1MM
SLC


Mike Noel wrote:

I'm looking for an airplane capable of carrying 2 persons and two mountain
bikes around the country. I'm thinking a C-172 could probably fullfill the
mission with folding Montague Mt bikes stored in fabric bags, but that 2
regular Mt bikes would be awkward to store even with the wheels removed.
Anyone have an experience with this?

Thanks,
Mike at AVQ (Tucson)