Bicycle carrier
AssigneeYakima Innovation Development Corporation
InventorAaron J. Foley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A bicycle carrier, including a rack and a fork mount. The rack includes cross bars for mounting on a vehicle. The fork mount includes a head portion adapted to selectively clamp the fork mount to one of the cross bars, and a skewer assembly adapted to selectively secure forks of a bicycle to the head portion. The skewer assembly includes a skewer bolt, an actuator handle that is moveable between a first position and a second position, and an adjustment member threaded onto an end of the skewer bolt that permits longitudinal adjustment of the skewer assembly to accommodate different fork dimensions. The adjustment member is accessible when the actuator handle is in the first position, but is covered by the actuator handle when the actuator handle is in the second position.
Claims18
A bicycle carrier, comprising
- an elongate wheel tray defining a longitudinal axis and having a top side and a bottom side, the top side forming a channel and the bottom side providing a track, the channel and the track extending parallel to the longitudinal axis,
- a taco supported by the wheel tray and having a curved expanse nested inside the channel configured for contacting and cradling a bicycle tire, the taco being slidable in the channel along the longitudinal axis, the taco having opposing side walls, each wall having a notch and a ratcheting receiver, and
- a strap having two end portions, each end portion having teeth for engaging one of the ratcheting receivers, wherein the notches in the walls are configured to permit cinching of a strap around wheels of different sizes,
- wherein the curved expanse of the taco forms a recess that receives a portion of a bicycle tire, and wherein each notch communicates with the recess.
A bicycle carrier, comprising
- an elongate wheel tray defining a longitudinal axis and having a top side and a bottom side, the top side forming a channel and the bottom side providing a track, the channel and the track extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the wheel tray,
- a taco supported by the wheel tray and slidably connected to the wheel tray at the track to permit positional adjustment of the taco along the longitudinal axis, the taco defining a recess adapted to receive a portion of a bicycle tire for contact with the taco, the taco having a ratcheting receiver,
- a strap having an end portion with teeth for engaging the ratcheting receiver to secure a bicycle tire to the wheel tray, and
- first and second clamp devices to connect the wheel tray to a pair of crossbars on top of a vehicle.
A bicycle carrier, comprising
- an elongate wheel tray defining a longitudinal axis and having a top side and a bottom side, the top side forming a channel and the bottom side providing a track, the channel and the track extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the wheel tray,
- a taco supported by the wheel tray and slidably connected to the wheel tray at the track to permit positional adjustment of the taco along the longitudinal axis, the taco defining a recess adapted to receive a portion of a bicycle tire for contact with the taco,
- a strap attached to the taco, and
- first and second clamp devices to connect the wheel tray to a pair of crossbars on top of a vehicle,
- wherein the taco includes an adjustment mechanism adapted to adjust the length of a securing portion of the strap that secures a bicycle tire to the wheel tray.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.