With only one truck in the fleet, the Silverado was my default ride when it came time to go pick up my latest two-wheeled distraction over the weekend. As much as I like the Silverado, however, its short 5.5-foot bed once again left me wishing for more. Not much more, but enough to close the tailgate would have been nice. With the bike loaded up the rear tire extended roughly eight inches past the end of the bed. I drove it home with the tailgate down and four very tight ratchet straps holding the bike. I wasn't all that worried, but an extra foot of bed length would have made it that much easier. I see a bed extender in our future.
On an unrelated note, I broke Dan's mileage record on the trip with a final count of 374.6 miles on one tank. When it came time to fill up, the 26 gallon tank took 24.6 gallons for an average of 15.2 mpg. With a light foot our Silverado could easily do 400 miles.
Ed Hellwig, Senior Editor @ 13,906 miles
carlisimo says:
03:34 PM, 04/30/07
I’ve come across this issue too. The few times I’ve found my CR-V to be too small for anything, a 6’ bed on a pickup wouldn’t have been enough either. And unless I want a monster that only works in rural areas, that means a 2-seat pickup, which I just wouldn’t want. So I can save a ton of money and drive something I prefer by renting a big thing (or borrowing one and buying a friend some beer) a couple of times a year. I’m sure there’s a hobby out there for which a short-bed large pickup makes sense… but it can’t be as common as crew cab pickups are.
desmolicious says:
03:40 PM, 04/30/07
Shweet Daytona 675!
gdog6 says:
04:18 PM, 04/30/07
Thats why I like the Dodge ram
It offers a 8ft bed on quad models
zach101 says:
05:18 PM, 04/30/07
Hmm... maybe there will be a 2008 Titan with its new long bed soon in the long-term fleet.
mrjones944 says:
05:50 PM, 04/30/07
I dont quite see what you think a bed extender will do aside from getting in your way. Is it important to be able to close the gate with the bike inside? I have hauled a gsxr in the back of my ranger plenty of times and never saw the need for a longer bed and certainly not a bed extender.
billt9 says:
09:12 PM, 04/30/07
Less scary looking to the compact car driver behind you?
thebigal says:
11:48 PM, 04/30/07
I have always wanted a full size crew-cab and have long ago decided that the extended cab was way too small and would be more than willing to forgo the extra space in the bed for the extra space in the cab....
But I am having a change of heart. I right now have an S-10 whose bed is barely adequate and even if I step up to a full size crew, the bed on that truck is barely as big. A little wider maybe, but not as long and so I am back to thinking that maybe an extended-cab model with the extra bed space is more in line with what I need. How often do I need to stuff someone back there anyway? Not as often as I haul something in the bed of the truck.
So maybe it's back to extended cab for me. I don't want a truck like the Titan Crew Long Bed as it makes the truck way too long for my tastes.
jerrywimer says:
05:30 AM, 05/ 1/07
I've seen bikes in the bed with the tailgate up. The trick seems to have been that the owners put the front tire in the corner of the bed so that the bike is in diagonally. There were always ratcheted tiedowns in place, though I didn't inspect closely enough to see exactly how many / where they were attached to ensure stability. Only that this method allowed for the bikes in question to fit in the shortish box of the crew cabs.
carlisimo- that works if you live in an area close enough to a rental place (AND have a place that's flexible enough for your schedule), or if you have friends with a vehicle large enough to do the trick (AND that your OR they have flexible schedules.. :P). What happens when you're out shopping and see that once-in-a-lifetime deal that just won't fit the car? (okay, happens more often to those of us most likely to already have a vehicle that can carry. But not always. Before I could afford a truck I was already a homeowner. Lemme tell ya, a 92' Corolla with plywood strapped to the top looks hilarious traveling the 5 miles from the home supply store to your house!)
Anyway, crew cab pickups work fine for most homeowners. If you don't put a bedcover of some sort on it, and either the weather cooperates or whatever you need to haul is weatherproof:
1) Longer materials that can lie on the top of the closed tailgate (angling down into the front of the bed) are often tied down into the bed and away ya go.
2) Longer materials that require support along the length are carried as Ed did his new toy, with the tailgate down, and securely strapped in place.
As for bilt9's comment about it being less scary looking to the compact car behind you with the tailgate up. That's true (even for folks NOT in compact cars- stuff coming off the back of a vehicle in the road in front of you isn't a fun prospect). But then again, if folks are allowing adequate following distances for the speed they're traveling, that's not really that much of an issue. And if the truck operator is driving at a speed commensurate with the load being hauled (or towed), most cars should be passing it anyway. (Not that the latter is true very often, in my own experience either)
metalphoenix79 says:
09:23 AM, 05/ 1/07
Two words....Chevrolet Avalanche.
carlisimo says:
10:03 AM, 05/ 1/07
If you're not living close to friends or to rental places, then driving and parking a gigantonormous crew-cab long-bed pickup probably isn't so problematic either. Thanks to where I live, I don't have to try to be self-sufficient, so I can easily run a leaner life. It's cheaper and more fun for me. And maybe it's a good thing that I can't buy big things on a whim!
tirthankar_b says:
10:50 AM, 05/ 1/07
Can't you move the motorcycle a bit sideways?
billt9 says:
06:05 PM, 05/ 1/07
It doesn't look manly to cross your bike sideways.
Straighten it out or people might look at you funny.
jerrywimer says:
08:10 AM, 05/ 2/07
LOL@bilt9. I thought about saying the same thing metalphoenix79, but I've been touting mine for these truck purposes a lot lately and didn't want it to get too old. Besides, some folks with Avalanches have had similar problems with certain bikes (the "bar" across the front of the bed can prevent the bike from being moved far enough forward to close the tailgate).