My wife and I ride dirt bikes and haul them weekly during riding season. My last truck had a tri-fold hard tonneau cover and I'd have to remove it in order to load the bikes as the front wheel of the bikes would hit the front of the cover.

Is there a flip style cover that works with bikes in the box? What other alternatives are those of you who are riders using?

Truck is a 17' F350 short box

 

I went with the truxedo soft cover for that exact reason. It doesn't have the security of a hard cover but I'm happy with it.

 

Ya, I've considered the soft cover, but really do want a more secure solution since I keep my gear bag and extra gear in the back when riding, and in the winter I ski and want to be able to leave my ski gear in the back as well.

 

I know it's not the answer you're looking for but the best purchase I made (was very lucky to get the deal I did) but I bought my old service van from work for $500 and that's my main transportation to the track. Me and my buddies have been using it for 3 yrs now and added a back seat so 4 to 5 guys ride comfortably and have room for 3 full size bikes in the back with gear locked up or pull a 3 rail if we need more room.

 

I have the Extang TriFecta 2.0 but they also make the EMax which all 3 sections fold up.
https://www.extang.com/p-36823-emax-tonno.html

 

There is no folding tonneau that will work with dirt bikes. The solution is to get your folding tonneau and put some 2x10 in the front of the bed to make it level with the tonneau. If that makes the bikes too long for the bed to allow the tailgate closed then you will need to remove the tonneau. There are also companies that make a dirt bike mount that goes into the receive hitch behind the truck. I've seen two bike set ups before. I have a single bike of this that I used on my old truck. It was lifted so was a pain in the butt. The best option is the 2x10s you can cut probably 4 pieces total (2 for each bike) and nail them together then just place them in front of the tire and tie em down. I did this several times in the past and everything was fine.

 

I carry bikes in the bed all the time. I have a roll up soft cover on my truck now just because of that. Will get another one when I get my '18. My new truck will be cclb, so stuff can go in back of the cab ,and no worries about security in the bed. Except my ramps, but I guess just take a chance and hope out of sight, out of mind. Or cable lock 'em

 

I have been running a Bakflip mx4 on my shortbed for a month or so. I’ve been to the track 4 times with it on. The front tire of my bike does sit on the edge of the cover in the front. I can fit 2 bikes with the rear ends moved over, then shut the tailgate. I’m going to Loews to put together a couple of blocks to fit against the front tires. I haven’t had problems with the cover scooting the way it is now but I do check how the **** fit into the front edge, it can bend them more than I like.

 

I've already made the 2x10 frames I built and use them from time to time if I'm lazy. I also have a bumper carrier that my wife uses on occasion to carry her 200XC on her Jeep Unlimited if she is meeting me. I hate using those things!

The main problem I have with the 2x10's is that the bikes are too long and I can't get the tailgate down. To get to my riding areas usually includes gravel roads, and it beats up your tailgate. I have used tie downs from a foot peg to the tailgate geezer handle to hold the tailgate up, but on the new SD trucks, it pops up so I'll have to see if connecting to that is an option.

I think I may need to re-think a soft cover. /sigh

 

haha yeah the hitch receivers are awful but they get the job done I guess. Another option you could look into is Pitbull Trailer Restraint systems. They're great platforms for traveling. I never tried but the bike in backwards may fit with the shorter rear tire.

 

Check out Diamondback Covers to see if that might work. I have no idea how you load a motorcycle on top, but there are pics online showing it done. Definitely provides a good locking bed cover, but not sure if it solves your problem of transporting motorcycles.

 

Access Vanish roll up cover. Had one on my last two trucks, never had an issue and never had a break in. Any tonneau cover that says its safe/break-in proof is lying to you anyways. You can get into any of them, just search youtube for some videos and you'll quickly realize that if someone wants to get in, they can and will easily.

Security by obscurity is definitely not the best way to go, but its the biggest deterrent for truck beds by far.

I put my KTMs in the bed every weekend during the winter. It takes 10 seconds to roll up and its completely out of the way and you can still see out of your back window to check on bikes/traffic behind you. I guarantee you'll be happy with it as a rider.

 

The diamond back would give you a secure bed to keep your gear in and would support as many bikes as you could fit on it. But it would be a pia to load/unload on level ground.

 

I'm aware I'm late to this thread, hopefully by now you have found a solution. However, in the circumstance that you haven't..... With a F-350 short box, majority of the hard folding covers will be a 4-panel cover, as anything over 6ft long typically moves up to 4 panels rather than 3 panels. This will be the case with BAK Industries, Undercover and quite a few other products. The benefit to going with a BAKFlip cover is that it can fold all the way up against the rear window and secure with the prop rods. I have personally used my F-150 with a 6.5 ft bed to transport a motorcycle with the cover folded up against the window (of course a couple other variables can go into it). While folded up, you can expect to lose about 10 inches (give or take) from the front of your bed.The Extang models will remain a 3 panel cover and will not have the ability to fold completely up.

Below is a link to our product page with a video of the MX4 on a F150. which will show the versatility. You can skip to 1:25.

https://www.truckbrigade.com/BAKFlip...018_p_128.html

Thank you!