Makeshift Bike Rack - 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Long-Term Road Test
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Makeshift Bike Rack - 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Long-Term Road Test
This update to the Edmunds' long-term 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel includes discussion of a makeshift bike rack we built for its bed.
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These full-size pickups with the mini-beds...and Edmunds just keeps buying more of them. Insane.
Amen. I have an F150 SuperCab with the 6.5' bed. I use the truck as a truck. The bed is the most important thing. If I have to bring along more than another person, they can make do in the back seat. I would NEVER give up bed capacity for passenger comfort. That's what CARS are for.
...And yet, this truck (and the Silverado) was able to perform the exact function that the author wanted. Come on, people -- 5 1/2 feet of bed is 5 1/2 more than a person had before they bought the truck. Is it as functional as a 6 1/2-foot bed? No way, but it's a hell of a lot more functional than zero feet (or the awkward-sized cargo hold in your car or SUV).
Yet you drive a F150 with a 6.5ft bed IE Short bed.
Once again 8ft beds are the standard anything shorter then that isn't practical in a truck. Edmunds has seen this movie before and they keep wanting remakes of the same tired thing.
While you make do with what you have a truck is too expensive of a investment to comprise like this hence the reason why people are better off getting the long beds.
Yeah - this 6,000-pound truck was able to transport a 27-pound mountain bike. A triumph of functionality.
I could have carried it in my GTI without even removing the front wheel.
I roll both of mine into my minivan and bungie them in upright, nicely protected from the elements and locked up behind tinted glass.
Sure, if that's all you ever planned to do, then don't buy a truck. A lot of people -- far too many -- buy trucks like this for the wrong reason, i.e. "image". But I am not referring to those people. I'm just saying that there are plenty of use cases for a truck that can carry more than 2 people, yet still fits in a bloody parking spot. Of course, a smart buyer will have considered the various compromises and benefits before purchasing.
Substitute "bike" for dirt, mulch, flooring, 4x8 sheet goods, refrigerators, hay bales, Doberman filled dog crates, and you're still ahead in a minivan. Not to mention the low liftover height.
I don't like towing stuff but I do plenty of forest service roads camping out of my van. For the 4WD stuff, well, I've already sat in a car getting to the spot - that's when the bikes or boots come out.
You didn't read what I wrote. I said I'd never sacrifice bed capacity for passenger comfort. I need the supercab configuration so I can throw stuff behind me and have it in the locked cab. If people have to ride back there, so be it, but I didn't sacrifice the 6.5' bed I wanted. I didn't want an 8' bed because I don't want a truck with such long dimensions. I'm not sure where a 6.5' is a short bed, but it sure ain't anywhere I go.