Bicycle carrier
View Patent ↗A rack for carrying a bicycle on a vehicle. The rack includes forward and rear crossbars extending across a top surface of the vehicle and a pair of tower bodies associated with each crossbar to secure the crossbars to the vehicle. A wheel mount is attached to a first one of the crossbars. The wheel mount is adapted to support a wheel of the bicycle with a lowest point on the wheel positioned over a range of positions relative to the crossbar including with the lowest point positioned off the wheel mount.
1. A fork block for securing the fork of a bicycle comprising
a body,
a skewer mounted to the body,
a cam follower slidably mounted on the skewer,
a cam lever pivotally mounted on the skewer adjacent the cam follower and operable upon rotation to reciprocally shift the cam follower on the skewer, wherein the body further includes a cap that is held on by the skewer thereby preventing disassembly of the body.
2. The fork block of claim 1 , wherein the cam lever further carries a lock to selectively secure the cam lever to the cam follower.
3. The fork block of claim 1 , wherein the skewer must be at least partially removed from the body to remove the body from a crossbar.
4. A fork block for securing the forks of a bicycle, comprising
a body,
an elongate skewer mounted to the body,
a cam follower slidably mounted on the skewer, and
a cam lever pivotally mounted on the skewer adjacent the cam follower and operable upon rotation to reciprocally shift the cam follower on the skewer, where the cam lever further carries a lock to selectively prevent the cam lever from pivoting on the skewer.
5. The fork block of claim 4 , wherein the cam lever rotates around a pivotal axis substantially perpendicular to the long axis of the skewer.
6. The fork block of claim 4 , wherein the lock secures the cam lever to the cam follower.
7. The fork block of claim 4 , wherein the lock is operated with a key.
8. The fork block of claim 4 , wherein the body is configured to clamp around a crossbar.
9. The fork block of claim 4 , wherein the fork block is configured to operate in conjunction with a wheel tray to support a bicycle.
10. The fork block of claim 4 , wherein the cam follower has a cylindrical hollow body portion that fits over the skewer.
11. The fork block of claim 4 , wherein the cam follower has a serrated end disposed toward the body to improve the grip on a bicycle fork.
12. The fork block of claim 10 , wherein the body portion contains a spring to bias the cam follower against the cam lever.
13. The fork block of claim 4 , wherein the cam follower has a smooth cam bearing plate portion for the cam lever to slide on as it pivots around the pivotal axis.
14. The fork block of claim 13 , wherein the bearing plate portion has a lateral extension with a slot.
15. The fork block of claim 4 , wherein the skewer has a non-circular end portion, the cam follower having a corresponding non-circular hole for receiving the end portion of the skewer so the follower does not rotate around the skewer.
16. The fork block of claim 4 , wherein the cam lever has a lock-receiving bore configured to receive a lock cylinder.
17. The fork block of claim 14 , wherein the cam lever contains a lock cylinder connected to a T-shaped catch that projects out of the cam lever to selectively engage the slot in the bearing plate portion of the cam follower.