Figured that I might as well add this post to this Forum too. This was a fun little project and the outcome is stellar. Thanks for looking:

I ditched the soft Truxedo cover a few weeks ago in favor of a Bakflip F1. This cover is really nice and gives me some added versatility. The fiberglass top skin is dent resistant and stays mostly cool to the touch. The panel look takes a bit of getting used to, but overall it's fit and finish is quite nice.

Here's the cover and my modified drain lines:







Part of the reason for the hard cover was that I planned on moving the bike mounts so they didn't take up bed space. Drilling holes into a new cover was a bit of a pucker factor, but it turned out well.
It's 4' long aluminum bars 1/8" thick and 2" wide that I had powder coated by a local railing company to match the cover's rails. There's obviously a bar on the topside, but there is also a bar on the underside so that the panel is sandwiched between the bars to spread the forces more evenly. All stainless hardware, with the topside hardware being painted. The mounts are from Rocky Mounts, and the D-rings at the tailgate were ordered from Bak's replacement parts. Finished it off with some adjustable bungees to keep the rear tires from walking all over the place.

The finished product is damn nice.

 

Well done! I need to make a system for my bike, going to fab it up under bed though and fold my cover forward. Nice work

 

Well done it looks great!

 

I'm cooking something up right now to do this. I have a bunch of Yakama roof rack parts laying around so I'm going to make a set of mounts to attach to the rails for the crossbars. Then I can mount bikes and kayaks to the rails and fill my bed with coolers, generator etc. I'll throw up some pics when I get around to it.

In the mean time, my 2x4 bike rack works great for mounting them in the bed.

 

Looks good. I've been toying with the idea too on my Bakflip G2

What do you have the rear attachments hooked to?

 

Good question and I was limited to 10 pics in one post so I didn't provide that photo. I ordered from Bak's replacement parts a set of their D-rings. They came as a pair, with two rivets, for $1.70 shipped. Yes...$1.70. Pretty inexpensive. I'm a stickler for "factory look" and these almost look like they could have been there directly from Bak.

Pic:

 

Only down side I see is flipping/folding will put those D rings onto the top of the next panel and may cause damage if not properly isolated/protected

Looks great tho. Never would have thought about sourcing them through Bak

 

Oh and I ran my drain tubes behind the bed rug and out the front of the bed

 

Yep, totally agree with the folded position concern. Haven't tried it yet, but it shouldn't be much of a problem.

 

Took a couple pics of the folding. Stands up on the rings if you don't shake the cover a bit coming down. Once folded there is enough relief via the side seals that the clasp on the rings doesn't lay on the other panel.

 

That looks great!

 

Thanks.
Been a couple weeks now and I've had the bike on the truck a few times. It doesn't much like speeds in excess of 80mph as the bike's aerodynamics (or lack thereof) make the side to side motion pretty noticeable. That's honestly my only complaint/concern. It's quite solid.

 

https://www.f150online.com/forums/be...ml#post5164195

 

Looks good Patman.

I'm very happy with my setup. It holds two hefty bikes (my Anthem X 29er) and my buddy's freeride Breezer (monster 27.5" wheels and 5" travel) without issues up to 80mph. It sways way less than rooftop mounts and it's low enough that I can still get through the drive-thru at the bank without worries. The seat comes in just over 8' off the pavement.

 

The high speed shimmy of the bikes was greatly reduced when I added the angle aluminum underneath the cover