Trying to determine if the bike boots that clamp to the front tire of bikes are for me. Never used one.
Getting ready to purchase an enclosed trailer and originally planned on putting bikes front tires up against side wall e-track and strapping down with bikes steering locked and back end swung up against the other side of the trailer.

Started thinking about bike boots as an option however.

Problem is, I think that the boots need to be some distance from the wall in order for the lever to work. How much space? I'm thinking I still want a setup similar to described above so the boots would be somewhere between 30 and 45 degrees off of perpendicular from the side wall. Anyone know how much clearance the boot would need to be from the wall to get operation of the lever? I've sketched this out and I'm guessing 6"..... problem is if it needs to be that far off the wall then I can't get as many bikes in the trailer as with the pulling them up against the etrack.

Another thing that has me concerned about the bike boots is that since the bikes are sideways across the trailer is hard braking potentially going to rip the boots out of the floor? I can't guarantee that I'm gonna get the anchor bolts in a stud. Just seems a little sketchy too me intuitively about not having the boots in line with the trailer. Anyone have experience with this?

What are the downsides to the boots?

Anyone know? Any ideas as to how to set this up?

Looking for trick ways to deal with either the e-track or the boots. Need something to mount to the etrack to position front tire and also need a method for fastening down the rear tire with either setup.

Any problem with pulling bikes up tight to a side trailer wall up against hat channel studs w/ 3/8" plywood and etrack at bearing point of tires?

Anyone seen a setup where the etrack was more at the level of the handlebars so that the suspension wasn't loaded? I was talking with someone who had seen a setup like this that looked good. Also tied the rear tire to etrack on the wall at that level.

Any help?

Most bike boots are meant for fore and aft positioning. I've used one type probabably 8 years ago. They worked great but I don't think they would have held on a flat tire. Buddy had pins in the bed of his truck and mounted wheel clamps on plywood. He simply set the plywood over the pins and used hitch pins to hold everything in place. It was a slick setup but I don't know what would happen if anybody got a flat.

e.myers said:

Never used bike boots myself, but have Etrack in my trailer and wheel chocks.

As for concerns about ripping out of the floor, if you don't hit a floor support with your bolts, use a piece of scrap steel as a "washer" of sorts, the larger the better. Under my wheel chocks, I have a 12"x12" plate that helps spread out the load.

My tiedowns are done to the Etrack. Either way you go for bike securement, I suggest installing two strips of Etrack inside your trailer-never fails, you have a trailer, and now you find "other" uses for it: Trips to Home Depot, the furniture store, etc, and it's handy to be able to secure whatever you pick up.

I think an Etrack strip at handlebar height would cause the bike to want to rotate "forward" on a pivot axis of the front axle.....

Thanks for the replies and info. Looks like I'm gonna go with etrack on the walls allowing for the possibility of bike boots down the road. Need to get this done. Pulling the trigger!