The present invention will be described with particular attention to the carrying of motorbikes. However, it will be appreciated that the carrier of the invention may also be used to transport other suitable vehicles and no limitation is intended thereby.

In the present specification, the term tray or vehicle tray includes any type of tray that forms part of a motorized vehicle such as the tray of a truck or utility or a towed vehicle such as a trailer.

BACKGROUND ART It is often desirable to be able to transport one or more motorbikes in the back of a truck, utility and the like. In particular racing and/or off road bikes are not registered for road travel and thus must be transported in a safe and legal manner. Motorbikes are often transported in box trailers or in the back of utility vehicles. Typically, the bikes are driven onto the tray of the trailer or vehicle and secured in position by ropes tied to the bikes extending from opposite sides of the bike to the tray walls. A disadvantage with this arrangement is that securing bikes in this manner is time consuming. Also, the ropes may work loose causing the bike to slip about on the tray or to even fall over. This can cause damage to the bike.

Bike trailers that have been specifically designed to transport motorbikes are also known. Such trailers typically have support members to which the bikes can be secured. However, such trailers are unsuitable for carrying other materials. The trays of utility vehicles may also be modified to enable transport of motorbikes. However, modification of a vehicle is often undesirable as it may adversely affect resale values. Further, a permanently modified vehicle is rendered unsuitable for transport of other items.

It has been proposed to provide carriers that can be removably attached to a vehicle tray. Difficulties associated with these earlier types of carriers include the fact that they often require considerable modification of the tray and they cannot be fitted and removed quickly or efficiently and/or without the use of tools.

Further, such carriers are unable to be fitted to trays of different sizes and types.

Still further, the attachment points between a carrier and a tray can be subject to considerable stress, particularly when carrying more than one motorbike and/or a heavy road bike. Thus, the attachment points are subject to damage or failure as a result of this stress. This can result in the carrier becoming loosened and/or becoming disengaged from the tray.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a carrier for a bike, which may at least partially overcome the above disadvantages or provide the public with a useful choice.

According to a first broad form of the invention, there is provided a carrier for transporting at least one bike, the carrier being mountable to a vehicle tray having opposed side walls, the carrier having at least one wheel restraining means which in use can restrain a wheel against sideways movement thereof and at least one cross member which is adjustable in length and which in use extends between inner faces of the side walls, the cross member including engagement means for engaging the tray.

The carrier of the present invention can be mounted to any suitable type of vehicle tray including a trailer, a truck or utility tray. Typically, one or more bikes may be carried. Typically a carrier is able to carry up to three bikes. Carriers of this type are suitably mounted to box type trailers of a size able to be towed by conventional passenger vehicles.

The carrier includes at least one wheel restraining means that can restrain a wheel against sideways movement thereof. Typically, the wheel restraining means receives and restrains the front wheel of a bike.

The wheel restraining means is typically in the form of parallel rails spaced to allow a wheel to pass between the rails. Typically, the rails are in the vicinity

of the tray floor such that the lower section of a wheel is restrained. Such an arrangement is preferred as interference with mudguards on the motorbike can be avoided.

The carrier may also include a wheel stop that can resist forward movement of a wheel. Typically the front wheel abuts the wheel stop.

The wheel stop may be any suitable type of member, which can resist forward motion of a bike wheel. Preferably the stop is an upstanding member.

Typically the stop is at an angle that in use is tangential to the wheel.

The carrier has at least one cross member whose length can be adjusted.

The cross member may include at least one telescoping section. Typically, the carrier has two or three such cross members which in use extend between side walls of the tray. Preferably, the carrier has a rear cross member which in use can abut a rear wall of the tray.

Typically, carriers with at least two cross members have side arms which join the ends of the cross members such that in use the side arms can abut against the side walls of the tray. Preferably, the side arms and cross members define a frame of rectangular shape that can be adjusted to snugly fit within the walls of the tray.

At least one of the cross members has engagement means for engaging the carrier to the tray. Where the carrier has a rear cross member, the rear cross member may engage the rear wall of the tray. However, the rear cross member may alternatively engage opposed side walls. Any suitable type of engagement means may be used.

Preferably, the carrier has a first forward cross member and a second rear cross member, each member having means for engaging the tray.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS By way of example only, the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a preferred carrier of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a further preferred carrier of the present invention; Figure 3 is a perspective view of a further preferred carrier of the invention; and, Figure 4 is a perspective view of yet a further preferred carrier of the present invention.

BEST MODE Figure 1 illustrates a preferred carrier 11 of the present invention. The carrier 11 has three cross members, a forward 12, center 13 and rear member 14. Side arms 15,16 hold the cross members together.

Carrier 11 has three L shaped wheel support members 17,18,19. Each support member has a wheel restraining section, 20,21,22 and a wheel stop 23, 24,25 Each restraining section has pair, 26,27,28 of upstanding parallel rails.

The rails are spaced so as to allow a bike wheel to be guided between them with relative ease but may also prevent inadvertent sideways movement of the wheel.

The stops extend at an angle of about 456. The stops also have pairs 29,30 31 of rails which can resists sideways movement of a wheel.

The center stop 24 is located further towards the rear 32 of the carrier 11 than the outer two stops, 23,25. When three bikes are being carrier it can be seen that the bikes are staggered with respect to each other. This staggering allows more bikes to be carried in a limited space.

The rear cross member 14 has three bolts 40,41,42 extending therefrom.

In use, holes are drilled in the rear wall of a tray. The holes are spaced to allow bolts 40,41,42 to pass therethough. The bolts are fixed to the tray wall by nuts (not shown).

The front cross member 12 has two spring biased bolts 44,45 at each end. In use, holes are drilled in the appropriate location in the sidewalls of the tray so as to receive bolts 44,45. It can be seen that because of the biasing, the carrier may simply be slid along the floor of a tray until bolts 44,45 meet and lock into the respective holes on the sidewalls.

Cross members 12 and 13 have two telescoping sections, 46,47 and 48, 49; and rear cross member and single telescoping section 51. In this way the length of each cross member may be varied so as to be able to fit trays of different widths. Although only one telescoping section is required to vary the overall width of the carrier, providing two telescoping portions allows the distance between wheel support members support members to be varied as desired.

The side arms 15,16 and rear cross member 14 are provided with a number of eyelets 55. In use these eyelets secure fixing means such as ropes or chains extending from the bikes being carried. It is preferred that the ropes are fitted with hook members to allow easy engagement with eyelets 55.

In use, a bike is driven onto the tray and the front wheels are driven onto restraining means 17,18 or 19. The bike is then secured by means of ropes or the like extending from both sides of the bike and attached to the relevant eyelets 55.

Figure 2 shows a further preferred carrier of the present invention. The carrier 60 is essentially the same as that shown in figure 1 except that the carrier 60 includes two frame members 61,62 that are sized to fit petrol cans.

Figure 3 illustrates a further preferred carrier 70 of the invention. The carrier 70 is similar to that shown in Figure 2 and the same reference numerals have been used to refer to the same features. In this variation, the steel support members, 14,18,17 are of the same length and the centre wheel stop 25 is forward of the side wheel steps 24,26. By having this arrangement, it is not necessary to provide a central cross member. Both the forward 12 and rear 14 cross members have two telescoping sections 71,72 and 73,74. This allows the distance between the centre and outer wheel support members to be varied.

Figure 4 shows a variation of the carrier shown in Figure 3 for carriage of up to two bikes.

It can be seen that the carrier can be locked securely to the tray of a vehicle.

It can be appreciated that sideways forces are borne by and distributed along the length of the side arms and not by the attaching bolts 44,45. Such

sideways force can be incurred as the vehicle turns. Forces in the direction of travel are incurred during braking. In this case, force is distributed along the rear cross member which also protects bolts 44,45 from stress and damage.

The only modification required to be made to the vehicle tray is to drill holes in the rear and side walls. This can be accomplished easily without the use of specialized tools or personnel. The carrier can also be fitted without requiring special tools or skill. The carrier may be fitted to vehicle trays having different widths and wall height.

It will be appreciated that many changes and modifications may be made to the present invention as described herein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.