Tailgate pad for mountain bikes

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heckcat9

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2021
Posts
118
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Location
UT
Ram Year
2016
Engine
Hemi 5.7
OP
OP
heckcat9

heckcat9

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2021
Posts
118
Reaction score
83
Location
UT
Ram Year
2016
Engine
Hemi 5.7
I ended up getting the Dakine DLX Curve: https://www.dakine.com/products/pickup-pad-dlx-curve-s20

Since every tail gate pad listing has like 10 "will it fit my ram with its astronomically large and hilariously curved tailgate" questions, I'll post a few pics of the Dakine pad in case someone's search lands 'em in this thread.

TL,DR: The Dakine DLX curve (size large) fits a lot better than I expected. The straps tighten down well enough for the pad to hug the curvature of the tail gate, all the bike's hard parts are kept off the truck, the downtube strap keeps the bike surprisingly sturdy, and the rear camera and latch are usable with the flap clipped open.

The pad covers enough of the tailgate to protect it. The access flap when clipped open allows the latch and key to be easily accessible and the camera is usable. In my case, the camera was not even 10% obstructed along the bottom of the image, had I spent more than 1 minute throwing the pad on I could have set it up so the camera was completely unobstructed.

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The lowers and stanchions rest against the pad, along with the back half of the tire and the down tube of course. The bottom of the tire is pretty close to the bumper. This has more to do with the axle to crown length of my forks and my tire size more than the pad.
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The pad has four straps to sinch the pad onto the tailgate. It's not an absolutely perfect fix as there are small gaps on the driver and passenger side of the tail gate due to its curves, but it's good enough.
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The down tube straps work well enough. Seems they would be a perfect fit for carbon frames. They were slightly too long for my alloy frame so I strapped them over my shock mount as I have done with most other pads. If you're one of them e-bike kooks, the straps are likely not long enough if your downtube is also your battery. :(
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