Transporting bikes in a van?

bhaskar1981

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums, so apologies if I am posting this in the wrong place!

A group of friends are doing the London to Brighton bike ride in a couple of months time, and I've been charged with transporting all the bikes down to London and back. The main thought at the moment is to hire a van, and transport the bikes down in this - but any idea on how large a van is required to transport 13 bikes? If there are any recommendations on the best way of doing this, it would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

monkimark

I was designated van man for the wiggle no excuses sportive last year - 6 bikes in a long wheelbase transit van, 2 on each side and 2 at the front, all bungeed to the walls of the van. It was pretty full with them fully assembled, probably could have squeezed another couple in but it would have made loading/unloading a bit tricky.

I guess you could just start at the back and alternate directions - you might get them in if you took off the pedals but I wouldn't really want my bike jammed in the back of a van like that. also depends on the type & size of bikes

13 bikes probably means taking off wheels etc & careful packing unless you have a truck.

monkimark

Just checked, it was actually 7 bikes in the back of a transit and it looked like this:

bhaskar1981

Thanks for the response, looks as though we might need two vans! I'm guessing with an extra long wheel base van, you'll only be able to fit another bike or two in at most. Do you think taking the front wheels off would mean it would be possible to fit 13 bikes in?

davis

That's nowhere near full!

Hell you could bungee the bikes to the roof of the van, stuff a couple more down the middle... even just alternate them L-R, R-L down the middle of the van with the front wheels off and the bars rotated.

A LWB transit is huge, and you'd easily be able to fit 13 bikes in there. Vibration and rubbing is the thing to avoid (big sheets of cardboard).

Why don't you go to see the hire place with a bunch of bikes to find out if it's possible?

ETA: Just checked, apparently a Wiggle bike box that they ship in is about 180x115*25cm. You're just not trying! :-)

redvee

Once had 20+ bikes in one of these


Admittedly they were straight out of the box and not assemebled

You should be able to get the bikes across the van by turning the front wheel through 90 degrees but keeping the bars straight and top and tailing the bikes, to protect the bikes use thick blankets as they'll mould to the shape of the bikes better than cardboard.

Cousin Nick

Took 16 fully assembled road bikes to John O'Groats last year. We could have got them all in a LWB transit if we'd taken front wheels off, but for little more cash we hired a transit-based Luton van. All bikes and all luggage fitted easily.

N