Transporting fully assembled bikes in a van based car

apreading

Why not just get the car you want and put a towbar on it? Then all the space in the car is for you and your luggage and the bikes are super easy to put on/off.

If I was buying now, I would get the Witter towbar rack that folds up when bikes not mounted.



Just seems like you are making life difficult for yourself when none of these compromises or hassles are necessary. I guess the bikes inside gives you slightly more security if you left them overnight but I wouldnt want to do that anyway.

daniel_b

cambiker71 wrote:

cambiker71 wrote:

Have a look at this link, it's for transporting motorcross bikes, but the basic principle could well be used for cycles, i'd use the load strap and floor mounts and put the bikes in facing rearwards!

https://www.boltiton.com/product/sprint ... dirt-bike/

That looks good, but I think is more apt for an out and out van, with a floor you can easily bolt stuff through, also it's designed for the full width, where as I need something a bit more flexible than than, and either for the 60% or 40% of the rear, dependent on what seat config I have.

My stands have already been despatched which is earlier than I thought, so will likely have them on Monday.
Allegedly the vehicle is at the dealers on Sunday, and they have offered to knock a bit off for the inconvenience of it not being there, and they have another more pricey one that is a year younger which I am also planning to view.

I didn't make it very clear there, what i was getting at was the actual process of tying them in place, this can be done without the expensive looking bar fitted, tie the handle bars diagonally to the ground inline with the rear wheel and from the seat post area to somewhere inline with the front wheel, they won't move and you can tie as many as you need across each other without anything more than a few tie down rings bolted to the floor (or the ones already fitted in some cases!)
hope this is a little clearer!

Thanks cb, excuse my dimness, and yes that it explains it better to me, I will consider all once I have a suitable vehicle!

apreading wrote:

Why not just get the car you want and put a towbar on it? Then all the space in the car is for you and your luggage and the bikes are super easy to put on/off.

If I was buying now, I would get the Witter towbar rack that folds up when bikes not mounted.

Just seems like you are making life difficult for yourself when none of these compromises or hassles are necessary. I guess the bikes inside gives you slightly more security if you left them overnight but I wouldnt want to do that anyway.

Hi AP,

the car I want, is a Lotus, and they don't make capacious estates yet, and I expect never will do!
I enjoy driving, though not as much as I used to, and where as once I hankered after a 150mph estate, now I just want something that is large enough inside to enable me and my family to do the things we want to do more easily.
I grew up with estates, and this is pretty much the ultimate estate, in terms of maximal space within a normal car sized package - as I already mentioned, a smaller footprint than an Audi Q7, and I expect the likes of an XC90 etc.

I've travelled with bikes on the roof, and have had two thule tow bar racks, both ride on's, one double, and one of those huge 4 way ones (Which I bought second hand, kept and used for 4 years, and then sold on ebay for a £40 profit!), when I had a car with a towbar.
The double was small and fairly managable, the 4 was ENORMOUS, solid as you like though, and well built.
But it was a beast, and a mission to fit\store etc.

Plus, and this is the key, I hate driving while my pride and joy, and all of the families bikes are out in torrential rain, or as you say leaving it overnight like that, I'm not sure I would get much sleep over it, as silly as that may be, and I would not want the hassle of taking them all off, and bringing them into a hotel room.

When we used to drive down through Europe, just the two of us, we would drive through the night, taking turns to kip in the passenger sleep. With a 5 year old, we realise it's not good for her to be stuck in a booster seat for anything much over a couple of hours, so semi frequent stops, and an overnight stop are essential.
We always try and get somewhere with secure parking, but can't always be achieved.
With this, and them locked away inside, behind privacy glass (As much as they might be) I would be less concerned in t he overall scheme of things.

Additionally, there are likely to be times when I will likely want to take a day off work, and drive up North somewhere to tackle a climb - this vehicle, with all the seats down, can act as a mini camper.
Could sleep in the back, with bike securely stored, pop a portable toilet in there as well, plus a stove etc etc.
I just think it is such aa flexible vehicle, with more upsides than downsides, which are few and far between.
It's not too tall, and definitely not too long, marginally wide I guess, but what isn't these days in the world of cars.
Everything, bar Lotus, seems to be bloated.
I've always thought the blander than bland Astra was super wide, and have just googled it - 1808mm, the Tourneo is only 26mm wider! Bonkers.

Anyway, I have rambled somewhat, time to turbo with a bit of World Championships on :-)

Vino'sGhost

parenthood is really bad for cycling man

photonic69

Vino'sGhost wrote:

parenthood is really bad for cycling man

Only the early years. Now that my son is older he comes out with me and sprints up hills leaving me for dead, puffing away.
It's lovely to go out for 50/60 miles with him as my riding buddy. Great times 8)

daniel_b

PhotoNic69 wrote:

Vino'sGhost wrote:

parenthood is really bad for cycling man

Only the early years. Now that my son is older he comes out with me and sprints up hills leaving me for dead, puffing away.
It's lovely to go out for 50/60 miles with him as my riding buddy. Great times 8)

Nice, yes looking forward to that in the years to come, she has already stated that when she is 20 she wants to cycle to Italy!
How old is your son out of interest - teens I assume?

Perhaps I was a slovenly unmotivated cyclist in my child free years, as since becoming a father, I discovered Trainerroad, and now train harder than ever, and am faster than I have ever been - everything is relative of course.
One thing being a parent has done for me, is to ensure I maximise all of my spare time, instead of just sitting around watching tv, or eating stuff that makes you fat.
Having said that, most of my training takes place at 6am in the morning, but you get where I am coming from hopefully.

ridgeway_swiss

Take a look at solutions for bike storage in the garages of Motorhomes. There you find many many solutions that are specifically designed for securing bikes inside vehicles, the key will be how to secure the device into the car itself.

Personally there's absolutely NO WAY i'd have bikes anything other than very well secured inside a vehicle, they would be lethal in an accident if they moved around.

Fiamma make plenty of reasonable solutions although there are much better ones out there as well depending on the budget

https://unipartautostore.com/fiamma-car ... -plus.html

You may also be able to make a slide out solution which make loading the bikes much easier

daniel_b

Thanks RS, will take a look.