In car/van bike racks

How are folk here securing their bikes in the back of their vans and MPVs? I imagine that careful wedging and bungy straps would do the job but I’m wondering about the virtues of the racks that sit acros the vehicle and hold the bike upright by the fork dropouts. Anyone got such a thing?

I fitted one a few years ago to a VW transporter. Thule model. It never worked very well. Just too fiddly to be of any use getting the forks to sit properly and to actually tighten up with a glorified wingnut.

I carried an entire thule ride on bike rack in the back of my current motor for 12mths. Used the normal strap to tie it to a couple of tie down points and just used the exisitng bars to clamp the top tubes of the bikes. Worked well and was very convenient. I suppose you need a big motor to do that though.

Not sure if the above is of any help but i would investigate the actual way the rack clamps the bike before deciding. If it has been upgraded to quick release then i would reconsider

We tried one of those Thule in van racks for a while. Thule products are normally very good (all the roof and tow bar products) but that was the biggest piece of crap. Almost as bad as their 26″ wheelbags that won’t take a 26″ wheel. The forks were only held in by wingnuts which invariably came loose (there’s no lock of any kind on them so the flex in the whole thing caused them to loosen.). That put wear on the dropouts. Not good.

I’ve seen a few vans set up with roof racks mounted in them but you lose a lot of space that way – you’d struggle to get more than two bikes in a SWB transporter.

Put them in and tie them down to whatever you can find – we’ve got nylon straps. Not sure about bungees – ideally you don’t want things moving. A bit of padding where necessary and a packing blanket (cheap on eBay) between them. Front wheels off (in wheelbags if you’re carrying clean stuff with them) means you can turn the bars so they take up less space.

I did the same, Thule Aerobars,bike carriers attached, removed the footpack and
double zip tied to the lashing points in the floor. only down side I found is I have to move them fore or aft of my rear points depending on if I’m fitting road bikes or MTB’s to them.

A mate has this in the back of his van which works well too.

http://www.extrauk.co.uk/product/detail/Delta/Storage_/2408/

overgrown round bulldog clips I use these “Draper 212mm Spring Clamps”. fix the handle part to the vehicle wall/side and hold seat tube in the grip part.

One bungee onto the seatbelt hook secures mine, when no-one in the rear seats and they can go parallel to the back of the van or bungee onto the head rests when sitting cross-ways.

I’ve got the Thule one mentioned above in the back of my Landrover and it works well – haven’t had trouble with the wingnuts coming undone, but you could replace the assembly with a QR skewer if needed I would think. However, I do also hold the bikes steady with a strap tied to a lashing point on the floor – does the job nicely.

The only drawback is that it doesn’t have adaptors for anything other than QR forks so you have to either make your own or buy the Hurricane Fork Up adapators, which are pricey.

Just bungy mine to the side of the van.

I used this in the back of my Zafira – the centre is a pendle roof rack clamp thingy. You can get normal QR/15Qr and 20mm – this one is 15QR adapter.

I dont use it anymore If you want to buy the 15QR centre thing email me.

Previously bungied mine to the side of the van. Just bought some anchor points from Screwfix and dotted them around the van onto the plylining.

Now that’s its converted into a camper I’m a bit more careful. Using two of THESE[/url] bolted to some wood (reinforced with random metal shelf supports I had spare). Heavy duty velco’d to the floor to allow access into cupboards below seat if required:

You can get adaptors for bolt-thru forks too but they’re stupidly expensive (£25+) for what they are. I’m going to need a couple sometime though.

I made my own to put my bike in the back of my car. Bit of a bodge-up and have been meaning to do a mkII but not got round to it as this works…

Just made from some mdf and 2×1 with a qr for the front dropout and a webbing strap for the rear.

stumpy01 – you’ve got me thinking about how I could make myself some 20mm axle holders for my own setup…

Stumpy01 – looks very tidy.

I’ve got a Minoura in car 2-bike carrier – effectively a ‘plank’ of metal with some hub-spaced items attached that QR your bike – you can get 20mm and 15mm adapters for them but I never use it now…think it cost £80 new…it sits in a corner of the garage as the S-Max is a faff to put bikes inside (well mine is as it’s on the large side so everything needs to be removed to make it fit and that is just a pain in the proverbial – so the bike sits on the roof now!) – for my own car (Fiat Bravo Sport) it either sits in the back on it’s side or on the roof. Smax has child seat in it pretty much 24/7 so unable to put my bike flat.

I used to own a Berlingo and I could get 3 bikes in and 3 bodies no probs (as long as they were <140mm travel bikes) – got a picture of a Berlingo with 2 bikes in it on my Flickr page…hang on…

2 bikes –

[/url]
2 bikes in Berlingo[/url] by DickBarton[/url], on Flickr

1 bike –

[/url]
Single Bike in Berlingo[/url] by DickBarton[/url], on Flickr

With 1 bike I used to have a strap that went round the seatbelt loop and that kept the bike upright and stable.

Richard, did you buy 20mm adaptors for your in-car rack? If you’re no longer planning to use them and would consider getting rid, give me a shout. I’m often over your way anyway…

I use a Cheap halfords alloy 3 bike rack on the floor and strap the bike down to that.
Works for me.

I’ve had a look at the Minoura rack and that would fit the bill. Have to have a play with how bikes fit and give it some further thought.

Hi no I only have the qr adapter

One of the bike mags has Pendle make them an internal carrier, cant remenber which one it was and a one off so probably cost the general public an arm and a leg.

An arm and a leg was a little more than I wanted to spend. Maybe could stretch to a few nail clippings but that is about all 😉

I believe the Pendle mount is available separately so you could purchase that and attach it to the required mountings for your car??? that Pendle mount takes an adapater for QR/15QR and 20mm axles so is pretty flexible (but you need to buy each adapter that you may require).