After being moaned at for messing up the wifes car, I've gone & bought a merc vito, but unsure of how to secure bikes in it. Thought about a wheel rack mounted to the floor.
Any better idea's

Mate has one and just uses bungees attached to the side panel type bits to secure them, works ok.

used a thule one for QR forks and some blocks of wood and fabric straps for 20mm axles in our van

both front wheel off though as the van was small

I have jury rigged a workable system in the back of my van consisting of an old QR front hub fastened to a bit of 2×2 timber.

I drop out my front wheel, pop the forks onto the hub on the 2×2, fasten it up and off I go:)

I got a Minoura stand thing that clamps the front wheel of the bike…you can carry 2 bikes and the front wheels can sit neatly between the 2 bikes. Works well but if the van can handle a complete bike then I'd put it in and bungee cord it to the side so it is secure – as long as it rests on handlebar end and rear of saddle then the bike will be fine (the usual 2 resting points of bike against a wall).

I just stand my bike up (wheels downwards) and bungee it to the side of my van (transit connect). If theres only one bike in the back I just lie it down. If you but some rubber matting down on the floor, it prevents it sliding around.

I've butchered a cheap, large, wooden box from homebase by putting a QR fork mount on top, and chopping the opening top lid in half. By bolting one half of the lid down and leaving the other half to open it holds the bike very steady, and gives a place to store all the ridding gear.

bother used adjustable straps to make his bike stand up in his berlingo, but then it did have strapping points to attach them too.

The main advantage of a van for me was not having to take the wheels off every time I went somewhere!

Got a 1" steel tubed framework in mine, H-shaped on the floor, with an upright in line with the seat-tube on each side(for two bikes). Another short section,slotted to take a toe strap, bolted in line with the seat tube allows easy and secure fitting without removing the wheels.

Bungee cords every time.

Chap on the marple ride yesterday (sorry, can't remember names now!) hads bought a van specifically for carting bike around, and had knocked up a bike stand with a few offcuts of 2" * 6" structural timber – he *might* pop up on here, he's a forum user. Hp_source and Ton both know who he is but I'm afraid I cannot for the life of me remember who it was

midlife thats brilliant. of course that will work fine once the bike is in it..

heads off to the shed.

should say.. most folks who want to take the front wheel out are running a combi van.

Something like this?

From here

the holy grail. 😯

I have the single seat out of the back of my t5 kombi, and just strap the bike to the side of the double seat. 2 dh bikes will fit there.

Putting up with van handling and still taking wheels off? No thanks. I don't want anything sticking out of my floor either as i sleep on it sometimes or may want to slide big heavy things in and out.

Cobbled this together for my T4 Van,It can take 2.5 tyres and any size wheel.

I use Saris bike traps in my van. Had to raise one up to clear the bottom adjuster on my forks. Screwed them straight onto a shelf I made instead of using the proper tracks.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Saris_Trap_TR1BLK/5360019005/
Then I hook the wheels up out of the way.

Depends on number of bikes you plan to transport – but in our Vito we have clamps bolted to side panels on hinges, that fold down when not in use. Clamps hold the seat posts and then bunges round front wheels to the bulk head. Totally solid, bikes never move. As someone else said – the whole point of a van is not having to dismantle your bikes 😉

Take the front wheel off and then the seat and seatpost.
Turn bike upside down and pop in the back off the van
Secure with bungee cables
Simple

Andy W – that sounds like a lot of faff when you have a van…far easier to just strap the bike up against the wall with some bungees – the bike is then ready to roll as soon as you stop (and remove the bungees)…like a few have said, no point dismantliing the bike if you own a van as there should be enough space* for the bike to go in complete.

*assuming we are talking Vito sized vehicles and also not meaning full sized penny farthings!

Even my suggestion is too much faff…if I owned a van, the bike would be rolled in and rolled out without any disassembly as that would be a real benefit for owning the van. Saying that, my next vehicle is going to be a Berlingo and I know I can get 3 complete bikes in the rear of one of those so no probs for me…

The main advantage of a van for me was not having to take the wheels off every time I went somewhere!

That's my thoughts too. Finish ride, chuck bike in back, jump in the back to get changed, drive off.

I just bungy mine to the side of the van – Screwfix does big packs of cheap bungies and I bought extra mounting points that are screwed to the ply. I didn't have ply lining at first though and it was a concern (denting the side panels). Think I've had a maximum of 7 bikes in the rear of my T5 this way. It'll all change when I get a rear seat/bed fitted though 🙁

Whole bikes can go in small vans too 😀 For my Caddy I have the same thing mentioned above (clamps fixed to side panels) only these clamp the top tubes (depending on suspension variations of course)- then bungees keep the wheels together (bikes go in on the angle, rear wheels in each corner by the bulk head). Straight out and ready to roll – no faffing around dismantling muddy bikes at end of ride either. Vans are brill. 😀

The Berlingo will take 3 bikes with 2 seats down – all built and ready to roll, so yes, it isn't just larger vans that allow complete bikes to be fitted…

I have a Escort Van and used to get two bikes in the back without taking any bits of them but it got to be a struggle when i got my new bike with bigger forks,

So thats when i started putting the bike in upside down and as daft as it sounds we can get two bikes in this way quicker than built up and stood up (not as many bungee's to faf about with)

And when they are upside down they are rock solid in the back of the van unlike when the correct way up on wheels they did move about a bit