I'd like to fit a convenient bike rack onto my vauxhall combo. Don't like the idea of tow bar racks, as you have to remove them when not in use.
The Fiamma racks look great as you can fit them to a rear door without losing use of the door.
Trouble is, they are too wide. So I was thinking of getting one like this
then cutting out the mid sections of the tube and rejoining to make a narrow rack suitable for the door of a combo.
To rejoin the tubes I'd put metal plates on both sides, drill through both plates and tube then bolt together.
Right then, so ... can anyone see any flaws in this plan?
Alternatively can anyone recommend a product that fits off-the-shelf?
Would roof mounted racks not solve the issue with a lot less effort? A combo isnt particularly high.
Would roof mounted racks not solve the issue with a lot less effort? A combo isnt particularly high.
Don't roof mounted bikes destroy fuel economy? (I'm quite happy to be corrected on that...)
I have to say having done 800 miles a couple of months ago with 2 bikes on the roof and 3 on the back, i recon it cost about £20/30 more than the same journey 10 weeks priore, so not note worthy for me. oh and thats petrol plus i had the extra bike/person over the first trip.
So let's see - 800 miles would cost me around £130 diesel for the combo. £20 or £30 on top of that is around 20% extra fuel consumption. With the prices being what they are these days I'd call that noteworthy!
Thought I'd drop a note to say I gave up on this! (in case anyone in future is thinking of trying the same)
The fiamma 200 ul is hard to fit to a van door in any case as the top of the door is curved (not vertical) and the rack is not designed for this.
Cutting sections out of the middle seemed like too much effort in the end, it would have left me with quite a lopsided rack if mounted on just one door. And if mounted on two doors would prevent the doors from opening, which negates the usefulness of such a rack anyway.
I considered fitting a tow bar rack but towbars are heavy, decided against that too.
In the end got a couple of bungees and a tarp so as to carry the bikes more conveniently inside the van. Job done!