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Im sure a few will have this set up. Had a look at some of these at the motorhome show and measured the height of the garage and none of them seemed able to take a bike stood up with wheels off. How do you store yours in these spaces? I can imagine 1 on its side but 2 bikes??
Confident someone will pop up with a pic showing me i'm worrying about nothing.
All of the people I know who have done this have high top vans.
They all have to take their front wheel off, the ones on sliders are pretty cool, mount the bikes different ways & you should easily be able to fit 3
Hmm these all were high tops - like this one https://www.adria.co.uk/campervans/twin-sports
But the garages were not tall enough to do as you suggest. I guess those may be custom built?
We had the same dilemma back in 2014. Visited the show with a tape measure and couldn't find any high-top van conversion that could accept our criteria which was up to 4 bikes with wheels on and not turning the bars.
Finished up with a Chausson on a Transit body which fitted the criteria along with some other stuff.
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My boss has a pro conversion based on a MAN that can fit two enduro motorbikes under the bed. It is massive though! L3H3 iirc.
We've got that set up.
Think about headroom in the bed, you really don't need much, leaving more space for bikes.
APF
We have a 2016 XLWB Sprinter that was done by SC for some semi-pro MX rider, which has far too much space underneath as it was designed for MX bikes. I think we could drop the bed by nearly a foot and still fit bikes with wheels on.
The bed space is a bit cramped in height for me at over 6ft & I think when we sell this and go for another, we will learn from what we like & dont like.
Got a friend with a monsterous tag-axle Autotrail motor home with a garage under the bed @ that fits bikes with the front wheel off easily. He usually has 4 or so bikes in there, but it was the thick end of £100k…
Im sure a few will have this set up. Had a look at some of these at the motorhome show and measured the height of the garage and none of them seemed able to take a bike stood up with wheels off
Dropper fully extended?
Dropper fully extended?
Ha ha, yes i really am that daft.
@Tracey yes, we saw those too and i think thats where we might end up. Those options have loads more space.
If I had the money, something like this would be a good compromise (MAN/Crafter MWB 3.5 Tonne chassis):
It's got an electric bed in the back that can be raised and lowered to suit, and you can have an extra bed in the back on trips where you don't take the bikes. It also has the wide flares on the back to increase the length of the bed.
I also went to the NEC the other week and a lot of vans this size are £££ so I'll have to stick with what I've got for now.
We have a Coachbuilt Motorhome and that has space for the bikes in the garage under the bed. I can fit 4 bikes in there with just the front wheels removed (and mine is an XL frame). Still plenty of room on the bed as well. The previous van we have to remove the seat posts which was a bit more work.
When we bought this van we turned up at the dealers with the bikes to make sure they would fit (as it would be show stopper for us if they didn't)
Something like this maybe? Slide along to 4:30 for the garage.
Think about the impact of clean air zones when making choices 👍
Similar arrangement to Tracy, I can fit the bikes in the garage with the rear bed wound up, but i just put them on the bike rack on the back of the van anyway.
I am just finishing a conversion with a longer garage and bed over but on a h3 Relay. Had the the bed across on Version 1 but this made it tight getting bikes in so have gone for a bed the other way which is longer(190cm). shower and toilet over arch and the bed much higher.
Managed to easily get 4 bikes in the other day but with front wheel off. Haven't tried 1 or 2 with wheels on.
Will get some photos taken when I get a chance if you want some.
We want photos dcl
We had a Transit custom with SWB, standard height a few years ago. One of the options was to fit 3 bikes with wheels on under the bed (a Alpine 160 and 2 Capras for quick uplifts/ease) but it only gave use about 2’ of sleep space and the bed was at the front of the van so the bikes were backed in.
It was ok for a week away but some people found it a bike claustrophobic.
Apart from something like Outside Vans in the US (which cost $$$$$$$$$$$!!!!) I haven’t seen any decent set ups that don’t compromise either bed space or storage space.
I think front wheels off on a slider seems the best.
My bed frame was built to be at 3 heights (400mm, 1000mm high and 600mm from the roof) or totally removed depending on what I needed it for no point in having a high bed if you’re mountaineering that week.
We went to the motorhome show when we were looking a couple of years ago, couldn’t find anything there suitable (apart from coach builds but didn’t want one) so we built our own.
Slide out tray, front wheels off and bed above in a L3H2 Relay.
Built for 2 bikes but you could get 4 in if we’d built the back differently and still have space for the shower room down the side.
Some photos here https://photos.app.goo.gl/gCozhLCDmW58BTAj7
I've an iveco that has room for 3 bikes under the double bed at the back. Front wheels out and the front axles go into receivers on the tray and slide in. This leaves enough room for 2 more bikes sideways right at the back -or other luggage.
It can be done
If i can get a pic to post!!Had a look at some of these at the motorhome show and measured the height of the garage and none of them seemed able to take a bike stood up with wheels off.
We went looking, and came to the same conclusion (at least for van conversions).
...so converted our own based on a 5.4m long, mid height (H2) Citroen Relay van.
It will take 4 bikes (2 road + 2 MTB) at a pinch; 2 or 3 MTBs easily. I wanted to be able to put my road bike in without dropping the saddle, so this set the overall height.
The van was designed to be insulated from the garage, so the garage doesn't need any insulation on the floor, etc. The bed platform is a ply box beam to save height (only 70mm overall thickness, with insulation inside). It strong and stiff enough to span the whole garage without supports. The bed is mounted quite high, but there's just enough space to sit up comfortably. This gives us 920mm height in the garage.
The bikes are angled slightly across the van to fit within the width of the bed. The floor of the garage is clear enough that you can sling a single bike will in on its side without taking anything off when the garage is empty. (The water heater hangs under the bed, for example, to keep enough of the floor clear.)
This works well for us, but we're both only ~5'6" with medium sized bike frames.
The rack is a Minoura Vergo but I've modified the clamps & made some new ones to suit the rail. It is free-standing which allows it to be moved about to suit what needs to be carried. It's proved to be very stable.
We went coach built but a narrow one so it’s only a couple of centimetres wider than the ducato. We bought a burnster travel van
Mine will take three bikes upright, 4 with some fiddling. Front wheel off and saddle dropped or removed.
My bed is sideways so I couldn't raise the bed any further as the tumblehome of the walls meant the bed got too short for me. If you have a lengthways bed you could easily raise another another 10 or 20cm without compromising the ability to sit up in bed with a regular hightop.
The bikes go sideways as the rear half of the garage is taken up with the fridge, batteries, electric distribution, spare wheel and propex heater. It does mean the bikes have to be unloaded if you need to get to something behind them though. If I did it again, I think I'd relocate the battteries and electrical distribution and have an opening into the toilet, as I could then put two bikes in longways (where the camping chairs are...still wheel off and saddle dropped) and it wouldn't be the end of the world having handlebars in front of the bog!
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Interesting thread - MrsMC saw a T6 camper the other day and said she reckoned that would fo for the two of us, but I'm loathe to leave the bikes outside on a rack.
Would love to explore the motorhome show and see what might suit.
If it stops pissing down tomorrow
Bike racks – Do you not lie awake at night worrying that someone is trying to spirit your bikes away?
Yes, which is why they now go inside.
Now I just worry someone will break into the van instead whilst we’re asleep 😴
Bike racks – Do you not lie awake at night worrying that someone is trying to spirit your bikes away?
Nope. They are locked onto it. In 4 years of being away every weekend in the van never had an issue. Frees up the garage for all my other stuff too.
Having said that it'll probably get nicked this weekend now.
Which is more secure. Bikes locked to a tow bar with heavy chains and a good lock or two, or free standing inside a possibly not very secure van or motorhome garage door? I can theoretically do either and really don’t know which is best.
Mine is an L3H2 Ducato, it's been converted to my design so that it can travel, sleep and seat three and take their bikes, paddle boards and supplementary kit.
We've got it set up with a full width fixed bed in the rear sleeping lengthwise. That gives enough height for bikes to go in front wheel off only and still have plenty of headroom in the bed. We've then got a kitchen unit on the door side with 2 burner hob, sink, fridge and cupboard in one side and a toilet/shower room on the other with a single seat/slide out single bed behind the drivers seat. Rotating double upfront so we can seat 3 inside if the weather is manky.
Garage has a sliding tray for 3 bikes, if you didn't want to take other stuff then that could go up but some space is taken up by the heater, has cupboard and water tank.
Bikes inside always. Ripping a door open is likely to wake you up, bolt croppering your lock on the back of the van not necessarily. But also if you have bikes visible on the outside then you can be followed so they can just nick them from your home later (fairly sure this happened to us).
Which is more secure. Bikes locked to a tow bar with heavy chains and a good lock or two, or free standing inside a possibly not very secure van or motorhome garage door?
Van doors can easily be fitted with deadlocks making them pretty secure. (If the garage is separate from the accomodation, then it's only the rear / garage door that needs to be deadlocked.)
Just because the bikes are inside, it doesn't mean you can't lock them too - even provide an anchor point - if you want to. Battery angle-grinders will make short work of pretty much any chain but if thieves can't see the chain, then they don't know that they need to bring a grinder.
Bikes outside get covered in crud on wet roads.
But mostly: Inside = out of sight, so no temptation.
(That was our thinking, anyway, based on wanting to be able to leave the van / bikes somewhere and go off and do something else for the day, as well as just going biking.)
Out of site every time
The wild camping brigade is here 😅🤣😂
Interesting thread – MrsMC saw a T6 camper the other day and said she reckoned that would fo for the two of us, but I’m loathe to leave the bikes outside on a rack.
Would love to explore the motorhome show and see what might suit.
Something T6 sized would work, bikes inside, so long as you're ok using the pop top to sleep in, and putting the bikes outside when you want to use the living area.
For a T6 conversion for 2 bikers I'd look at what Cathro did.
Garage in the back, bed in the pop top, you should be able to do transverse bike mounting with both wheels out which would mean the garage would only have to be pretty small. You could have quite a decent living area.
I've seen some T6 LWB vans with a small garage across the back and then a standard SWB conversion. Basically you end up with a 40cm deep garage for 1 or 2 bikes with a wheel off.
@crewlie - my theory is that if the scrotes can’t see them then they’re less likely to get nicked. It also means that you’re less likely to be followed home and have them nicked from there.
That’s also the reason why my current van is made to look like a boring family wagon (you know the type, the family that think they need the bigger vehicle when really they could manage with an estate or people carrier LOL) that is probably full of nappies and pushchairs. And my previous vans looked like white vans (the most invisible vehicle in the world). That means no biking, boating, surfing or mountaineering kit in the cab on show and a zero policy on stickers!
Also sometime you just want to park in the middle of a town and go for food/pub (Morzine, Merthyr, random French or Italian town on the way back from alps
Tick
And my previous vans looked like white vans (the most invisible vehicle in the world).
Unless you're the sort of person who lists 110V tools for sale on Gumtree at 3am.
