Just picked up a van on Friday to make carting the MTBs around easier. After 20 minutes or so messing about I have found the easiest way to tie down is looping around the handlebar between the lock on grips and the levers. Its tied down hard enough to stop it moving over bumps, so compressing the forks maybe 20mm. Is this likely to cause any lasting damage/excess fatigue to the bars? Most of the trips are in the order of 15 minutes with the odd few hour jaunt to BPW/South Wales.
Alternatives are a basic rack up against the bulkhead for the rear wheel and just bungee the front in to the side of the van, but I wanted to keep the van uncluttered if possible as its useful for other things as well.
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That's how they are secured vertically at the BPW uplift - but whats securing your back wheel?
Is this likely to cause any lasting damage/excess fatigue to the bars? Most of the trips are in the order of 15 minutes with the odd few hour jaunt to BPW/South Wales.
Will it b@lls. How much force do you think goes through your bars when you're riding your bike? Tonnes (possibly literally at times), nowhere near what's being placed on them there.
Looks neat, but I'd want some kind of mount for the back wheel fixed to the floor so it couldn't move sideways. Maybe a wheel holder from a Thule rack bolted to the floor.
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I'd probably bolt one to the bulkhead as well to secure the front and stop it banging against it every time you braked.
Please excuse my ignorance, but why can't you just lie the bike down on its side in the back of the van?
Motorcycles are usually strapped down by the bars, very convenient way of securing a bike upright.
Motorcycles I can understand, nobody wants coolant, oil and fuel spilling all over everything but you can just lay a bicycle down, or bungee it to the side. Again, please excuse my stupidity but I don't understand why you need to hold a bicycle vertically upright in a van- it's less likely to get damaged if you lay it down because it [u]can't[/u] fall over any further, it's already as far down as it can get!
Lay a bike on it's side in a van, and it'll scuff up.
We used to carry mx bikes and tie the handlebars to the floor/trailer via long straps - would put a piece of plastic in the way to stop the forks compressing too much. Item was called a fork block.
Most of the trips are in the order of 15 minutes
🙄
Well, yeah, there is the option of 'just ride there you lazy tosspot'
🙂
#lifestyle Kayla. But OP seems to have bought the wrong van. Confusing isn't it?
This is as daft as those threads asking if I should let the air out of the tyres when I fly the bike. The aircraft hold is pressurised to 10,000 feet; would a bike's tyres explode going over an Alpine col? No. So no need to let the air out.
As others write, your handlebars take forces waaaay in excess of what's needed to compress the forks.
But I would just lie the bike down on its non-drive side or, to free up all that space, bungee it against the side.
this is what I do, got to be easier/more space efficient?! Honestly never even considered doing it like the pic in the OP!!bungee it against the side.
Or if you're worried (which you don't need to be) - turn it upside down and fasten the bars and saddle with straps/blocks of wood.
I use a length of gutter attached to the floor of my van to line the wheels up, I also made a silicone wall at one end to stop water/dirt that falls off the bike heading forwards when braking.
looks like an awful faff, if i had that much room id just lay it flat!
mine goes on one side, i have a ratchet strap from the far upper corner to the bottom corner by the door where there is a fixing point. loop it round the seatpost and tension it up.
Oh what van you go for?
Lay a bike on it's side in a van, and it'll scuff up.
No it won't. The tyres, pedal and grip/bar are the only bits that'll [i]maybe[/i] get marked and if you're arsed about that then maybe you shouldn't be riding your bike in the mud either in case you smudge your make-up... 😉
For what it's worth, not much I know, but ours just go in the van as flat as they can, on top of each other (but- gasp- what about scratches and re-sale values??!?!?) because they're just bikes and they're already scratched and dinged and marked and dirty because they're just bikes.
That does look like a faff. I'd bungee it to the side.
turn it upside down and fasten the bars and saddle with straps/blocks of wood.
Yeah, but then the #lifestylewagon won't be as cool in the [s]car[/s][b]van[/b]park.
Mental.
This thread's a really good trolly wind-up, right?
submarined - Member
Or if you're worried (which you don't need to be) - turn it upside down and fasten the bars and saddle with straps/blocks of wood.
And find when you get it out to ride it that you have crap brakes.....
Bungee upright against the side with a little protection like a blanket or something. And yeah, lie it on the floor seems sensible too, and cheap and easy to protect with a blanket if you want. That would free up space and faff time.
If you must mount it like that in the back, then at least install a ramp for you to ride it off the back, and maybe some dry ice for dramatic effect?
Ours have a strap to the side, and one from each wheel to front/back. A bit of padding between when we have 2 or more which is rare.
I'd bungee it to the side.
+1 that's how bikes travel in the back of my van
Bungee it to the side and you can fit a camp bed in the other side.
Win-win.
Why not just dismantle it entirely and pack all the componants individually into foam lined boxes whai have already been made specially to fit exactly the floorplan of the van's load area?
This way nothing will scratch anything else and you'll improve the handling of the van by lowering the centre of gravity of the vehicle....probably.
Your method works but I'll give another vote for just bungee it to the sides as I'm sure it will work well,be quicker and give you more space .
Nice LEDs by the way,a couple of Halfords LED bulbs have transformed the interior of my van,much nicer to use.
Defo just bungee to one side I say. Use the loop over the wheel arch, one short bungee round the downtube, one longer one to wrap the HT and pull it into the bulkhead. Its out of the way and not going anywhere.
Anyone?Oh what van you go for?
Holy shit.
That's for the OP [i]and[/i] many of the responses btw.
😀
Oh what van you go for?Anyone
Transit? Was going to say Vivaro but my Vivaro looks different to that.
Fwiw I say strap it to the side, more room to change/hide when it's pissing down
Why don't you turn the bike the other way round and rest the pedal on the wheel arch then tie it to the side of the van then you have a lot more space have always done that Vauxhall Vivaro and now a Citroen relay.
Good for the bike while you are riding 15 minutes home: to install some sort of heating device for the bike.
Fatigue for the bars isn't the problem.
It's the coldness.