Best way to transport bike in van. Any ingenious ideas.

Yes I appreciate as its a transit I can just chuck it in. However I used to do this with the old one, it caused a few issues. On leaning up against the racking it eventually wore through the saddle on the right, also on several occasions during feisty cornering it would just simply fall over. I’ve taken to lying the new bike down but its a ball ache as I’m regularly in and out of the van during a day at work.

I use straps through the tie down points…

Make up a stand for the fork to lock into?

Thought of straps etc but I was after something quick to remove and put back in, even considered hanging it from the roof but not figured out how.

Couple of straps to the side are pretty quick. The straps just live there. Have thought of a wheel tray but with 2 different bikes sizing and positioning it might not be obvious.

Bike stand strapped or screwd to the floor with a bungie to hold it in. Mines at the back and load through the side door. I’ll try and get a picture later for you.

https://www.seasucker.com/shop/20mm-thru-axle-fork-mount/
they do 20mm and 15mm , i then fitted 2 of THESE into my ply floor, i’ve transported 5 bikes in my scudo van with those without problems (I usually strap the wheels to the back wheel of each bike)

the seasucker mount is available from fisheroutdoor.co.uk so your local bike shop should be able to get them for £19.99 rrp (they are in stock as well 🙂 )

My mate bolted a cheap screwfix vice horizontally to the bulkhead to hold the rear tyre and then bungees the bars to the side via the brake lever. Difficult to visualise, but very effective.

As much as I love that he used a vice, would a couple of blocks of wood not have done the same job?

Guy I know bought some of those rubber coated metal straps that you just twist round each other, like big freezer bag ties and uses those to secure bike to inside of van, seems to work well and allows flexibility of securing several bikes.

Mate of mine has one of those basic bike shop floor stands just fixed to the side of the van. Rolls it in, wedges wheel in stand, job jobbed.

I know what you mean, the bikes used to be on car roof racks and never came to any harm, we bought a van (clearly the best form of bike transport) and they incurred more (minor) damage than ever before. So we now leave a few big square foam pieces in the van, and have put a number of eyes at various points on each side. We then use bungees and canoe (roof rack) straps. Foam ideal to pack them together, against the van wall or with other things in there. No probs since.

Onzadog – Member
Mate of mine has one of those basic bike shop floor stands just fixed to the side of the van. Rolls it in, wedges wheel in stand, job jobbed.

That’s what I do except, the stands are fixed to the bulkhead – loading takes about ten seconds.

In the Berlingo, for space efficiency – it’s front wheel out, bike down side (back slots in to gap) then a tiedown round headstock with wheel and then a sheet/blanket over – protection/security (stick some foam/sorbo to the side at contact points) – in a transit you could probably do this vertically

from the roof – ? make something that seat slots into and strap/tiedown to front ? to hold in slot

Using the Seasucker method like Spev described.
image by Jeevester[/url], on Flickr

Heavy Duty Cable Tie at about shoulder height connected to the side of van, slide the nose of the saddle through and it hangs.

see the ring to the left in antares picture.
i have a lanyard attached with a zip tie to mine.
i reverse the bike in with pedal on the wheel arch, turn the tyre in front of the wheel arch so the wheel faces towards the middle of van and clip the lanyard to the down tube, works very well for me

van bike rack

Elastic band to hold one of the brakes on, bungie cords clipped to tie-in points and gaps in the metal, blanket between bike and side to protect paint and other bits. Never had a problem yet.

In my old van I used to use a bungy behind the brake lever and one on the back wheel

I refined this on the new van with a single bungy that doesn’t need detaching to fix the bikes, just loops over saddle nose.

I have a bungy floor to ceiling about half way down the van, running vertically.
Load the bikes, push front wheel into the corner and pull the bungy round the saddle nose.
2 seconds, secure, done.
2nd bungy through the tyre if I need more security but don’t bother with that most days.

I so wish my tranny looked like that. I have a rack the width of the arch the whole way down the right side then buckets of tools up to the bulk head.

We use zip ties through the ceiling rails. Works like a dream.

Only for QR/9mm but the Saris one is marginally cheaper.

I’ve been toying with making something myself to hold the bikes in the van but it’s dawning that the time I’ve wasted mucking about far exceeds the <£20 it would cost to just buy one of those clamps.

And I’m also amused at Lionheart’s observation that carrying bikes on the car was never a problem, but now with a “much more practical” van it’s a massive PITA. I’m in exactly the same position. D’oh.

Those front wheel axle holder thingys look a right old faff. You take wheel out and qr, then locate qr in the tube on the holder, have I got that right?

I hang mine vertically off back doors with a front wheel hanger thing – only works if you can stand up in your van though.

How about 2 hooks from the roof and slot handle bars into them with front wheel in the air.

Zippy I think you’re on to something there. The bars would help to keep it stable as they’re tight against roof. Like!

As much as I love that he used a vice, would a couple of blocks of wood not have done the same job?

No, as the vice can be tightened to hold on to the rear tyre, wedging it in place and is adjustable between DH, XC & Road tyre widths.

Why not put it on the roof of the van? There are thousands of people driving around in empty cars with bikes strapped like trophies on the roof so they can’t be wrong.

Don’t you get the wife/girlfriend to sit in the back and hold the bike so it doesn’t move around ? IGMC

Can you not attach something like this to the racking

Bike Dock Solutions – Bike Perch

Basically a French Cleat for the bike?

minoura vergo excel (you can make/ buy different inserts)

I use these things from Bike Inside in Germany –

Bike Inside Racks[/url]

Watch out for the dodgy music when you open the site though. Ack.

This has been bugging me all week / weekend. There must be a clever way of carrying bikes securely in the back of a van without getting in the way of everything else.

I’ve not come up with a real solution but as a bodge I realised I could just stick the bars through the grab handle in the van. It’s not rigid but it worked fine for an hour’s drive each way on Sunday.

4 bikes – no moving/touching no hassle..

for just one bike, front wheel against bulkhead, bars leaning against side of the van, 1 cargo strap from tie point beside front wheel, around down tube, tighten and that bikes not moving…. 30 seconds max to put in/take out

edit – instagram pics dont work?

copy this –
https://instagram.com/p/12F_yaxhbY/?taken-by=kendo954

Certain vans are easier than others.I have a Citroen relay now and just bungy the bikes in before with a vivaro use bigger tie downs.With both vans have 2 blocks of wood up front to put motorbike in and lots of tie downs.Mind motorbike is a lot heavier 😀