Camper van for bike trips?

V dub prob not the best choice to carry bikes on the back. Anyone got useful suggestions?

Functionality over form is fine.

The ones with bike garages are the safest if you're travelling with a valuable bike. This is mine:

I have a cheapo build Inbred that I take when carrying bikes on the back, my other bikes only get taken if they can stay inside.

Tell us more about the van, Steve.

if you want a smaller one i would recommend a mazda bongo,, it's 4 wheel drive 2.5 turbo deisel
it can be an 8 seater with room in the back for a load of rucksacs and climbing gear or the seats fold up at the back 5 seater plus room inside for all the bikes (front wheels out) and you can either fold all seats flat and sleep inside or pop the roof up and sleep up there,,

just spent 2 weeks on the west coast of scotland the girl and two springers , and bikes and it will cruise at 85 in the motorway (apaerently)

We've just bought a 5 Berth van of a similar size to Steve's. Ours is a 1996 based on a Peugeot Boxxer chassis with a 2.5 diesel engine. We'd thought about smaller more compact vans, but wanted something that had a shower and suitable 'living space' for winter weekends in the Highlands.

IMO the problem with the smaller vans is that you have to 'reconfigure' the interior space depending if you want to travel, sit, eat, or cook. And yeah, maybe you can go for a weekend without a shower, but no-one can manage 2 weeks without commiting a social faux-pas.

the stoner van
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/northmalvern/Van#

I think Ill take the bike up there…

* stinky stoner here 🙂
On the continent we stay at campsites. they are cheap, clean, well appointed and have hot water showers 🙂

In the UK we use trail centres showers, swimming pool showers, or wipe down with a soapy flannel if needs must. We dont use UK campsites because they are expensive, crap and well, just crap.

but no-one can manage 2 weeks without commiting a social faux-pas.

There's usually somewhere you can find a shower.

small vans do have the problem with having to reconfigure we have a drivaaway tent which attaches to the side of the bongo we can get it up in around half an hour and can leave it on site while we go off,,

but the little van can get anywhere and park anywhere a car can it doesnt have the just stop and cook or sleep that a big van does

we have no kids just a pair of springers so it suits us i did have a 65 splitscreen vw it was bright pink (previos owner) it was very cool but just not practical 55mph max and small inside

I've just got a new camper van which is a motocross race truck. It will sleep 3/4 and has room inside (large garage accessed from rear) for 6-8 bikes. I've got shower/toilet, water tanks (one just for the jet wash), cooking facilities etc.

It's built in an Iveco daily van rather than coach built but still has windows, roof vents etc.

I bought it mainly for dh racing every weekend

Thanks. Food for thought. Should have mentioned my limited budget…

Buy mine? Converted Iveco Daily, very robust, sleeps 2 people under 5'10", with cooker, sink, loo, etc. Tres comfy, although not the prettiest available.

V dub prob not the best choice to carry bikes on the back.

Really!

Thinking of a Bongo myself… Pricey to run but not too pricey to buy, and that's a big deal in campervanland. Big mobile homes are fantastic but you can use little van ones as daily drivers if you don't mind the extra wallet impact per mile, so for my own use that'd be more practical. In the long run I'd maybe like to camperise it but in the short turn I'd just use it like a drivable tent rather than a full on mobile home.

(really, I want a Delica camper conversion, but that's not so sensible really, they're just cooler. Or a T5-based camper but that's expensive. Or an air-cooled VW but that's more a lifestyle choice than a sensible option I reckon, if only because of the price impact)

Stoner or others with rear mounted racks on van derived campers – how do you secure the bikes when sleeping? If you don't want to post that on the forum and I'd understand if you don't then could you mail me mtb <dot> local1 <at> yahoo <dot> co <dot> uk

Thanks

Almax motorbike chain and lock.

Yep as postierich say's just remember to lock them to the rack as well.

If you're on a budget, then something like a LWB High top Transit might good.
Ive had mine for 3 years, and its perfect for biking.
There are 3 main back sections to my van – the bed is in the first window/sliding door, the kitchen/sink etc… in the next window and the last window (blacked out) will fit 3 bikes.
Plus, if you're needing more storage room/another double bed, then the space over the cab going back to the end of the sliding door is perfect for that.
Im heading up to Aviemore for a racing (road) weekend, and im taking 2 passengers and 6 bikes and loads of kit, so if you're on your own or there is just a couple of people, then there is more than enough room.

thanks for the replies, do you cover them up after locking them with something like this

http://www.outdoorbits.com/fiamma-bike-cover-premium-p-207.html

Tell us more about the van, Steve.

It's a 2004 Ci Carioca 656 on a 2.0JTD Fiat Ducato base. 6-berth, 6.5m with 2 bunks at the rear. The lower of those folds up if not being used and that's the space that can be used as a garage.

We've had it since new and it's been around, from Norway and Sweden to Italy as well as over much of the UK, including the Outer Hebrides this year. It's got a pretty good shower, 100 litres of water and enought battery power for a few days in the wild. We've also got one of the quiet Honda generators if we're going to be off campsites for a while.

It was one of the cheaper new vans available when we bought it (£25K new) but unfortunately the new prices have gone up quite a lot over the last few years and that's also pushed used prices up. The previous version was the Carioca 5 and those could be had for perhaps £15K and up. Quite a few of them are used as rental vans and those can be a bit cheaper 2nd hand.

For mountain biking it's great. The first trip I used it for was Mount Keen. Arrived in the car-park the evening before, then cooked a meal and watched a DVD before bed. Got up early in the morning, biked up the hill and was back at the van just as hillwalkers in cars were beginning to arrive. Having a shower and a full-cooked breakfast before heading off seemed like quite a luxury!

Oh dear god…I'm very interested in something like this…which is annoying as I've just got myself out my need for a new Berlingo…was talking to a mate last night and he was showing me his T5 conversion…I'm thinking it is the way to go (maybe not T5 but something similar to it!)

As much as I love our excellent T4 aftermarket conversion, if I woke up one morning with a spare £40k* I would get a T5 California.

The finish and spec from a factory job is just perfect.

* EDIT: Having just checked the price list, its £40.5k base plus about £7k of options 🙂

forge – your email address bounced.
Anyway what I was going to email was:

I use a gert big motorcycle cable lock (20mm coated cable with small 3" steel shackle) through the middle of the frames and around the rack tubes.
A determined thief wouldnt have too much trouble cutting though either the rack (extruded alloy) or the cable (steel filament) but its unlikely theyd manage it without waking us up inside. TBH in France/Spain/Germany there's very little risk of theft from rural campsites. We rarely use the van in the UK with the bikes and even then we usually camp wild so will be parked way out the way in the middle of a forest where no-one will find us anyway, let alone a bike thief.

If in UK then Id consider locking to the tow loop with a big D lock and the cable lock if I was forced to park up somewhere high risk.

Amdro Angel?

Thanks Stoner I've sent you a mail