How do you carry bikes in the back of your van?

Just got myself a Caddy maxi for bike carrying duties and wondered how people carry their bike without them moving about when driving.

My mate just uses a bungy core to hold them in place but they do still move about and the bars have damaged his panels so there must be a better way?

Both wheels on is my preference.

Pictures would be great.

cheers

Do something similar to this for my Peugeot partner van.

Tourneo custom has strap down anchor loops which we put a long Aldi ratchet strap through and strap round the last bike in. Each bike has a shroud bag so no chance of bikes rubbing against each other.
A tip from Bike Verbier that we have adopted is that if the bar is going to touch the side then a tennis ball with a hole cut in it the dia of the bar grip works better than any other form of padding

If it has exposed panels first up get it ply lined. Something at some point will shift and dent the panel from the inside.

This

I have 2 of the above in my maxi, just lifts out when not in use, leaving only the mount plate. I modified them slightly to get the bikes closer to the side of the van

In the Maxi you really need the bike to be bolted down, bungee cords are going to be useless in the event of a crash

If your unlucky to be involved in an accident the last thing you want is a bike coming over the seats into your head!

Got no pictures, but for the last 15 yrs i’ve been using a frame made of light gauge 1″ square steel tubing. It’s in a H pattern on the floor, and zip tied to the lashing eyes, with an upright on each side that’s inline with the seatpost, a couple of offcuts with rubber or dense foam glued on bolt to the uprights allowing them to pivot to the angle of the post, and a toe-strap around it holds the bike in place.A bungey fom the seatpost to the brake lever holds the front wheel at an angle against the bulkhead, and stops it bouncing around and banging the bars into the bodywork. Simple and effective, as long as you know somebody with a mig welder.

Turn them upside down then strap the bars down with tie downs. Stops them falling about but breaks the stw law about not turning your bike upside down.

I’ve got no pictures but in mine I have attachment points on the side top and bottom, front and back. I then have diagonal bungees going across to each of these.

I put the bike against the side, do a few wraps of bungee around the grip(no need to unhook it, just wrap and it holds) and then a couple of wraps around the saddle nose. Pulls it forwards and backwards then.

I have a couple of extending props ( think mini acro, the sort you get in B&Q to hold plasterboard sheets up while you screw them to the ceiling)
Wrap them with pipe lagging and you can hold bikes upright and anything else to stop it moving about. When I go windsurfing all the boards and sails go one side leaving me space to get charged.

Not mine, but I’m going to build something like this.
My bed is right up against the door though for maximum bed length so the wheels will go in wheel bags between bikes I’ll have magnetic tool boards in the spaces in the rear doors.
Not sure it would fit very well in a Caddy mind..

Go onto 24MX and look for their tie down straps. They have a carabiner on one end and a loop on the other for round the bars, they then pull down to tighten.

One on each handlebars with the front wheel against the bulkhead or back door. Solid and very quick.

Mine go against the racking on one side, with bungees in an x shape over the bike attached to load points bolted to the racking and the floor ply. Takes seconds to attach and they don’t move at all. Shape of the racking means that it’s only rear tyre and bar end that touch the racking.
I’m stealing that tennis ball idea though!

Hoss it in and put one weak bungee round the fork/head tube area which barely holds it against the ply lined side….. Jump in and drive away not giving it a second thought….

#YOLO

I’m going to build something like this.

I did. Its Brill. In another thread, but I have a few photos I’ll post later as I’m just off out. Wheels stay on mine and it has a pair of old Thule roof carriers screwed down. Dead handy for lower roof vans that are hard to get in the back of.

Fwiw I have built what Andrewh shows in my van.

Works well

Overkill for a caddy

In a caddy the easiest way is to wedge the rear tyre in to the gap between the bulkhead and sliding door on each side. Then a simple strap from tie down point near front wheel over to top of ply or one of holes in roof pillar section.

Cheap front hub fastened to wood,sheet of ply or sleeper style, then just take front wheel off and attach bike to the hub. My mate has done this using plywood and a few offcuts of timber and two cheap superstar hubs.
Two bikes top n tail with wheels strapped to the side. They don’t move.

Overkill for a caddy

Actually dead convenient to be able to load them stood outside at the back rather than crawling in and out or reaching in to hook straps on.

Thule spare parts.
Use the mid sized arms – one fitted to either side on a section of bar and just clamp the frame in the same way as on the rack. Just inside the van instead.

Bike stow looks like the kind of thing I was thinking of but it’s a bit too pricey.

I use these: https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Delta-Bike-Hitch-Thru-Axle_102203.htm

Takes seconds to remove front wheel and use the Maxle to keep everything secure.

5 seater Vito with one seat removed. Bikes get placed in the gap vacated by the seat, with a bungee from the next head rest around the frame. Takes seconds to do.

Actually dead convenient to be able to load them stood outside at the back rather than crawling in and out or reaching in to hook straps on.

Fair enough. Never felt the need to do it with my caddy sized van but I guess it depends if you have trex arms or not.

peugeot partner van, just kindda wedge it it diagonally with a ratchet strap to hold in place. has never budged. cba faffing about taking muddy wheels off.

Ply line, even partially, chuck muddy bike in any way you fancy and secure with a bungee or two.
Then when you need the van to carry something big, you don’t need to remove racking.

Up against the back seats with bungees securing them to the load points – if I’ve got more than one passenger.

If just 2 in the van, or takign a shit load of stuff, collapse the seats, bikes along the side of the van and secured to the load points again

Hi Tracy,
Where did you get the Shroud covers from please? Been using cardboard for a while but that looks ideal.
Thanks

Two bits of wood running across the rear of the loading bay screwed into the floor with crossing ones at various sizes to make a rack. Rear wheels slot in and can cope with my 2.6 regular tyre down to road ones with the various sizes. Bungee cord dropping from the roof at the front through the frame/fork and back to an eyelet. Never moves even when I forget the bungee. Cost was a couple of screw as the wood was in the garage when I bought the house.

Couple of pics of my sliding rack. No need to take the wheels of on this one, but fork mount would also be a great solution.

The black thumbscrews you can see means it dismantles quickly to turn it back into a van quick enough. It balances without having to attach the base to anything even with a couple of MTB’s slid out. Wooden peg to stop it all flying backwards and forwards under braking/acceleration.

This is how the sliding mechanism works. the channels are called ‘Unistrut’.

Bike Shrouds were made by RB Sails. They make them for most of the importers for their demo fleets.

That looks very nice tthew. Been googling Unistrut, good shout, was wondering how strong drawers runners are.
And I got a four-bike roof rack for nothing off freecycle, going to use the arm bits to support the downtube and the rear wheel holder too, mine will have to be front wheels off though.

wondering how strong drawers runners are.

Heavy duty ones like tool chests have would be plenty strong enough, and you can get really long ones for a decent length slide, but the price…. 🤯

Oh yeah, forgot to add, best price I got for Unistrut was a copy brand CEF (city electrical factors) They make a 1.5mm thick version which would be a bit lighter than mine, but I’d bought bearings for the normal profile before I realised. 😤

Made of old pallet wood. so was the cost of my time and some screws.

I’v snice stuck a hinged arm to the bace that braces against the front seat leg and I use a tie down strap to pull it tight to the same leg.

Bike gets velcro’d in to the rack around the wheel.  If I can be bothered I use another strap from frame to side of the van.
Nowhere near as fancy as some solutions above – but I pop it in / take it out in a minute, (or can chuck it outside the van to make space if we’re away – it’s unlikely to be nikced!).  It’s a lot more secure than just a strap to the side of the van and it keeps dirty bikes from leaning on other kit etc.

Just another option  for you.

Si

Scc99 that is the sort of thing I was thinking of. Cheers

https://cbsofficegroup.co.uk/product/cycle-rack-4-alu-309714-SBY05669
use one of this in my Kangoo maxi although i paid about £15 off ebay

Only carry one bike in my short wheelbase 2019 partner so just goes in at an angle strapped at back, high strap at bars over to door and then a bungie at the base of front wheel to keep it straight. Not strapped in in this pic but only one I have

F7FEBE4E-5AFD-48A2-AEE1-A54585F14489 by win rya[/url], on Flickr

Where’s the tool bags, spare coats, jump leads, track pump, umbrella, old towels etc. etc…… 😁

Where’s the tool bags, spare coats, jump leads, track pump, umbrella, old towels etc. etc…… 😁

All removed for 2 weeks of Xmas joy 😂 but I carry everything in dewalt tstak boxes so takes a couple of mins to empty

5 in the SWB connect today. 2 hybrids, 2 roadies & a HT