securing bikes in vans

hi my van is not very secure so im looking of ways of securing my bike once inside what do others use . either to secure the van or preferable secure the bike while its left in the van

cheers mick

Era do a van lock block that fits on the rear doors does not require drilling and will fit any double door van, about 23 quid, from travis perkins ,builders merchants.

I leave my bike in my car (pug 306 hatch with rear seats out).

I’ve got a windsurfer locking cable (3M long cable) which I thread through everything and is also locked to a seatbelt mount point.
I also cover with a sheet.

i bolted a large eye bolt to one of the internal supports and did it up REALLY tight, used a bike lock cable and padlocks

Check out pragmasis – they sell a great range of security products.

Steve, who runs the business, is a great guy – I’m sure he can help out

smurf

Cheers chaps

You want something welding in if you want security, anything bolted in like seatbelt anchor points is a very quick and easy removal.

I’d go for securing the van rather than the bikes in the van to be honest. Depending on what van it is (size, rear doors only, rear and side etc, lock security) then you want these:
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/high-security-van-door-lock/path/vehicle-security
and these:
http://www.vangadgets.co.uk/van_lock_cover_plates.htm

It’s all about making touching the van too much hassle to be worth it.

I got a blacksmith to weld a hardened steel eye to the wheel arch in the back of my van. I run a big hardened chain & pad lock through that.

I use a clamp that i made myself,It is basically a front wheel "well" with an alloy bar that sits on the top of the front tyre.
I have made it for two bikes,and it sits slightly to one side in a swb vw transporter.
If it was a lwb one i think you could make a five bike rack no problem with crew seats.

side shot,bit dark sorry

I have secured them in the van by using a heavy duty motorcycle lock through the rack and bike frames.(the rack is bolted to the floor)

dont fancy knocking another one up do you fullbouncebill lol

securing the van by the locks is all well and good but its an old fashion type of van which has front 1/4 panel windows that can be removed by cutting the windowseal with a penknife and the window pops out and reach in and undo the door ;-(

ive been looking at a purpose made van ground anchor for motorbikes in vans that bolts to the floor but im wondering if a normal metal anchor welded to the floor would be just as good as that would be a cheaper option

I have actually made one for a friend of mine!

I used an old drivers seat out of a transt once,It worked really well as it used the back rest adjuster (sponge seat cover removed)to clamp up each wheel,it was heavy enough to lock things to as well.

The only thing was it was quite heavy, and after the recent fuel hikes i spent a lot of time junking the unecacery weight out of the van to assist fuel economy!!

I use a thick steel “garden furniture” cable lock threaded through the van’s superstructure.

ffb i not sure i get what you mean regarding the seat could you explain a bit as we get lots of cars to chop up at work so can ‘salvage’ some of it lol cheers mick

I guess you could use any car seat its just I had access to a transit one!Its a bit hard to describe here but i will have a go.

It requires a seat with an adjustable backrest (the turn knob on the side)You should be able to turn the knob anti clock wise so that the back of the seat moves towards the seat base,like a hinge.

With all of the sponge fabric removed you should have two rails on the base for the front/rear wheel to sit on,You will then have to fabricate some kind of top rail so that the top of each wheel is clamped in the shape of a T.

I think i get you g will have a fiddle when back at work cheers mate

Hi,

I’m Steve at Pragmasis, mentioned above. We make security stuff and our Torc Ground Anchor is available with a ‘Van’ fitting kit. In asnwer to the comments above about any simple fitting being easy to remove, we get around this by using security ‘shear nuts’ in this fitting kit. Shear nuts have a thin hexagonal head attached to a conical section which is where the thread is. When you tighten them, the hexagonal bit snaps off, leaving just an anti-tamper conical surface. Hence, they are not easily removed. To make it harder (for the thief), we also include threadlock in the kit.

Anyone using a cable lock to secure a decent bike is taking a big risk. Cable locks, including the supposedly good ones, can be cut easily (or the lock area broken). We do not know of a single cable lock on the market that we would use for anything other than to deter very opportunistic thefts. We only sell one type of cable lock for securing items of garden equipment that can’t be practically locked with a chain (because things like brush cutters/strimmers often have no structural handle or frame so you have to secure them with something that will pull really tight so the item can’t be pulled through). We always recommend a decent chain and decent padlock in preference to a cable lock, whenever there is something that a chain can be looped through. Fortunately, bikes have frames & wheels that are ideal 🙂

Incidentally, we don’t rate any square or hex or octagonal section chains. We think the edges give the bolt croppers something to grip on. We only sell round section chains. Beware of Far Eastern imports – there is a lot of rubbish being brought into this country by British companies but the raw material is often very lacking.

We’ve looked at various van door locks but are not selling any. They are a useful deterrent but don’t think they can’t be defeated. Check the Sold Secure rating and you will find that none of them have Bicycle Gold – there is a reason (without wanting to give the game away). (If anyone knows of one of these that does have a good rating, please let us know as we would be interested in taking a look.)

I hope this helps. There is more info on our stuff on our web site:

http://www.torc-anchors.com

We are always happy to answer questions.

Cheers,

Steve.