T5 owners…is this doable?

Looking at a fully kitted out camper by the time you flatten out the rock and roll bed, which is about as narrow as you’d want to go if you’re sleeping next to someone, and takes up the majority of the length of the van – bearing in mind R&R beds are usually quite short – i’m 5’9″ and my feet dangle off the end, then there is not much room to the side for 2 bikes. You’d get one bike in but would struggle with two, unless you staggered them and put them front to back. Anyway it’d be a squeeze.I think it’s an issue of width, not necessarily length.

For a van that can take bikes and you can sleep in I think the kombi bed is a good approach. I have LWB kombi with triple second row seat, and a more home brew setup with similar layout to the kombi bed. In day mode fully assembled bikes fit in easily behind the seats. In bed mode a couple of bike with front wheels off fit under the bed, along with a fair bit it kit. Reckon it would work ok in a SWB too.

Now we’ve lived with the LWB t5 for a bit I think some sort of a sectioned off bike store at the rear would work best, keeps the mud out of the way. If you don’t have a bulkhead swivel seats will provide loads more room than we’ve got but we value security so we can leave bikes in and wander off. We had a side slide bed made so that we can still shift relatively big items when using the van day to day (like the cargo bike or tandem!)

With the bed slid out you can fit 2 bikes front wheels off sideways between the bulkhead and the bed, easier if we hadn’t put a pod in that space too though… and secure them to the bulkhead to stop them flailing around.

Any Pics Mocha?

Pretty much my plan is a campervan with minimal camper stuff and using the same reversed front seat as part of the beday with a garage space at the back door.

I have done the all singing version on my old Sprinter and half the stuff I didn’t use so some thing really basic would work for me.

Now we’ve lived with the LWB t5 for a bit I think some sort of a sectioned off bike store at the rear would work best, keeps the mud out of the way.

Aye, I may gravitate toward that thinking too. Had the LWB T5 for 4 months now, plan was to live with it as is (well, after insulating, carpeting and fitting leisure battery/lights etc) and then do whatever work that I felt suited my needs best.

As Tomd says up there, putting a manky bike in the same area as your bed is a pita.

Been giving this some thought too of late. Trying to think outside the box. Starting point is that a bed doesn’t need to be square… your feet will fit in a far smaller space than your shoulders. Likewise, a bike storage space doesn’t need to be sqaure and with careful planning you could form a couple of triangular bike boxes on either side at the rear with a space between big enough for your lower bodies to sleep. Probably space above for storage too. Front part of bed can be made to swap into a table and seating are. Getting a kitchen in might be tough but not insurmountable. Maybe a couple of pop up cabinets or fold down surfaces? Not going to be simple but with imagination and a few DIY skills I reckon it would be possible to make something that works just fine.

Something like this would be near ideal – and yes, I know I’m drifting off from the original post. Our experience generally with a SWB T5 camper conversion is that one person with a bike works fine, two people with two bikes gets crowded. Two people with two muddy mountain bikes becomes actively unpleasant. But obviously it’s all subjective, depends on how your particular van is kitted out and your personal tolerance of waking up with a mud-crusted knobbly tyre in your face.

^^^There’s not a cats chance in hell I’m taking pedals off.^^^

er, does this work…

that was before we got it lined, insulated, leisure battery & led’s in the roof.

So it looked like this,

then we added the pod for brews & washing.

As was mentioned, a pop top would be nice to sleep without a pedal inbetween your toes but unjustifiable for the use it gets. Around £4k at our reckoning, eek.

It’s being able to use it day to day for big stuff that’s key for us.

This thread needs more photos – if you manage to get bikes in and bed in a swb lets see!

I’ve been thinking along the same lines myself after seeing the exploria ‘tri bike kite’ conversion but doing it myself so I can custom make it so I wouldn’t need to remove pedals (think the photo above is the conversion they do). Would prefer a swb but don’t think it’ll be possible to have a bike garage as well?

So more photos of your conversions please 🙂

hmmm, yeah, that’s a very idealistic picture isn’t it? Where are the wheels?

This thread needs more photos

This thread has some photos of my van

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sleeping-in-back-of-van-what-bed

It’s a LWB so just imagine it with 40cm less space. Couple of bikes with front wheels off slot under the bed fine. Would be more space without the second row of seats.

This thread has some photos of my van

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sleeping-in-back-of-van-what-bed

It’s a LWB so just imagine it with 40cm less space. Couple of bikes with front wheels off slot under the bed fine. Would be more space without the second row of seats.

I think that idea would definitely work well in a SWB. Always fancied a SWB but couldn’t see how bikes a bed could both fit, that would fit the bill for me.

hmmm, yeah, that’s a very idealistic picture isn’t it? Where are the wheels?

Who needs wheels. Or pedals for that matter. It’s just a lifestyle thing, baby… er, dude? 😉

wheels are probably on the roof rack…

Ok so no bikes in, but you can see how there is space for them plus the bed above

but you can see how there is space for them plus the bed above

I can’t see anything!

Why wont it let me link from my google photos account?

I give up Picture I cant make appear

Love the look of the Amdro Angel…anyone have any real world experience of one in a SWB T5?
Feel free to post pics of your bike/bed setups folks…need inspiration 🙂

We had a swb T5. Could fit two bikes in the back in a separate bit accessed from the rear doors, with space for two big storage boxes for kit too. The wheels had to come off but pretty easy. I would recommend this for sure. It’s so great when the bikes are wet muddy and stink of bog and sheep sh*t to have them separate from your sleeping area. In the side door we have a single bed/sofa along the side from behind the drivers seat, again with storage underneath. For sleeping this pulled out into a double bed and was plenty room enough for two. We have sold the van now but I should have some photos somewhere from when we were selling

Thanks slowmogirl – that would be great 🙂