Ok, bike related I promise!

Been looking at new vehicles, bikes are key obviously. Trying to work out what I could fit a bike in upright if I took the front wheel off, lengthways. Height (to dropped saddle) seems the limit).

Octavia and Leons (maybe golfs?) have dual height boot floors. It looks like with floor dropped, you might JUST fit a bike in with the front wheel off, upright – maybe need to drop the forks down the rear footwell.

Loads of you must have these vehicles as they’re a classic recommendation – does this work? Or what’s the best way of lugging your bikes in the car?

What size your bike is will be relevant too, I’ve got XL 29er gnarpoons to consider here…

I have one of the older Octavias with the drop floor. No way could I fit a bike in upright – not tried with lowering the forks though. Sounds like a pain. I just lay the bikes sideways with blankets between.

I was looking recently and dissed the Golf for that very reason – when taking multiple bikes we take off front and rear wheels & use a home brew stand for the rear to keep them upright & the mech off the floor.  Doing that I had 3 bikes + luggage + rear passenger in my Focus.    Ended up with an Octavia this time which measured up OK but not actually put the bikes in it yet..  The Golf had a silly small rear opening too.

Edit – largest fram is a 17″ though, not a gate 😀

Not a chance in a Leon, need to be thinking more SUV size for that to work.

Did a week away round the north of Scotland in a Leon with a medium Whyte G160 and camping gear, front wheel off, bike laid flat and loads of gear stored under the false floor – pillows, sleeping bag, boots, helmet, biking backpack from memory.

Octy is bigger than the Leon, Leon isn’t a huge estate and boot shape isn’t ideal. With the seats up my golf clubs fitted better in a Civic hatch, bike probably fitted better too but the estate does mean I could angle the handlebars better.

I tried what you were thinking in a Volvo 850 estate many years ago when bikes weren’t as long and slack, probably on a medium hardtail or Iron Horse 6.4 (can’t remember exactly which) and it just about took a lot of effort to get it tipped up enough to sleep alongside it. Actually think it may have been a both wheels off job.

I very much doubt this can be achieved unless they invent dropper forks. From like 130mm-50mm say 😂

Edit – largest fram is a 17″ though, not a gate

Yeah, I’m shifting farm equipment here 😉

need to be thinking more SUV size for that to work

You say that, but typical estate boot floor to roof is 80cm, same in most SUVs. I’ve been looking at a fair few…

My bike saddle dropped, front wheel off, high point is 94cm to saddle. 84cm fork dropout to bars.

I’ve got an Octavia estate, and have a 17″ hardtail – the answer is no

A mate has the Leon estate – it’s not as tall as my Octavia

Lay them flat with some old sheets in between

Edit – a friend has a Yeti – can certainly get road bikes in vertically with front wheel off!

My old Rocky mountain stood up in the Leon estate. Forks wound down and seat removed.

My new 29 ebike will only lay flat and ideally minus the pedals but it takes up most of the space.

I’ve got a Passat.

Can’t get a large short travel 29r in with wheels on on its side.

No way on this earth it would go in upright. Not even close.

I reckon you are in SUV or MPV territory (I’ve been looking at the Honda CRV amongst other things and I reckon it would go in that upright but not one of the regular estate cars I’ve looked at would take a 29r upright). Wide bars are part of the issue as they add height at the front.

I have the newest model Octavia.  It won’t get my large SC 5010 stood up in it.  The issue isn’t the boot floor but the distance from the folded seats to the roof.  Just not quite enough.

V70 – an XS 27.7″ fits in upright, no wheels across boot. Alternatively saddle off and front wheel off, and a proper shoogle to get it upright front to back with a seat down.

Large 29er or 27.5″ goes in both wheels on, flat and seats down.

Our old touran or Galaxy could only take bikes upright and front wheel off.

As a comparison I can get my XL camber upright with wheels off in the boot of my disco.  Handlebars just wedged into the dog guard.  I couldn’t imagine doing this with a normal estate type car.

Renault scenic takes a 54cm cx bike upright with both wheels on, diagonally with 2 of the 3 seats folded.

A scenic is a lot taller inside than a normal estate car ime, and very good as a bike transporter for that reason.

if only they would build the bloody thing properly . . .

Thanks all, some good practical info here. bear-uk in particular, the pic is a great help.

So basically it’s not happening in an estate, I thought that would be the case but the numbers seemed close on some so worth checking.

FWIW I have a berlingo just now, 3 bikes and 3 people with wheels on all bikes. I know with something more car like it won’t be that easy, but was hoping for an “easy” 2 bike + 2, where easy means I can load/unload kit and bikes separate without piling stuff in the way/playing tetris, which is the usual issue with bikes lying down.

Maybe I either need: a) another berlingo, b) some massive land barge (other half wouldn’t like that) or c) estate, and use a towbar rack when I need convenience and pack it internally for longer trips.

People’s practical info from stuff they own is helpful though, some good data points above with specific examples.

Without piling everything in the front seat all my camping gear and kit bags for a week away packed around the bike with nothing lying on top of it in the Leon. Was easy to slide the bike out too, had to remove a bag or two from in front of it then bike straight out, all under the load cover. With a couple of sheets over it, it was pretty difficult to tell there was even a bike in there.

If you’ve not got two in there all the time it will be manageable. Octavia would be even better with the extra space.

I was super careful with mine, brand new lease car that was only delivered that week, most of the mileage was from the delivery driver bringing it up. Would have been very easy to catch pedals or various other parts and scratch it inside or outside…

Not sure which model you’re looking at, mine is the Cupra, FWD, manual gear box, 300bhp, I absolutely love it! Also have a van for the vast majority of biking duties though, Leon only got used as I was doing the North Coast 500 with biking stops 🙂

I have one of the older Octavias with the drop floor. No way could I fit a bike in upright – not tried with lowering the forks though.

Same here – late mk2 with lower internal floor. I used to be able to get my older bikes upright into a mk1 Focus estate with forks lowered, but newer bigger wheeled, long travel bikes rule that out. As above, I think you’re looking at an SUV / Berlingo.

People’s practical info from stuff they own is helpful though, some good data points above with specific examples.

I like the Octavia as an estate – it’s very practical and a great motorway car. I run a roof rack which hits fuel economy a bit, but does keep bikes out the worst of winter road filth. The roof rack is also relatively hassle-free to stick the bike onto, which is a bonus.