Thread: Temporary bicycle rack for use in a van

Use a bracket like this

http://www.amazon.com/Thule-821-Ride.../dp/B000QV3NWU

I bought mine locally and attached them to a length of timber which I can throw in the car any time I need to.

I should have added, I don't want to spend much (any) money doing this .

Full story is that some friends are coming down from Sydney to do a biketour from Launceston to Hobart via the coast. I'll be providing bike transport over the long, non sightseeing bits and, if they visit the Huon Valley, the seriously steep bits too.

I don't have any details of the bikes they'll be using but I'm assuming a touring style setup. I think a simple rack that can support the bikes by either wheel, without having to remove the wheel, would be easiest to load/unload the bikes.

A bit of late night measuring shows that I have 135mm between the tiedown points, total width wall to wall of 180mm. If I can't fit 3 bikes across this space, then I'll make two racks so there's 2 bikes at the front and one at the rear.

Here's one design that I should be able to make from bits I already have. EDIT: and another one

Steep hills in Tassie gee you'll have them in the van more than on the road.

Found this idea Geoff 2010-05-02_5-boro_01_van1.jpg real simple


Just watch you don't end up like this

Thanks Ray, that's first one is similar to the method Chris Parks posted earlier - costs money!
Option two? Never! If it doesn't fit in the back, it gets left behind.

I'm working on one based on the second photo in my previous post.. I already have the frames, courtesy of a friends kitchen rebuild, so I'm part way there.
Sketch attached

- legs to raise the frame over the wheel arches, height to be less than the bike's axle height
- slats of 70x35 (lots of scrap bits around)

Spacing of the slats is TBA - what's the typical width of a bike tyre? (touring bike). I was going to leave 50mm and then use bungee straps to tie the bikes down.

I have no idea how long/wide a bike is so I'll make two of these so I can position in the van as required. Enough tiedown points in the van to make it secure.

EDIT: Here's the (nearly) finished rack. The cross slats are not screwed down as I'm not sure what the wheel/tyre width is. Also I removed the legs as a quick calculation showed that with the inside depth of the rack of 410mm. the tyre would not be sitting on the floor. Not sure how imporatnt this is but with a (now) total height of about 120mm, I figure they'll be enough
support to stand the bikes upright and strap them down.

Looks like due to some seriously bad weather here, I'll be picking the bikes up tomorrow, a few days early than expected.