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  1. #1
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    Default Anyone have ideas for a motorbike ramp that can easily be folded/stowed away?

    Hi all,

    I'm just wondering if anyone has seen or has ideas for a motorbike ramp that can be folded/slid/stowed away easily inside a van? If not, I will put my thinking cap on and post some sketches here for evaluation...

    What I need is something a bit wider than your regular bike ramp, probably 500-600mm wide. The catch is that it will be constantly used throughout the day, so ease of use is a #1 priority. As well as being able to stow it away without completely blocking rear van access.

    A couple of ideas I had so far:
    • Ramp with base permanently attached to a hinge just inside the van
    • Ramp that slides out from against the wall, hooks into secure positioning holes
    • Ramp that folds up into 3 sections and is hinged against the wall. (Just thought that up while I was posting this... thanks forum!)


    Well I'm going to go off and sketch out some stuff for this hinging foldaway design... still interested to know if anyone here has seem some neat ramp designs/solutions though.

    Cheers

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  3. #2
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mugget View Post
    Hi all,

    I'm just wondering if anyone has seen or has ideas for a motorbike ramp that can be folded/slid/stowed away easily inside a van? If not, I will put my thinking cap on and post some sketches here for evaluation...

    What I need is something a bit wider than your regular bike ramp, probably 500-600mm wide. The catch is that it will be constantly used throughout the day, so ease of use is a #1 priority. As well as being able to stow it away without completely blocking rear van access.

    A couple of ideas I had so far:
    • Ramp with base permanently attached to a hinge just inside the van
    • Ramp that slides out from against the wall, hooks into secure positioning holes
    • Ramp that folds up into 3 sections and is hinged against the wall. (Just thought that up while I was posting this... thanks forum!)


    Well I'm going to go off and sketch out some stuff for this hinging foldaway design... still interested to know if anyone here has seem some neat ramp designs/solutions though.

    Cheers
    G'Day mugget, if your going to make the ramp as per 1 and even 2, I would make it out of Ally with expanded mesh to keep it light, as grabbing it 4 or 5 times a day could be a killer on the back.
    As for 3 I would look at some folding ramps that Repco, car accessory shops have, why re-invent the wheel. I have also seen a folding ramp fitted to a truck that allowed the spare wheel to be rolled up behind the cab and also rolled up to hold the wheel in place. Try looking up on Google to see what is already designed.
    Kryn

  4. #3
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    Default

    Hi Kryn, thanks for the comments. Funnily enough I had been trying to work out how the pieces would lock into place, the position of the hinge pivot point etc. then it dawned on me about 15 minutes ago that I should look at some photos of folding ramps. Haha.

    Although...

    Quote Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore View Post
    ... why re-invent the wheel.
    Well, you know what they say. "If it ain't broke, break it, then fix it."

    The brainwave I had when thinking up option #3 was to make the ramp from composites instead of ally that I had originally been planning on. Now that would be light.

    But you're right - Google is the way to go. Wish I had thought of that at first. That roll up ramp is pretty neat, although a bit bulky by my standards when it's packed up! I've only kind of guesstimated for the composite ramp, but I reckon it would only be around 60-70mm deep with 3 sections folded up. Say 700 x 600 x 60mm folded up against a wall, then giving a 2100 x 600 ramp when flat.

    I also learnt that SketchUp can do animation and physics simulation! So I figured I may as well sketch up a couple of designs in 3D then use it to check that the hinge/folding motion doesn't conflict.

    Oh yeah, one thing I didn't mention is that I'm thinking of some way to add a gas strut so it will just kind of fold itself out. Can't make this too easy!

    Okay - I'll search some more then see how I go. Will post back (eventually - depending on how well I pick up SketchUp) with some stuff for evaluation.

  5. #4
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    Default Folding Ramp v1.1

    Okay, so after having trouble trying to sketch ideas on paper, I thought building a 3D model would be easer so I could actually see everything. SketchUp looked pretty good and I discovered that it can do dynamic simulations (although only in the paid version with paid plug-ins I think?). Still I did a basic design then spent until about 2am trying to animate it... I gave up and just took screenshots:



    This is rough. The length of easy section would have to be progressively smaller so it doesn't foul the hinges when folding.

    The originating hinge (the one that is still on the floor in the last picture) could be mounted on a slider so the ramp could come to the edge of the van, otherwise there'd be a little bump at the top unless I come up with another type of shape.

    Next up I gotta work out how these gas struts can mount... I think I'd be better off just building a scale model of it!

  6. #5
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    Default

    Have you thought about mounting it on one of the doors.

    That way it will swing out with eh door and be out of your way when you open the door but you could have it hinged to fold down when you wanted to use it.

    Because of the height of a door (I'd guess 1200mm) you could have a ramp with only one fold in it.

  7. #6
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    Hmmmm... the van will be a high roof, so even higher doors - 1,800mm would be doable. When you say hinged on the door - how would that work exactly?? I can't visualise it... do you mean just stored/hung on the door, then taken down and place onto the ground/floor?

    Anyway, this is an updated side view. I was previously trying to keep as many hinges as possible on the underside of the panels to maintain a flat surface, but the way it needed to fold would have lead to packaging issues. So back to a simple accordion fold it is:



    Oh wait... now I just realised another reason why I can't do that. The first section won't even be able to support itself like that!

    Okay - back to the drawing board!

  8. #7
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    If you had it attached to the door (I'll assume passenger's side) by the lower left corner so it could rotate on a vertical axis then drop down into place as a ramp.

    This way you wouldn't need to install/uninstall it each time and the weight would be carried by the door.

    You would need some sort of support on the lower right corner so it had something to bear on when in use.

    Another option would be a ramp attached to a bumper/towbar that was in front of the last door to open so you only needed to move/drop it down if you wanted to either use or load a wide item.

  9. #8
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    G'day mugget, your hinge arrangement would work if the arm was extended beyond the pivot point, so that a pin could be installed on each side,and it could be made to automatically catch each side via a spring loaded arrangement. As it wouldn't be taking much weight approx 75 - 100mm extension would be required.
    Kryn

  10. #9
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    Mugget,

    Is this the style you're after? Spring assist which allows for heavier construction and the ramp stores vertically just inside the rear door.
    Not sure how much of your storage space you loose with this installed.
    The video might give you some ideas.
    FWIW, I can carry 4.2 metre lengths of timber in my LWB van - probably 4.3 if I let the timber touch the rear door


  11. #10
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    Hey zuffen, cheers for that, I think I understand what you mean now.

    Also I did think of somehow stowing a single flat ramp under the van body, like a trundle tray. But I don't have a van yet, haven't really looked at one to suss that out either...

    kryn - another nice idea!

    And yep PM
    snowyskiesau
    that is exactly the type of thing I was thinking about!
    Although looking at photos of that, now I can see that using a gas strut would require some more complex brackets and hinges. I didn't even think of tailgate springs, I think that would be a much more simple solution.

    Anyway - after all of this brainstorming I remembered about someone who made a pair of composite car ramps. I figure that since this is my first time doing anything more than simple body panels that I should keep things basic. So I've decided just to do a single flat ramp for now.
    Of course the fancy spring-assisted folding ramps can always come later...

  12. #11
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    Sticking with the Sprinter theme (I've seen your posts on the Sprinter forum )

    A ramp under-slung at the rear will be a problem as that's where the spare tyre is. It's bad enough to get the spare out without having to content with a ramp as well.

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