Bike racks on rear of van

Jodi66 · Newbie

Bike racks on rear of van

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Not a good idea.....
It will reduce the stability of the van.
The grit and dirt will wreck the bikes.
The vibration can cause fatigue and they will fall off.

I have seen all of the above numerous times.

Cheers,
Peter

Yuglamron · Guru

Saw three bikes, Bike rack and half the rear bumper of a Van on the Warrego Highway near the Puma servo Heading west about two weeks ago (West of Brisbane). Looks like a truck had driven over the whole shebang.

Luckily no one appears to have been injured.

If you do mount them there you have to be sure the welds on the rear bar and bar itself are sufficient to take the weight and stresses of them being mounted at the rear.. A hell of a lot of leverage in play.

T1 Terry · Guru

Peter (Pet-els) lost his electric bike of the back of his 5ér. It didn't fall off, someone cut the locking cable and removed it. Many stories of bikes being stolen from the rear of a caravan or motorhome and many other stories of poor attachment and the whole show breaking off.
So, if you can figure out how to put them in a sealed box on the back of the van to keep the dirt and stealing fingers off them, then get it mounted by someone who is experienced in caravan chassis structure and the best way to extend that to the rear of the van yet remain stable.

T1 Terry

-- Edited by T1 Terry on Thursday 22nd of February 2018 03:57:19 PM

Jodi66 · Newbie

Thanks for the feedback, will re think our bike rack

swamp · Senior Member

hi
Rear bumper needs to be strong enough
Long distance requires a high quality bike rack for bikes to sit in or sit on
Lights may need extending ???

Either mount on a ball mount welded onto rear bar
OR
weld on a 2 inch receiver onto rear bar

Bike rack choices
Custom makers in Melbourne from memory ,google it
Yakima bike racks high quality

Most important buy yourself at least 8 OKKY straps to prevent bike movement . MOVEMENT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR SAFE TRANSPORT

Depending on how u load van/car
van and car need to sit level loaded cannot stress this enough
CAR VAN loaded properly bikes will have no bad effects when towing

U may need to wash lube the bikes occasionally

Desert Dweller · Guru

Seen lots of bikes attached to RV's on racks that have obviously never moved from that position for many years. Rusty & dirty.

boab · Senior Member

Like wise DD people have jerry cans full of fuel, spare tyres, tool boxes all that would weigh a lot more than a couple of bikes get a decent rack made fasten your bike on with proper straps not occy straps that stretch and allow vibrations so long as your rear bar is strong enough you wont have any problems

Tony Bev · Guru

Jodi66 wrote:
hi
looking for advice on bike racks - we are thinking of having ours fitted to the rear bumper of our van.
would love to hear what other travellers think or have experienced.
cheers Di

Perhaps start off with a cheap bike rack, and cheap bicycles

Just about anyone can fit a bike rack for you

We carried an electric, and normal bicycle on our bike rack, and for whatever reason, we never used the bikes, on a 11,000 kilometre journey

-- Edited by Tony Bev on Sunday 25th of February 2018 06:37:57 PM