Bike storage in van without front wheel - QR bracket mounting?

[deliquium]

Apologies if the subject is a bit vague

Am thinking of buying a Berlingo or similar wee van and rather than just chucking the bike in the back, I'd like to fashion or buy a bracket which secured said bike (without front wheel) by the front forks and a QR spindle, somewhere to the van's interior structure?

Are 'brackets' available as separate items? Thinking roof rack mounts where you see bikes attached without their front wheels.

BUT I will need make adaptions to raise said bracket to accommodate Gilles Berthoud stainless steel mudguards.

My Google fu is seriously lacking, but found this example of what I was thinking in OZ

[fastpedaller]

What about mounting the bikes upside-down? Just suitable pieces of wood and strap the bars in place - a lot steadier, no force on the forks, minimal mudguard issues and the wheels can stay where they are.

[Paulatic]

Simple enough to to make.
Take a Block of wood, width of forks, with hole drilled through for quick release. Screw that onto something solid. I used an old bit of kitchen worktop. It never moves.

[tatanab]

https://www.inmotionproducts.com/Bike-C ... amp-78.htm

Years ago I had a Citroen C15 van which has a low level bulkhead. I mounted two of these on top which worked very nicely.

[Nigel]

My idea is slightly posher version of Paulatic's above.
I'd be tempted to do it in wood, with framework designed to either wedge, or make use of any load tie-down rings in vehicle. If you're good at aluminum framework fabrication, do it in aluminum.
End at bike, with a pillar of approximately wheel-hub lock-nut width to secure the fork (piece of 4inch planed wood is what I have in mind).
Drill to take a tube of axle outside diameter (must be able to find some tube - aluminium or brass or something - of appropriate diameter), and cut tube to axle length. Posh version has saw cut into wood to axle, to allow clamping screw to hold tube tightly. Put QR skewer through tube.

The very slight advantage mine offers is presenting an axle diameter to sit in the fork drop-out, rather than a thinner QR skewer. Its a small advantage.

Could probably do something similar with bits salvaged from a cheap hub.

[gxaustin]

If you are prepared to collapse one of the rear seats then you can fit two bikes in, standing vertically with wheels in place. One is retsrained by the seat belt and the other by a bungee.
It works for my friend.

[reohn2]

Deliqium
You could use an old front hub held captive in timber blocks in turn screwed to a 30cm square of 18mm ply bolted to the van floor

[Jdsk]

Delta Bike Hitch Pro £17.99
https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Delta-Bike-Hitch-Pro_46651.htm

Jonathan

[rmurphy195]

Simple enough to to make.
Take a Block of wood, width of forks, with hole drilled through for quick release. Screw that onto something solid. I used an old bit of kitchen worktop. It never moves.

BIG advantage of this method - you can tailor the wooden block for your needs to get clearance for your mudguard. If the block looks too tall to resist fore-aft movement (e.g. accelerating/braking if bikes are inline with the van's direction of travel) mount it on another block at right angles. Or on a cross-piece to give lateral movement (going around bends) as well.

If you want 2 bikes, make up a wider T peice as a framework, with the n bikes facing opposite ways. Extend the T pieces across, and screw some bits of 2x1 such that the back wheel can drop in between them, to stop the back of the bike jumping from side to side. (Many people forget the back wheels!). You could maybe make the cross-pieces long enough to fit right across the van so they don't move from side to side, even if the bike-holding part of the framework is only half the width.

I made up something like this from 4x4 and coach bolts, clamped into a bike trailer a while back. While the trailer has long since gone, the T-pieces are doing sterling service in my garage.

[peterb]

I use one of the Delta fork mounts screwed to a piece of 3x1 almost the full width of the boot - if too short bike can tip as the 3x1 is not fixed. Easy enough to raise it by using thicker timber. The current Delta Hitch is a little different to the one above, with a more complicated locking facility. In both cases the 'locking' can easily be overcome by unscrewing the other end of the QR!

[bikerider]

Here's mine in a Citroen Berlingo with the middle rear seat removed. I've used the spindle from a front wheel hub to hold the forks in position
John

[deliquium]

Thank you folks for lots of brill suggestions - you're all superstars

[backnotes]

I've had this gathering dust in the garage - we left the house it never got used in 12 years ago!

It would probably need to be raised up on a block of wood to raise the back of the front mudguard, and it is simply an alloy clone of the block of wood with a hole through it for a QR skewer. On the plus side, the virtual block of wood is the right width, and the skewer is at right angles to the sides! The skewer is thicker/ stronger than a regular QR skewer, but not quite as thick as an actual axle.

Yours for the cost of the postage.

[yostumpy]

Get yourself a Nissan nv200 combi (or van) and you don't have to take any wheels off at all.

[Des49]

We have a Fiat Doblo from 2006, similar to the Berlingo, (we used to have one of the early 2 door Berlingos before the current car). I fold the rear seats up, strap a 2x4" with rachet straps right across the top of the folded seats.

On the wood I have 3 qr clamps (from Saris and look exactly like the ones pictured at the top of this thread).

With the front wheel removed the forks clamp in. I have arranged things so the handlebars are virtually touching the roof lining. 3 bikes can be fitted in. If I have the need to carry other bikes it is easy to juggle the position of the clamps by just screwing them in another place.

Crucially I have also built a slatted shelf arrangement for the rear wheels to rest on, as high as possible so the saddles sit close to the roof again, and also high enough so I can slide a tool box, turbo, pump etc under the shelf. This gives a lot of storage space under the bkes that would be wasted if the bikes were not raised up. In fact I have slept (awkwardly I must admit) under the front triangle of the bikes, just protect the chainrings in case the sleeping bag touches these. Front and spare wheels can be placed between the rear wheels of the bikes with some padding inbetween to stop rubbing, it is easy to remove a bike without having to unpack loads of other stuff if you are carrying lots of additional baggage at the same time.

Of course a picture would explain this all much better than my words above, but I took all this apart a couple of days ago as I needed the rear seats. If I have time in the next day or so I can try and take some pics.

If you only have a bike to carry without mudguards or disc brake fittings then I find that forks can just be slid down between the cushions of the folded rear seats.