Transporting bikes - small is not always a problem.

[peetee]

Forgive me if this sounds patently obvious but it took me (a reasonably intelligent bloke) a while to get there so I thought it was worth a mention.
I have been a bike and car owner for a few decades now and always had the need to transport the former in the latter, from time to time. I have tried various boot and roof racks with varying success but never been happy with either for long drives.
Me and my partner are in the Dales this week and we have packed my VW Polo with two bikes and luggage inside. Clothes etc in the boot. Bikes, with wheels removed, upside down on the back seat. It’s an incredibly easy way to pack. A tarp protects the seat fabric and folds over the bikes. They are bulky enough so that no loose objects will come forward in an accident. The bikes in one area, the clothes and kit elsewhere means everything is accessible. We can go for a ride (en-route) and leave personal stuff out of sight in the boot or leave the bikes secure inside en-route or if there is no storage when we get to our stay.
I’m tall, so is my bike but it fits with another in a small car. Popping the wheels on is far less hassle than setting up a rack and they are far more likely to be still there if you go out of sight.

[tatanab]

Popping the wheels on is far less hassle

All very well, unless you are equipped with mudguards, carrier etc. Back in the 1970s I used to transport my time trial bike on the rear seat of a very small car, as you say - without mudguards etc it is easy. I totally agree that cycles can be better transported inside, and I do so with a Honda Jazz with the mudguards etc intact, just remove the front wheel. I often comment to myself when I see great big luxo-barges or camper vans etc with bikes outside when There is surely plenty of space inside.

[mattheus]

Yeah, full rear mudguards add a lot of length, and are easily damaged.

[simonineaston]

Bravo! Thanks for the tip. Sounds good. I can see how the rack & especially, 'guards might rain on the parade, though. btw I was chatting about car sizes the other day and those involved put forward two examples of cars that were tiny by comparison with their modern counterparts. They are the mini and the polo.

[peetee]

Popping the wheels on is far less hassle

All very well, unless you are equipped with mudguards, carrier etc.

That is true, but to be fair there are lots of other bike options that wouldn’t suit that way of packing either.
My point is that sometimes options can be overlooked that prove to be, in many ways, superior to the norm.

[axel_knutt]

I considered putting my 64cm Horizon in the back of my Honda Accord, and I think the reason I didn't was that it wouldn't fit. A 1986 Accord is bigger than a Mk1 Mondeo, but to get it in the boot I had to remove both wheels, both mudguards, rack, seat, bars, and finally, it still wouldn't quite fit without removing the rear dreailleur as well.

[PH]

They are bulky enough so that no loose objects will come forward in an accident.

I wouldn't trust that to be the case, IMO everything in a car should be secured.

[Barrowman]

Met up with a friend today to assess a trike . Complete 23" Trike , with quite a bit of seatpin showing straight in the back of a Ford Galaxy without even taking the front wheel out. My mate reckons his Tandem Trike will fit with the front wheel out too.

[TrevA]

I find it’s quite easy to fit several bikes in even a small car with the wheels removed. 2 of us took a team of 4 lads to the Junior Tour of Wales. I had 4 bikes plus spare wheels in the back of my Fiat Punto with the back seats folded down, whilst 3 of the lads, kit bags and the other driver were in the other car. One lad with me, in the passenger seat.

Me and the Mrs got both our touring bikes in the back of my Ford Focus estate, without having to take the wheels out.

[Grandad]

Met up with a friend today to assess a trike . Complete 23" Trike , with quite a bit of seatpin showing

Bit more luxurious than the way we got to TA events in the 1960s.



Apologies for the oversized picture

[drossall]

Decades ago, three of us drove down from Leeds to Cambridgeshire in a two-door Ford Escort for a student championship. We got all the bikes in. As owner of the smallest bike, I got to sit in the back with mine on my lap. Both ways.

Ten years later, I used to get the family including our two small children into our Ford Fiesta, with the same bike, when they came out to support me in club events. That time it was in the boot though (of a Fiesta...), not on the kids' laps!

More recently, when the side wall of my rear wheel blew out on an Audax, a friend generously rescued me, with bike and mudguards, in a classic Morris Minor. Although it did help that the rear guard happened to have broken, so was disposable.

[rareposter]

One of my cycling club mates used to drive out to TTs and road races with his bike on the back seat of his Mini Cooper.

This is the original classic Mini, not one of those modern "Mini" things the size of a small tank.

And many gears ago a group of us drove to Dartmoor for a long weekend MTBing. 4 people, 4 MTBs all packed in and on a Renault 5.
Admittedly having 4 bikes on the roof killed the already limited acceleration and max speed abilities of the poor car but we all fitted in!

[Grandad]

At the other end of the scale.

An open 25 in the Midlands in the 1960s, A very large limousine pulls in to the car park and the owner wheels out his bike from the rear door. David Duffield* was very close and quickly moved to stand by the open door and bow obsequiously like a doorman at the Ritz.

*A tricyle multi record holder including the End to End before becoming a TV commentator

[drossall]

One of my cycling club mates used to drive out to TTs and road races with his bike on the back seat of his Mini Cooper.

IIRC, a Leeds rider in the late 70s used to get his on the back of his motorbike. Only saw it once, so don't recall details.

[Ray]

Back around 1960 Ken Craven, short-distance TT star, often carried his fixed-wheel bike to events on a specially adapted rack on the back of his scooter (Lambretta, Vespa?). In those days, of course, if Dad's taxi wasn't available we rode out to distant events the day before, carrying our race wheels on brackets fastened to the front hub and strapped to the handlebar drops.

But, yes, inside a car is preferable. Was a little surprised to find that our Circe tandem fits quite nicely into our Hyundai Kona, removing front wheel, saddles and bars (all q/r), but retaining the mudguards; a five minute job.