Securing bikes in the back of a (big) car.

[531colin]

Last year I bought my first ever new car, a Vauxhall Zafira.......I bought it simply because it was so cheap it would have been rude not to.
However, I really like it.....its a proper old man's car, its high up, I just have to swing my legs round and I'm standing up, theres none of that struggling to get out business. ....However, I digress.....Because it was new, and I was fed up with the bike sliding around in the back of other cars, I made a system to fix 2 bikes in the back. I didn't think it was anything special, but I was told I should write it up, so here it is........
I made a baseboard that fits snugly in the back....its 10 or 11mm thick OSB (oriented strand board, since you ask) and I had to find out the hard way that you need to make the separate bits of a size that will fit through the door .......



I also bought a bit of vinyl flooring that goes under the OSB and covers the seat backs.

I screwed through the OSB to attach a couple of bits of wood onto the top of my baseboard.....



I made a couple of blocks that fix to the forks using a front axle/skewer....the huge steel brackets come from Screwfix, there is a locating hole that takes a peg to locate the block in the baseboard......



My pegs are bits of a curtain rail, but dowel or all sorts of other things would work.

The block fixes to the bike like this, and it will stand up, which is useful if you are loading on your own....



And here is the bike and block pegged into the baseboard...



Here is the bike in the back.....despite it being a tall car, the seatpost has to come out.....the front wheel fits between the bike and the passenger door, and the worst bit of the job was getting a fixing in the side of the boot to take an elastic that holds the back of the bike down and to the side (but it doubles as a security strap for the supermarket shop, so that's OK



2 bikes will go in with mudguards and carriers and still leave most of the boot floor clear....but this half-built one was clean!

[Mick F]

Excellent.
Well done!

BTW, OSB used to be called "sterling board". I've no idea why or when they changed the name.

[Russell]

Very similar to the system I worked out to carry a tandem in the back of a Picasso. Blanket removed for clarity. On this long tandem I remove the bars, on a shorter one this is unnecessary. QR block from Dyason. Apologies for the rotated photos.

[MikeF]

Interesting ideas. Thanks for posting. If the bike is inside the car at least you know it isn't going to fall off or water won't penetrate if it's raining! I don't think our car is big enough for that though; I need to remove both wheels to put one inside or else use a towball carrier.

[531colin]

A tandem in a Picasso leaving 4 seats available is impressive!

[Tonyf33]

Nice looking job but seems like a load of hassle for not much gain to me, I take the whole bike and lay it down in the boot. I can still get 2 suitcases and a couple of large boxes of groceries in and around it without stacking anything up and the 14 years I've been doing that I've never had an issue ever. It's a Passat estate.
I have taken the front wheel off and put the frame between the front & rear sets when I packed the rear of the boot right up but again no extra bits to secure it though I can't say that it has ever moved about more than a couple of inches ever and I do tend to drive around the bends a bit sharpish at times.

As for the back wheel near to the handbrake..that just seems like a really bad idea..sorry

[Redvee]

Did similar when my bike went down to Port Isaac in my Dad's van, plank of wood across the width of the van and a roof rack mount like this off centre to go down the passenger side of the van. Found out that the hills of Cornwall are a lot harder than those of Bristol but did find the Camel Trail and rode it both ways.

[531colin]

Nice looking job but seems like a load of hassle for not much gain to me, I take the whole bike and lay it down in the boot. I can still get 2 suitcases and a couple of large boxes of groceries in and around it without stacking anything up and the 14 years I've been doing that I've never had an issue ever. It's a Passat estate........................

My boot isn't long enough to do that. (and its interesting with 2 bikes)

[thirdcrank]

The main potential problem with this sort of arrangement is space - either having enough room in the back to fit a bike/ bikes or the bike(s) displacing passengers and luggage. Put simply, it's a roof rack inside the car.

Minoura do one ready made:

http://www.zyro.co.uk/products/car-racks

Not particularly cheap.

[531colin]

Well, everydays a schoolday!
That Minoura one is "loose" in the car, ie un-attached, but one of the reviews I found on Minouras website (I think!) points me to another product that fixes in eg a van.....http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/accessories/bike-storage-systems/product/review-delta-cycle-stableloader-10-35317/

my baseboard is more use for getting rubble down to the tip!

[thirdcrank]

I only knew about the Minoura, or one of its predecessors, because about a dozen years ago, I "invented" this concept myself. I even bought a couple of Tusk(?) q/r mountings from the York Rally which are still in my stores unused. IIRC, one is still unwrapped. One component was missing, as is so often the case with my cunning plans: I never got a round tuit.

On the subject of fastening it all down, my Berlingo had six load securing loops in the back

=====================================================================================
edit to add: I see the Tusk www no longer mentions the brackets I have. They are intended to be screwed to a wall and the bike, minus front, wheel, hangs clamped by its front fork ends. I was intending to screw them to a chunk of wood in the back of the car. They avoid the need to source a spare front hub and make a bracket to hold it. If anybody wants them, they can have them on their undertaking to put the cost of postage in a charity collection.

======================================================
Further edit. The brackets have now gone, subject to me finding them in the garage.

[Tonyf33]

Nice looking job but seems like a load of hassle for not much gain to me, I take the whole bike and lay it down in the boot. I can still get 2 suitcases and a couple of large boxes of groceries in and around it without stacking anything up and the 14 years I've been doing that I've never had an issue ever. It's a Passat estate........................

My boot isn't long enough to do that. (and its interesting with 2 bikes)

Would have thought it easy in a Zafira to lay the bike down with just a slight turn in the bars? For two bikes in a hurry, front wheels off and lay thick dirty blanket between them but if going on a long trip seatposts out and front wheels off one either side of the boot with them standing up. luggage strap or bungee cord to the rear passenger grab rails if the rest of the luggage doesn't hold them in place which it invariably does.
Maybe the Zaf is a bit smaller than I thought?

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Maybe I missed the detail in the posts.
Are all the holding devices posted relying on the front QR to take all the cornering forces of car?
This of course does not exist with normal use of bike.

I had a similar set up on rear on a micro van with two bikes, because they hung off the rear door, I needed to secure bikes to the door as the QR would be the only thing that stopped bike falling to floor, even tho the rear wheel was secured in a bracket.
I used simple ratchet tie downs to the door from the handle bars.

Do roof racks like the TDF use rely only on the QR? I don't know / know if cycle rack sold just rely on QR ?
Most racks I have seen if you forget the ones fitted to the rear door with arms to sit frame on, have a channel to sit the wheels then a arm to hold frame.
The ones where front wheel are removed are common nowadays, just not thought much about it till now.

obviously bikes inside car aren't going any where but they will eventually slip out of the QR and its not designed for side twisting forces, lawyers lips will help of course.
Bungee to the side of car would suffice.

[Brucey]

...despite it being a tall car, the seatpost has to come out.....

it might be that if the bikes were mounted the other way around (forks to the rear), it may be possible to stow them with the saddles and seat pins in place, since the opening into the boot is rarely as tall as the cabin is. The taller bikes would have to go through the boot opening at an angle, so probably both before either is secured if they are both tall. I guess it depends how tight you are on length, e.g. if the handlebars presently overhang the folded rear seat or not.

It also may go OK (better?) if the bikes are mounted upside down. Blocks of wood can accept the handlebars (less loading when cornering/during camber changes) and straps/bungies are easily arranged to hold them in place. If nothing else when upside down there might be less mess; some of the crud dripping off a mucky bike collects inside the rear mudguard....

BTW I would sooner take the bike to bits in order to fit it inside a smaller car rather than use a roof rack.

cheers

[cyclop]

I had a Zaffy in which I could transport 5 bikes plus riders,4 on the roof with front wheels removed(never had a problem)secured via the quick release and a toe strap for the rear wheel then one on a " scissor" style carrier clamped to the towball,all loaded in about 10mins.The idea of removing a seatpin every time would be a no no for me.