The silver lining in the long delayed delivery of our new van is that we've had a lot of time to think and re-think various layouts. It is rare that a TC stays on any of the local dealer lots for more than a few days, so getting our hands on one to take measurements has been a huge challenge, but over time we've been able to verify the most critical dimensions. And though we'd still like to make a few more measurements to refine our current design, we feel confident that it is flexible enough to work regardless of whether our dimensions are off by an inch or two here or there.
The four foot height of our sliding doors is sufficient to allow my 58cm road bike to be stowed or removed without having to lean it at just the right angle in order to clear the opening. Just set the rear wheel on the load floor, hold it straight up and guide it back to it's parking spot. Our bikes are around 66" long wheel-to-wheel, so with the 19" depth of the rear drawer pedestal, they can't both fit parallel with the sides of the van (one could, on the streetside, where a wheel could fit parallel to the pedestal, but storing it there would make it difficult to store or extract the other bike). Taking the front wheel off would only save us about 4" in length with the fork resting on the floor, so there's not much point in even considering that as an option. The distance between the sliding doors is exactly five feet (including the step moulding), so they won't fit perpendicular to the sides of the van, with or without the front wheels attached. In any configuration that includes the drawer pedestal at the back, they pretty much have to be stored at an angle. Or at least they do if we want a configuration that will allow us to remove either bike without first having to remove the other.
A major issue that needs to be dealt with is how to secure the bikes while driving. I suspect that in an empty van, most people simply find a means of using a bungee cord or rope to secure a part of the frame to the inside of the van, but that won't work for our configuration. Likewise, it is also possible to lash them down to the two pairs of factory D-rings embedded in the load floor, which is also a no-go for us, as it negatively affects how we store other items. We had also considered bolting our old Yakima Highroller racks directly onto the floor, but that would have limited our ability to easily use the cargo space for other things when we aren't camping, and they would have added an extra couple of inches to the length needed to store the bikes and made it a bit more difficult to store and extract them. So what to do?
We think we've hit upon a fairly simple solution to this problem, by using parts of the back of the drawer pedestal as a place to brace the rear wheels of our bikes. With the rear wheel backed snuggly into a corner, it appears possible to store the bikes in an upright position by simply firmly securing the front wheel to the load floor (at least we've tested this in our garage and it seems to work well). So our plan is to secure a heavy duty 1.5" wide velcro strap to the load floor, located just a bit aft of where the front wheel contacts the floor. With that cinched tight it assures that the rear wheel remains squeezed into its corner, making it nearly impossible to turn the front handlebars (a high speed crash would likely change that, but the bikes should still remain fixed to the floor and thus not come flying forward on top of us or the dog). I'll likely hang a piece of angle iron horizontally on the back of the pedestal, positioned where the edge of the angle iron contacts the rear wheels at a point above the axles. That will make it impossible for the rear wheel to come up off the load floor and should minimize the likelihood that a collision would cause the bike to move forward slightly and thus allow inertia to attempt to rotate the bike on the axis of its front wheel axle. That makes it unnecessary for us to tie the rear wheel down. Being able to secure each bike with only a single velcro strap will make it very convenient to pull a bike out of the back on a whim to go on an errand or to get at some important piece of gear that is rarely used. Yet it should be secure enough to give us the peace of mind that they'll always stay put.
Of course with two bikes we need separate corners in which to wedge the bike tires for this scheme to work properly, though they don't need to be located very far apart. Fortunately, we will be installing "wings" on the back of the drawer pedestal to prevent anything that isn't strapped down on the sides from flying forward in the event of a crash. Where the curbside wing intersects the side of the van will be the corner for one of the bikes, and we'll probably add a small piece of angle iron a few inches inboard from that to wedge the other tire against. By angling the bikes with the rear to the curbside and the front to the streetside, it appears to be possible to easily extract either bike without having to move the remaining bike. If this works, then we have a very simple, elegant solution. Our fingers are crossed...
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| Conceptual plan view of cargo load floor. |
(The bikes shown in the plan view above are an approximation of our bikes [obviously they have a different handlebar style] and are scaled to be 66" long.)
On road bikes, the drivetrain (and it's oily mess) is located on the right hand side of the bike. That affects where we will decide to store things and why we've chosen to set things up so that the bikes are extracted from the streetside: we want to minimize the chances that chain oil gets transferred to the gear that is stored behind them. Since our bikes will be stored with the front wheel toward the front of the van, the curbside in effect becomes the "dirty side" and the streetside becomes the "clean side."
In the schematic above, you can see a triangular area of 4 to 5 square feet on the streetside located fore of the drawer pedestal. We've left room on the streetside of the pedestal to be able to have some possibility of accessing this area from the rear barn doors while the bikes are in place (if, for instance, we temporarily store our down comforter there during hot summer days we'd be able to reach in there and pull it out the back). But it is likely this storage area will be used for items that are needed very infrequently, so if we do have to temporarily move one bike for access, that's a reasonable price to pay.
We're hoping to suspend a tensioned cable near the ceiling above the clean storage area, giving us the ability to hang a few extra clothes (mainly extra jackets and cool weather bike clothes), which is very helpful since we'll be traveling during three seasons and will thus have need of a fairly wide range of clothing. And we'll suspend a lighter-duty clothes line behind the front seats where we'll be able to hang things to dry overnight (such as our bath towels and cycling clothes).
Lana will have access to most of the cargo area when we are tag teaming. But even with both bikes stored (like when we go into town together for dinner), she'll be able to access the areas directly behind the front seats and will have plenty of room to lay down. We would have preferred to have crated her, but it quickly became evident that was not possible without making a sacrifice in one or more other areas. The crate seemed to be less essential than other bulky items that we'll be carrying with us, especially since most days we won't be driving for more than an hour or two at a stretch. We're wondering how Lana will react to being left alone in the windowless cargo area while we are gone (usually for a brief shopping trip or while dining out), but if it turns out to be an issue we'll just have to deal with that on the road. One option is to put a blanket across the front seats so that she can watch for us until we return, which would also give her better access to fresh air.
We are currently thinking that we'll remove the van's vinyl load floor, the four D-ring tie-down points and the step moulding. We'll replace the load floor with a layer of flooring underlayment, a sheet of 3/4" marine grade hardwood plywood and a cushioned 3/8" closed cell gym mat. The plywood will be bolted to the steel load floor, providing a secure surface on which to anchor our bikes and other accessories. We'll likely hold the gym mat in place with some carpet tape. The underlayment should help to minimize squeaks and rattles, and I suspect that together the three layers will block more road noise than the factory vinyl load floor. The new wood load floor will allow us to place cargo tie downs wherever needed to anchor our heavy items (primarily our generator and water cooler).
When the van is converted from a wagon to a van upon entering the U.S., it is necessary to fill in the seating footwell. This leaves a carpeted storage area under the load floor that will be accessible once we remove the step moulding. We're thinking that it should be possible to replace that moulding with the wagon-style moulding, providing a cleanly finished look when viewed from outside the van. We'll simply be able to slide a full bag of dog food under the load floor, saving us space topside and keeping our ravenous chowhound at bay.
Since we'll be dining out from time to time, and since the dog will always be with us in the van, we've opted to get a seatback storage organizer to conveniently store all of her goodies that we'll need frequently: dog bowls, treats, leashes, balls, poop bags, etc (it also doubles as a means of keeping her from sneaking uninvited into the front bucket seats). That way, with the water cooler in the van, we can feed her wherever we may be, and that also prevents dog supplies from taking up storage space in the camper. She'll be less likely to worry about us popping into a restaurant if she's busy scarfing down her own dinner!
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