Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 09:59:54 -0700
Reply-To: Alfred Bagdan <abagdan@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alfred Bagdan <abagdan@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Re: Homemade bike rack for '85 Westy?
Hi,
I made myself a bike rack out of square tubular steel a few years back.
Works great. I also adapted it to carry a storage box when I go camping
without the bikes. I can open the rear hatch with everything on, although
it is a lot easier unloaded. To support the vertical load, two legs extend
down and rest on top of the the bumper. Have not had any problems. It is
high enough up to see the license plate. It takes only a few minutes to
mount or to remove from the van. The total cost is only a few bucks. When
driving without bikes, the part that supports the bikes folds up so it does
not protrude out. You must have a welder and metal working tools and know
how to use them.
It is winter here (-20C) here, and I have no pictures of the setup.
If anyone really, really wants to see it, I will go outside and mount the
rack and take digital pictures of the setup and e-mail them to you privately
when it warms up a bit here.
Alfred
85 Westy
----- Original Message -----
From: "VWNut Hawk" <vwnut@HAWKCOMPUTING.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 12:52 PM
Subject: Re: Homemade bike rack for '85 Westy?
I plan on making myself one soon. I have a mig welder so I should be able
to
come up with something that works well.
I also prefer the hortizontal arrangement. I am 6'3' but I don't want to
take
the wheels off or anything.
Most of the time I'd be taking the bikes would be to a state park or
something where I can park
away from everyone else.
So I was thinking if I could make a detactable rack that I can make stand on
it's own too, I could
get into and out of the back hatch without unhooking all the bikes from the
rack.
Yes this would be heavy to lift but I could do it as the bikes are light
weight.
So I'm thinking of some support that starts by going through the tow loops
and rests on
the underside frame. When the vertical weight is applied it would just make
the arms from the hortizontal bar press harder against the frame.
The whole thing could be disassembled into parts for storage.
I'd need to round up some locking pins to keep it from rattling apart when
in use.
I want mine to be able to carry 3 bikes.
>>> Susie Kinyanjui <kivulini50@HOTMAIL.COM> 12/3/2003 12:25:58 PM >>>
Thanks for everyone's suggestions about the bike rack. Problem is, I'm only
5'4"and have had problems with previous racks because of not being able to
reach very high to attach bikes. So I was hoping to find some info/ideas
about a bike rack where the bikes sit horizontally. Hope that makes sense. I
guess it shouldn't be too hard to make one, I'm just not very design-savvy!
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