Greg, Before you start drilling, be sure to take whatever bikes you are going to carry and position them to see where the cranks and tires end up. I had a setup like this on my Syncro except I used a Yakima bar at the top of the hatch instead of punching holes. I eventually switched over to a Thule Doubletrack because my mountain bike's cranks came within about 1/2" of the hatch. I scratched the hatch more than once putting the bike on the rack. The biggest issue with attaching fork mounts over the hatch is where the bike's rear wheel ends up. If the fork mounts are too high for the back wheel to reach the bumper, the bike's rear wheel will rest on the hatch and bounce around. There is no way to secure the rear wheel in this case unless you put more holes on the hatch. If you attach the fork mounts low enough for your bike's rear tire to reach the bumper, you would have to drill through the glass. That's why I used the Yakima bar. The Yakima bar lowered the bike down far enough for the back tire to rest on the bumper and then you can just use a bungee to hold it down. If you're interested in my Yakima bar setup, I can take a pick and send it. It has two fork mounts (with skewers) attached to the crossbar, two towers that will attach to the hatch and a crossbar that is bent to the correct angle to accommodate the shape of the hatch. I'm not using it so I'll sell it cheap. A straight Yakima crossbar bar will not work. Let me know if you'd like to see pics, and definitely "dry-fit" you bike(s) up there if you are planning to drill through the hatch. cheers, Jeff
On Aug 12, 2009, at 12:12 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote: > Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:28:45 -0400 > From: Greg S <sorkilmo@GMAIL.COM> > Subject: bike rack bolted to hatch > > Does anyone see a problem with doing this to a Vanagon? Besides > having to > butcher the back hatch a bit. > http://picasaweb.google.com/sorkilmo/VanagonStuff#5369145191194401426 > > Thanks > Greg S. > 87' Wolfsburg Van > Ottawa, Ontario |
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