Date:         Wed, 21 Aug 1996 11:33:46 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Ian Webb <ian_webb@virginia.edu>
Subject:      Bike Rack

I balked at the price of the Paulchen rack as well.  And because necessity is 
the mother of invention, spare parts the father, and a few cold beers the 
inspiration, I was able to take an old Thule roof rack off my Honda and put 
it on the back of my westy.  The result: a very attractive, functional bike 
rack that with a little courage (and a lot less money than a Paulchen) one 
could duplicate very easily.  

What I did was this:  I first took a standard Thule roof rack with aero feet 
(instead of rain gutter feet), and attached the bars VERTICALLY to 
the back hatch, making sure they didn't get in the way of the hinge 
operation.  Being satisfied they would stay on, I took them off and bent them 
slightly to follow the curve of the back hatch (I did this be putting them 
between the frame and tire of an old pick up truck in my neighbors yard and 
leaning on them until I felt them give a little).  I then mounted them back 
on the hatch.  Then with some U-bolts from Lowe's, I took the bars from the 
short roof line kit that was on my Honda and mounted them horizontally across 
the bars attached to the hatch (this could be done with any extra bar that 
would fit the roof rack system.)  Then I took the two fork mount trays and 
mounted them vertically to the horizontal bars.  I have room to mount 2 bikes 
up there now, but with I'm sure I could fit 4 and am right now experimenting 
with mounting my new tandem to the rear of the van as well.  

This system doesn't get in the way of popping the top, but the added weight 
of the hatch requires you to prop the back open for loading or unloading.  I 
have inquired as to whether or not this might hurt the bikes since they are 
"suspended" from the front fork, but I am assured that it will not damage the 
bike's fork or headset.

And this is just a guess, but I'm almost positive that this system could be 
replicated using a less expensive version from Performance Bikes 
(1-800-pbs-bike).  I think they sell their roof mount kit for about $129 
including 2 fork mount trays.  I may be wrong about that...if anyone is 
interested, I can check my catalog tonite.  You would, of course, have to buy 
some extra bars or a short roof line adapter kit for the horizontals.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of my rack...nor do I have any way to scan 
tem and put them on a homepage, but if anyone is interested, I'll take some 
and send them to someone who does have access to a scanner.  

Ian


-- 


Ian Webb, Assistant Director
University of Virginia Roanoke Center 
Phone: (540) 857-7922
Fax: (540) 857-7936
ian_webb@virginia.edu