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A different way to carry your bicycles inside

13483 Views 33 Replies 13 Participants Last post by  Blackpointe
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I used plus nuts to attach a product called velo hinge made by Feedback Sports sold at Performance Bicycles on both the D pillars. Then, I bolted fork mounts to the velo hinge and now I am able to hang my bikes and take up very little room. The handle bars and pedals fit just inside the door. You will have to push your seat post in all the way or take the seat post out if you want to hang both bikes at the same time. My photo only shows one bike but I can hang two. The best part is that the velo hinge allows you to swing the bike 90 degrees when you open the door so that you can access your stuff in the rear of the van. We also ran L-track front to back recessed in the floor and then two more L-tracks side to side so that we can carry additional bikes and strap down stuff while traveling. Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to rotate the photos but the first two may not be oriented correctly.

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Cool thanks for the info... have you ever seen a fork mount mounted vertically instead of horizontally? For me a vertical mount that allows the handlebars and fork to be turned perpendicular to the frame would be the easy solution. but i've never seen it done and also wonder if there is any issues with it being done that way.
I use fork mounts and hang bikes vertically in my 16ft trailer. I stagger them high/low so the handlebars can overlap. If you don't have the height to stagger them, then you can easily turn most bike handlebars 90 degrees by loosening the stem. I space them 16" apart. I use a simple toe strap screwed into the wall to secure the back tire.

I have seen others mount roof racks vertically as well. That works too. If you mount C channel track vertically on the wall, you can use Thule 460 feet and Fit Kit 3101 to point load bars horizontally on the wall, then use the fork mounts you want.

I have also used the Thule Sidearm vertically for thru axle mtb's. If there is enough height in the vehicle/trailer this works. Again, you can stagger the mounts high/low to get more bikes in a tighter space.
I don't know that I've seen a skewer mounted verically but it's not a problem. I'd just secure the rear wheel so it doesn't bounce the headset around too much.
That's interesting. I secure the rear wheels to keep the bikes from swinging into each other. Hadn't ever thought about the headset. Are you worried about it getting damaged or coming lose?
I have to snug my top caps down occasionally on my road bikes. I ride 200-250 miles/week and after a while (months), they develop play (felt when tapping front brake). It's not a big deal but I wouldn't want my bikes bouncing vertically on the headset for long. More importantly, like you said, the bikes will swing all over if not secured.
I wouldn't worry about the headset when they are hanging in the van at all. The forces applied to the headset while hanging in a van are negligible compared to actually riding them. Resetting your headset adjustment has way more to do with the mileage you put down than hanging them in the van when driving.

The things to think about when hanging a bike are more suspension, dropper post, and hydraulic brake related.
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Suspension and brakes are not a concern. Hydraulic systems can hang upside down or be thrown off a cliff as long as no air is introduced. Jangling a headset up and down for hours at a time will be the ONLY potential problem.
Obviously you're some sort of expert in the bicycle world, so I'll just leave this alone. Good day.
Rondo - I've spent 30 years in the bicycle industry, and learn something new every day. I've learned that at the very least, Yater's comments are entertaining... They hold no technical value for me, and are misleading, but they are entertaining.

BOUNCING... That made me chuckle :)
"Technical value"? Yours has all been made up in this thread. Forks and shocks can be run upside down...or horizontally in the case of my old anthem. Shock is mounted between the down tube and rear linkage. USD forks? Yeah we have that too. The rs1 is a good example. Frame rubbing while hanging? How and on what would it rub? Problem with hanging the hydraulic brakes vertically? Huh? It's like you have no experience with ANY of this stuff. Or you just need to argue? You are not "in the industry".

Since you seem to be in the mood for confrontation... why not -

First of all, I didn't say can't or wouldn't or any other words like that. Here is what I said - The things to think about when hanging a bike are more suspension, dropper post, and hydraulic brake related.

Suspension - The issue with hanging them vertically is that the small volume of air in the damping side will be introduced into the circuit as it hangs. That air is there to allow for expansion of the shock oil as it heats up while riding. Air goes to the highest point and will migrate through the damper to the bottom of the fork leg. It needs to be purged before you ride otherwise it will affect the damping of the fork. Some forks use cartridge style damper like the Charger damper in the RS Pike or Accelerator damper in the RS1 (which I have on one of my bikes). They use a rubber membrane to allow for oil expansion, so there is no air in these systems - no worries there. And by all means, go ahead and try and cycle an OC fork upside down. It will aerate the oil immediately and the damping circuit will be gone. I didn't mention anything about shocks. No issues there generally.

Dropper posts, that use air springs, have to be stored in a fully extended position when the bike is vertical. hanging them with the posts dropped can create issues with the IFP seal and cause oil/air to mix. Some people make this mistake when hanging bikes in vans or trailers because they are trying to maximize room around the bicycles.

Regarding hydraulic brakes - I don't care how good you are at bleeding brakes, there is no way to get 100% of the air out of any system, regardless of fluid. You can de-gas DOT 5.1 all day and you will never get all the air/moisture out. The same goes for MO. And the systems are not sealed in the sense that there is absolutely no way for air or moisture to get in. It will over time. Eventually the microscopic air bubbles will migrate to the MC and form a small air bubble. If you hang the bike vertically, especially front wheel up, there is a chance that bubble could migrate out of the MC and into the hydraulic hose, causing a dead lever. Air will go to the highest position, and that is why the MC is always at the highest point in the brake system. Usually a few squeezes of the lever will pull that air bubble back into the MC, but that is not always the case.

And lastly headsets. If you think a headset is coming lose because it's hanging vertically in a van, you're just wrong. You mentioned that the bearings aren't designed to handle the loads in this position and that is wrong too. Explain how those bearings handle the braking forces of a bicycle? Those are side loads much stronger than just hanging, even in a moving van, which, by the way has suspension to dampen the forces applied to you and the bicycles while you're driving. Those bearings are angular contact bearings and are designed to handle loads from a varying degree of angles. The force applied to the bearing races while hanging in a van are tiny compared to the forces applied when riding, braking etc.

Frame Rubbing by hanging - My point about hanging bikes was simply to secure the rear wheel so that in the event of a quick stop, they didn't swing and hit each other. Maybe instead of changing my words, you could just quote me, Here is exactly what I said - I secure the rear wheels to keep the bikes from swinging into each other.

At the very least you could quit twisting my words and attacking me to make your point, which by the way is the only thing you've done. You've not provided any technical proof that hanging a bike vertically in a van is bad for headsets. I've hung bikes in trailers vertically for decades without a single headset coming out of adjustment or going bad.

I'm done with this now, as it's a big distraction to the intent of this thread. Happy Holidays :)
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Blackpointe, are you welding or bolting that supporting frame for your steel partition wall? I have been wondering if framing a wall like that makes sense for putting bikes straight in and locked in place on the back of the wall. Also not sure if there is more value in bolting the frame in and allowing for body twist/flex, or welding it in and making the body more rigidly supported.
I am building that same partition as blackpointe this weekend. We are going to weld the partition up and bolt it in right behind the slider using 3 riv nuts on each wall support and 4 on the floor.
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