Living in a caravan
Hot Tip # 4
Bikes!!!
Take em? Leave em? Where to put em? Where to store em?
Self admitted nerd here who perhaps overthinks everything too much. Travelling with bikes is an age old question aim gay caravanning groups.
Here are my hot takes.
(For breakdowns on the terminology below, see previous note about weight ratings)
How much draw bar weight do you have to play with?
Know where your spare weight ratings exist, do you have spare payload in the vehicle or in the trailer?
For me, I had payload restrictions in the trailer (caravan) so I opted for most of the bikes to go on the car, and one on the rear of the van.
I purchased 3 x Thule Pro Ride 598 roof rack mount bike carriers for the 3 x big bikes And 1 x San Hima spare tyre mount for the little bike
Are they ridiculously high on top of my 4WD? Yes.
Do they work? Amazingly well.
They are about the same heights as my van so they don’t introduce any more height risk. And they ride amazingly well and don’t introduce any more noticeable sway at high speed or in high winds. No more than the van itself anyway.
Pros:
The support clamp is lockable, locking your bikes onto the roof.
The clamp securing it to your roof rack rail is also lockable.
And…the end clamps of my roof racks are also lockable so they are extremely secure.
Cons:
Need a ladder or step to get bikes on and off, they are a little too high to do from the ground
You NEED to remember they are on the roof - No maccas drive thru (which is a massive pro IMO) or close parking at the shops.
We don’t take them off the roof at every stop. They stay in there unless we are staying somewhere for a few days or there is a ride we all like to do. We just have to remember they are on.
It is tempting to mount all your bikes on the back of your van, but they move and bounce around a lot and also take critical weight off of your towball, again see previously note about the dangers of not having enough tow ball weight
