Roof bars, boxes and other external storage solutions

[Dieseldonkey]

Oh now that is something that hadn’t occurred to me, have both! I’m going to look into this, it could well be the answer I’m looking for. I’d need to see if I could shift some of the internal luggage towards the front to improve the weight distribution though, I’m used to having all the weight central and this would shift a lot behind the rear axle. How do you find the handling when you’re fully laden like that with bikes too?

I've had the van loaded with a fair bit of kit and four bikes on the rack too. Even so I've never suffered from a saggy bum. It is however, a T32. Have the advantage that the rock and roll bed is on rails, so can be moved to mid ships. Yet to have any nasty surprises with the handling or vagueness. Other than uprated H&R anti roll bars, the suspension is standard T32 Shuttle. Im guessing the weight of a two bike tailgate mounted rack with two bikes would on board, would be in the region of 40 to 50kg, depending on the bikes. Here's an older pic with full camper conversion and 4 bikes on the rack, albeit road bikes. But reckon my arse end is still looking....pert, even at this load.

 

[Dieseldonkey]

Sorry just noticed you don’t have a tailgate rack as well so ignore that bit. Don’t know why I can’t edit on my phone now.

Forgot to add, if its android, click on the 3 little dots and down arrow symbol, next to the 'Report' button, at bottom left of your post. Hopefully that'll reveal the 'edit' button.

 

[andys]

Forgot to add, if its android, click on the 3 little dots and down arrow symbol, next to the 'Report' button, at bottom left of your post. Hopefully that'll reveal the 'edit' button.

View attachment 85327

Thanks you’re absolutely right It’s iOS but I was baffled why the Edit option was there on my iPad but not on my phone. Should have looked a bit better.

 

[andys]

I've had the van loaded with a fair bit of kit and four bikes on the rack too. Even so I've never suffered from a saggy bum. It is however, a T32. Have the advantage that the rock and roll bed is on rails, so can be moved to mid ships. Yet to have any nasty surprises with the handling or vagueness. Other than uprated H&R anti roll bars, the suspension is standard T32 Shuttle. Im guessing the weight of a two bike tailgate mounted rack with two bikes would on board, would be in the region of 40 to 50kg, depending on the bikes. Here's an older pic with full camper conversion and 4 bikes on the rack, albeit road bikes. But reckon my arse end is still looking....pert, even at this load.

View attachment 85319

Mine‘s a T28 but I’d probably get it replated as a T30 if I’m going to be carrying more. My slight concern is that with a rear kitchen, cupboards, gas locker and water tanks, the weight would be excessively rear biased. Just need to replace the leisure battery with a lighter lithium one and I’ll be pointing up like a drag car At least my RIB seat is forward of the centre, which is the heaviest item. I’d have to go and get the corners weighed as well as the individual axles.

 

[Merryman]

My vote is for a trailer, for multi tasking away or at home.

 

[RMowbs16]

Hi All

Im considering the same, I've got a thule euroride 2 bike rack does anyone know what box/bag would fit on it and attach securely if would the Fiamma Cargo Back holdall work?

thanks

 

[VanDamMan]

Another point of view…..We are in the process of getting ready for Bala…We’ve not got a converted van so everything went in the van which was getting really silly..then the bike issue was added..but after reading last year about a member had lost his bike load on the M1 …the issue of safety hits home…for this year we’ve already got an estimated 350kg ( awning/tent is 35kg) to add …so it will all go in the trailer…yes we have to drive slower….but if you drive in a fully laden van you too should drive slower to allow for braking and stability…..what ever you do ..think Safety

 

[dave1986]

Here is my solution for extra storage. I'll also be adding a roof box at some point too.

The towbar mounted rack is a Thule 929 Euroclassic G6. It is intended for holding up to 4 bikes, but I have mounted a Thule Backup 900 box to this rack. This Thule 929 Euroclassic G6 rack can be tilted back with the box attached to allow the tailgate door to open (need to remove the bikes to open the tailgate).

The rack with the bike on is a Thule Wanderway 4 bike rack. The 2 rack fit very snugly together.

 

[Sackmycook]

Will that box fit any towbar mounted rack or is it Thule specific?

 

[dave1986]

Will that box fit any towbar mounted rack or is it Thule specific?

The Thule Backup 900 Box isn't intended to be mounted on the Thule 929 Euroclassic G6 bike rack. I took the gamble and it worked.

Whether the Thule Backup 900 Box will fit on a different brand of bike rack is unclear... I would hazard a guess that it could be made to work with most racks with a little bit of modification.... but I can't be certain.

 

[Sackmycook]

How is it fixed down onto the cycle rack?

 

[dave1986]

How is it fixed down onto the cycle rack?

The box comes with 4x standard U shape bracket bolts which clamp the box to the back of the rack. It's pretty sturdy.

 

[Epic-Rob]

I bought a roof box - i put roof bars on the pop top.
was good for putting bulky stuff like paddle board, pfd, some chairs etc

 

[joe_j_barnes]

I’ve recently added the Thule backup box to my setup, was considering a solid box before I got the backspace and must admit it’s a solid piece of kit and I have no worries over security of it now I’ve touched it and played with it. Although at weekend we can back from a week away think we may have been rear loaded heavy!!!