Bike rack on caravan?

[TT]

Ok, ok, I can hear you laughing............... 

But, my wife wants a caravan which is fine, but to be of maximum advantage to me, I need to be able to carry a bike as well. (Probably PE250) This will mean  ::)the family get a weekend away in the 'van' and I get to go riding!!     Good plan?

Anyway, I need some advice on mounting the bike somewhere. Has anyone had a go at this? On the draw bar? A rack on the back?
Any advice, opinions and photos much appreciated.

[NSR]

No laughing we have great trips in the van.
I would only put it on the draw bar.  I had a new drawbar put on my van to be able to do just that.  I have not needed it yet, I will post some pics.

Cheers
Noel

[TT]

Excellent! Thanks Noel.
And good to meet you very briefly on the weekend! 

[Curly3]

My life ambition is to become a Grey Nomad, you'll need to strenghthen the draw bar to put it on the front.
The guy I rent my factory off has a jig to make the old style bike racks.

[TT]

Thanks Curly. I wouldn't have thought that would be needed, so good to get your advice. Thanks!

[MX?]

What about those Base Station vans with the big door into the back.....then you can sleep with it if you want to.

[mposs]

Tony,
           I have had front mounted racks fitted to my last two vans. On both I had new A frames fitted as you will find most drawbars are too short to allow a motorcycle rack to be fitted. Towing even with the extra ball weight has never been an issue.
Only downside is the chance of stones/mud flicking up onto the bike.
 

[frostype400]

Tony I got a bit of bike channel like that from my local engineer for $30 wouldn't be hard to make yourself either.

[NSR]

Good to meet you Tony and great photo's.
As Mposs said most van will need the draw bar rebuilt.  I haven't put the channel on yet.  It will go between the gas and battery.
Keep in mind it will increase the draw bar weight by around 120Kgs, which will go on to the springs of the tug.   
   

[TT]

Great stuff! Thanks fellas!  
That set up looks great, mposs. So does your van. Just what I'm after I reckon.  
I think I'd get the draw bar built by a professional and do the bike rack myself. as Frosty suggested, the channel isn't expensive and would be easy to fit etc.
Now CD7 is out of the way, I'll start looking seriously for a caravan on the weekend.
Thanks again, gentlemen.

[Nathan S]

Keep in mind it will increase the draw bar weight by around 120Kgs, which will go on to the springs of the tug.   

[pedant mode]
Actually, it will increase the weight on the towball by the weight of the bike, multiplied by the ratio of the bike's position between the tow ball and the trailer axle.

So if the bike is exactly half way between the tow ball and the axles, then half of the bike's weight will be added to the towball.
[/pedant mode]

I suppose you do own a DR400-ish thing, so 120kgs is probably a bit light on...  

Seriously, it depends a lot on the tow vehicle and the trailer. Too little weight on the draw bar will cause swaying at speed (doesn't sound so bad until you experince it!), while too much will make the tow car handle and wallow like a pig (understeer, vagueness in the steering, very poor braking).

A mate used to use an EB wagon as his tow car - he took a set of bathroom scales when he loaded the rally car on the trailer, and always aimed for 80kgs on the towball. Even with a car/trailer that weighed more than the Falc, it always handled as you'd expect/hope.

[GD66]

Dave Cooper Bike Racks in the UK do one that mounts on the back of your car, fits any vehicle with a standard towbar, and you can still tow with it. Might be worth a look to run through the mind, the site is  www.davecooper.co.uk  and click on bike racks...

[TT]

too much will make the tow car handle and wallow like a pig (understeer, vagueness in the steering, very poor braking).

Nathan, all good in theory, but you're forgetting one important thing. All my cars are at least 30 year old Mercedes-Benz's so I'm already used to wallowing like a pig etc etc etc 

Seriously though, my cars do weigh a lot which helps so it may not be so bad. I guess we'll find out.
btw, I've got no plans to transport the DR on it, jus a PE at this stage.

Also, thanks GD, I'll have a look at those too.

[LWC82PE]

With the PE your looking at 110kgs roughly. I can recommend a place 5 mins from you who can either make a draw bar or can tell you what size it should be or if the current one is strong enough. They have the RHS section to do in on the shelf.

[TT]

Who's that?