Transporting bike in van

[Zack]

Hi everybody,

Need input from wise people.
We live in Toronto and have town house in Sarasota, FL (absolutely love that place!). We have that idea to move the bike every fall to FL and bring it back next May for rides here in Cold country. Anyway, only vehicle available for that journey is our trusty Honda Odyssey. Plan is to sink rear seats into the floor, remove mid row of seats, load a bike and strap it to the floor.

Easier said than done. For starters and after some measurements we have to remove fairing and release screws holding handles and than bike will be low enough to enter through the back door.
Here comes your input, how to push it in? Van is pretty high in the back. I'll measure it when it comes home but you have idea. Ideally it would be ramp like truck loading dock at perfect level with van. Needles to say, we have to unload in sunny Florida, assemble pieces back and enjoy the ride.

Thank you in advance,
Zack

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Why don't you be a real rider and ride it down?

If not why can't you hook it up to a small trailer and trailer it down with your van?

Rent a small rental truck one way from Buffalo to Florida, or even a vehicle from a rental car company that would be able to accomodate your bike a lot better than your little mini-van?

 

[Zack]

Few reasons:
* It is 2400 km (1500 miles) of distance so it would require about 3 days of perfect weather + plane ticket to go back. Reverse action in spring.

* You wouldn't believe how much money would U-Haul take for full size van for 1500 miles. Most of them wouldn't let van go over the border at all.

* I don't like hook + trailer idea too much.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

I said renting from Buffalo or anywhere inside the states, not from Canada.

 

[Botch]

 

[Zack]

Yes, that's what you said. Botch is suggesting really heavy machinery.

 

[kemmer]

A trailer would really be your best option here, once you get used to pulling one it's really going to be the easiest thing for a variety of reasons. You should be able to buy a folding ramp at any motorcycle shop if you decide the van is the way to go.

Bear in mind that once you get the bike into the van you'll need to secure it somehow which will probably mean putting hooks in the floor. You'll also need to chock the wheel somehow unless you secure the front and rear of the bike, either way, more mounting stuff to the floor of your van. Plus, that bike is gonna stink up the van quite a bit. If the odyssey is similar in size to an Astro Van, the bike will end up between the front seats a bit too. (I considered doing this once and ended up selling the van and riding the bike instead.)

 

[wrightme43]

Just dont go back to Canada. You know thats always a option right? LOL Its cold and you cant ride the bike in the winter.

 

[Zack]

kemmer, thanks for suggestions. I didn't know that bike stores would have folding ramp. We'll find out in next few days.

 

[jsteinb95]

Why don't you be a real rider and ride it down?

If not why can't you hook it up to a small trailer and trailer it down with your van?

Rent a small rental truck one way from Buffalo to Florida, or even a vehicle from a rental car company that would be able to accomodate your bike a lot better than your little mini-van?

+1 my thoughts exactly!!!

 

[marke14]

Yes, you should be able to pick up a folding ramp in a local shop. You could also check places that sell trailers and such.

Some friends of mine built this double wheel chock board with tie down points, which fits in the back of any rented cargo van:

Pretty bitchin'. I'm going to try to make one myself - it's SO much easier than pushing/driving it up into the back of a full-size pickup (much higher step up). Still need the ramp though.

EDIT: not sure if the Odyssey could fit it in vertically in the back.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Well those pics are from a cargo van, Zack has a mini-van so it probably won't work. Back in my glory days, I was out on tour with Tony Hawk's Boom Boom Huck Jam tour, and everytime we had a day off, I kept seeing the same sportsbike parked in front of the hotel we were staying at, which was a different city every time. Later, I found out that it belonged to one of our bus drivers. He dissassembled the handle bars and he put the bike inside one of the cargo bays of his bus.

 

[Zack]

Yes, you should be able to pick up a folding ramp in a local shop. You could also check places that sell trailers and such.

Some friends of mine built this double wheel chock board with tie down points, which fits in the back of any rented cargo van:....

This is beautiful, pics, everything ... gives me ideas, will look for folding ramp first.

 

[Abnatare]

This is beautiful, pics, everything ... gives me ideas, will look for folding ramp first.

You can actually buy a folding ramp from WalMart and Home Depot. I think I got mine for $80 US and have used it quite a few times.

If you are interested and haev the time to do it before your trip, you can buy a trailer kit from harbor freight and tools (Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices) for $339. It takes about a day to put together and is sturdy enough for one bike. I bought it well befor eI had a bike for general around the house stuff like taking lawn cuttings to the mulching facility.

If you rent a trailer from uhaul I think they either tilt or come with ramps as well.

One thing to remember when trailering a bike is to use strong straps and when you ratchet the straps down, make sure its enough to compress the shocks. That will keep it from bouncing around. Also, when unhooking the straps to unload the bike, put the kick stand down then release the straps on the right side of the bike first. This way when it releases, it falls to the kick stand. I learned that the hard way. When I bought my bike to trailer it for inspection, I released the left first and it fell over.

 

[Abnatare]

You can get a folding ramp from Lowes for $59.

Folding Steel Ramp 802

 

[Zack]

I'll check Leowe first. Thank you for good ideas.