and i thought you’d retired
He’s got fingers stuck in pies.
Can’t do that Max, life’s too short, just had a message, can’t view the first candidate van till next Monday, that’s too long at this time of life ![]()
Here is Bike Van number three, here is the van history so far
Van one was a beauty. bought in February 2022, stolen in September 2022
Van two was a nightmare, bought in November 2022, scrapped in march 2025
This is van three, bought last week, its a beauty, lets hope it lasts till riding the bikes is no longer an option.
The saddle clamps have now arrived to fix the bike supports down but, this is being done on independent boards so they can be removed if the van is needed for other purposes
This is one of the bikes in the supports so I can measure the distance they have to be fixed apart, also, the distance from the center of the handlebar to the end needs to be taken into account so the bike will be dead perpendicular in the van and no stress is being put on the spokes
See, this is the thing, I could just clamp the bike supports to the van floor, but, that would render the van useless for carrying other stuff so, they have to be mounted to a removable board, just about to take the measurements then fetch the relevant boards
The components have been cut and assembled, now just need a light ply clad, son and I cycling starts next weekend

The pay back = time ![]()
Blimey, nearly 2500 posts ![]()
That happens If you copy an image directly from that image hosting site, to get an image permanently embedded you have to go to the trouble of saving it in an alternative format and post copy it from there.
The price of a free meal
all this embedding and formatting, should have got folding bikes and slip them in the back of the car
Have you never heard of ergonomics, folding bikes!!! you’ll be expecting shopping baskets next
the shopping baskets come free with the bikes
Ok, we are all clamped up, now to stop the bikes moving laterally without the hassle of bungee ropes or ratchet straps. If you go in your wardrobe and look at the hanging rail you will see at either end a u shaped clip with the eccentric shaped rail inserted well, the same installation will be done in the van, the rail having two pipe clips screwed to it in the same position as the bike seat pillar posts so, once clipped on to these, the bikes wont be able to move sideways, simples
Got the rail and fittings from from Screwfix, the 32mm spring clips have had to be ordered online
Clips have arrived, photos to follow, two perfectly secured bikes ![]()
Bracing bar done, clips on rail
Rail clipped to seat pillars
Rail supports marked at ends
Rail supports fixed to ply lining
Rail fully functional
It is now a 2 minute job to load one bike or 2, no bungees or ratchet straps, job done












