Classic bicycle transportation using a minivan: Tips, tricks and pics?

[eagle123]

Great job. Still plenty of room for all your boxes full of parts. Now you can join the lucrative field of bicycle buying and selling at swap meets and make millions and buy that beachfront home you may have always wanted. LOL. Again, very nice job.

Thank you, much appreciated!

Yes, the beachfront home!!! After all this bike searching and buying, I won't even be able to pay the admission to drive into a public beach parking lot. Ha!

But seriously ... FWIW, I actually have zero intentions of "flipping" bikes and/or making any kind of profit whatsoever within the bicycling community. I'm just merely hoping to find and purchase a relatively small grouping of my "wishlist" bikes and create a nifty little "collection" to admire and share with others. And most importantly, I am hoping to be able to share knowledge and help out fellow CABE members when possible.

I've been extremely passionate about old bikes since I was like 12 years old (back in the late `70's), but couldn't drive back then and had no money, I was very unsuccessful with my pursuit of bicycles back then. So now, much older, but maybe ever so slightly more capable, I am hoping to find and purchase a few of the bikes I have been dreaming about for the past 45 or so years.

Needless to say, many folks are not willing to ship bikes, so I've come to realize that if I am ever to obtain the bikes I'm after, I better be ready to go drive and pick them up. Fortunately for me, I don't mind driving. My other hobby is motorcycling, I've ridden across and around the country a bunch of times, hundreds of thousands of miles. Damn, how I wish I could carry classic bicycles on the back of my motorcycle!

My minivan is... a minivan ... but I've come to embrace it. Pushing it to it's limits makes it challenging and more fun... please don't tell the local law enforcement I said that. On this recent trip with five old bikes in the back, I was averaging speeds that were not too far below what I'd be achieving on my motorcycles, gotta keep it exciting.

But, ya know, when people are willing to ship bikes, that's just fine with me! And I can just sit home instead and sip bourbon, smoke cigars and wait for Fed Ex to arrive.

I'd way rather have a few really nice bikes to appreciate and enjoy than a beachfront home. And that's why I'll never be able to afford a beachfront home.

 

[acg_schwinn]

My minivan is... a minivan ... but I've come to embrace it. Pushing it to it's limits makes it challenging and more fun... please don't tell the local law enforcement I said that. On this recent trip with five old bikes in the back, I was averaging speeds that were not too far below what I'd be achieving on my motorcycles, gotta keep it exciting.

Ayup... Great job. Getting all those bikes snuggled in and secured is a great way to transport them. You might want to consider hiring yourself out for distance deliveries.

Handling with a full load should be fine. Seven bikes is still a lot lighter than seven people, if you think about the average weight of a vintage bike vs. the average weight of an adult male, and I would rather be doing a panic stop with seven bikes rather than seven people any day. (I have done a panic stop with seven people while driving home on the Interstate, and our Sienna handled it magnificently, and I don't ever want to have that experience again. )

 

[eagle123]

Handling with a full load should be fine. Seven bikes is still a lot lighter than seven people, if you think about the average weight of a vintage bike vs. the average weight of an adult male, and I would rather be doing a panic stop with seven bikes rather than seven people any day. (I have done a panic stop with seven people while driving home on the Interstate, and our Sienna handled it magnificently, and I don't ever want to have that experience again. )

Thank you!

Glad you were able to avoid a mishap when you made that interstate panic stop.

Yes, lots of folks fail to consider how the handling of a vehicle changes when loaded with humans. Huge weight difference.

Most minivans hold 6 passengers, in addition to the driver. The average weight of an adult... well, according to the internet, is about 180 pounds. 180 multiplied by 6 = 1,080 pounds. Going from an empty standard minivan to suddenly adding over 1,000 pounds, man, that's surely going to effect handling tremendously, especially stopping distance.

And most minivans are not very "heavy-duty". They are designed to handle as much like cars as possible, fairly soft springs, etc. The brakes, especially on my Odyssey anyway, are not great. These aren't "trucks" by any means and loading them to max capacity requires the driver to be very careful and skilled in my opinion, which sadly, many minivan drivers are not.

Getting back to bicycles, most postwar deluxe balloon tire bikes seem to average in at about 65 pounds. So, even a whopping nine, complete, deluxe bikes total up to less than 600 pounds. And seven bikes, only 450 pounds. So indeed, a minivan, fully loaded with complete, deluxe balloon tire bikes shouldn't be overly difficult to handle. Carrying seven bikes is pretty much the same as carrying just two adults and a child.

Strapping heavy bikes to the roof or having them hanging out past the rear bumper on a bike carrier of course multiplies the adverse effect on handling to a large degree, especially in terms of higher speed stability etc, so putting as many bikes inside the van as possible is key.

 

[razinhellcustomz]

Funny as I was recently obsessed with the desire to buy a big van & was shopping for a Ford E250
I almost bought a beautiful 15 passenger that was modified for 11 passengers & had 2 trailers hitches a bike rack in front & rear
The seller usta shuttle Bike riders & was able to get 8 inside alone with plenty of room left as he had a wood wheel rack on the floor that he made & felt very sturdy as he needed the bikes ready to ride .
I was so tempted as I wanted to take my adult kids & grandkids on rides but realized I’d probably not get to use it much
So
I have a Sienna too & can get 3 prewar balloon bikes in there without removing the bars & pedals.
Dropping the rear seats in the floor and I remove the folding jump ‘middle seat’
I’ve seen another CABER with the same sienna 2014 get 4 in ther without moving the middle seats far forward so he can still seat 4 passengers he removes the bars & 1 pedal on the center bikes .
For swap meet purposes I remove the center row larger seat completely and can get 6 bikes & still have room for parts
But I always bring the correct size wrenches for stem , front wheel, rear wheel & seatpost and I can haul a lot more
WD 40 is a must as you don’t know what your getting into & can put stuck frozen parts in another spot.
I don’t use an adjustable wrench as to avoid stripping nuts.
I also have a heavy duty bike rack for complete bikes for rides but you have to think about the supports with fenders
Blankets are a must have and a good brush to not bring spiders home
It can be a PIA for getting the complete bikes inside without removing bars as the sienna rear hatch is about 3” short than the interior
So you need help sliding them in at a angle

My brother has a Ponitac Montana van, and have hauled up to 7 bikes 4 inside 3 on the roof with a rack on top. Lots of ways to do this if done right. Good luck with you seiena.