Find me a van then...

[Count Steer]

tHINK i'VE GOT IT.

Excellent. Now we just need to sort out your Caps Lock....

[Bowman]

tHINK i'VE GOT IT.

Excellent. Now we just need to sort out your Caps Lock....

Yep I was a little overexcited. I felt like Neo

[Count Steer]

Nice van too. What sort of mileage is it?

[weeksy]

The thing with that shape for me is that as much as I/we want a van, I/we don't want a VAN. We'd like the functionality but not the downsides. That one will likely have had a tougher life, higher miles, bigger loads and ropey builders. That doesn't mean they're knackered of course.. but they've live a little more usually. Then add in the size in terms of fuel economy and just even general aesthetics, then the Custom still wins in my book.

It could be a decision that in 6 months i sit and think "should've gone bigger" but i'm happy to think that won't be the case.

But, if this Custom doesn't quite fit the bill... that silver one from earlier will be getting paid a visit early next week and potentially bought.

[weeksy]

With vans, then in general bigger is always better, you're never going to be at an event and moan that your van is too big.
But you have to balance that with where it will be parked when you're not at events and whether you also want to use it as a daily vehicle when you're not going to events - then the size is going to be a trade off.

I know this is obvious stuff, but personally I'd probably go a size up from what I think would be just about ok, because you''ll be glad of the extra room.
It will never be as convenient as a car for daily use, so take the sacrifice and get the biggest van you can manage.

It's a tricky one. Some of the places we visit i'm sure are like in your MX days... proper middle of nowhere down the nadgeriest lanes in the world with minimal overtaking/passing, potholes a plenty and tight tight tracks to get down. That's where i think the slightly smaller van may play it's trump card of agility and size actually benefiting.
I was thinking about what we'll actually need on a given race weekend considering we won't be kipping in the van itself. There's nothing that sleeping in the van actually brings to the party if it's still a van, if it's a camper with heating, fixed beds, cooking etc, that throws a slightly different light on things, but if it's just a van with a blow up mattress then we may as well be in the tents/hotel.

If we were doing multi motorbike trackdays only, with the ZX6R and KTM in there, going to Silverstone on the A34 or M4 to Pembrey..Sure the bigger one is better.

[Taipan]

I wouldn't want a van as my sole form of transport, but you will still have the wife's car won't you? As fun and practical as it is to have a van, they are a bit of a PITA as a mode of transport. You can't just pop anywhere in them due to parking restrictions etc. But if I was going that route, i'd be going medium wheel base with medium height roof. Best compromise IMO.

[weeksy]

We hired a huge Sprinter when we were moving, it looked massive and you couldn't park it properly in a single car park space at Morrisons, I didn't notice the extra size when I was driving it and I was glad of the size when we were loading up, but it wouldn't have been much use as a daily vehicle.

So you can go too big with LWB and stuff, but I'd probably try and get the most available space on the standard wheelbase platform.

The problem with more space in that context is, it's all up... If using a standardish length Medium van platform, the only way you can do bigger is going up. But the up doesn't give much in the real world. Sure it means you could fit a wardrobe or a fridge freezer upright for house moves, or a desk for office moves, but for MTBing, not a lot of use really as nothing is tall and bulky. Unless you could work out a way to stack the bikes vertically, but i did try that in the one like the silver one yesterday and you can ALMOST do it, but you'd need the front wheel out to do so vertically, otherwise you're on about a 20 deg incline back, which admittedly could give more space in the back... but not sure how practical it'd actually be with loading/unloading.

In the MTB terms i like the idea of getting back to the van wet, muddy, cold and lobbing the bike in and having it strapped down in 30s rather than faffing about with wheels and re-mounting it. It may just be me being fussy, but i've got certain plans/expectations of it all and what the van actually brings to the party.

[weeksy]

I wouldn't want a van as my sole form of transport, but you will still have the wife's car won't you? As fun and practical as it is to have a van, they are a bit of a PITA as a mode of transport. You can't just pop anywhere in them due to parking restrictions etc. But if I was going that route, i'd be going medium wheel base with medium height roof. Best compromise IMO.

I live in a different world to you mate. I don't go to anywhere with parking restrictions, or multi stories, it just doesn't happen. The closest one would be a McDonalds on the home from somewhere lol. Other than that, i can't honestly recall the last time i went under a height banner other than getting on the ferry to France. Every now and again i pop to the supermarket, but one is fully outside, the other had a roofed part but is more than high enough for any realistic height van.
The last time i went in a multi story was to go and see Star Wars about 18 months ago.

But yes, we'd still have the Focus.

[cheb]

Another suggestion: Measure your actual van's height as empty as you can get including* fuel. My Transit was inches lower than the handbook dimensions. I can't remember the figures now.

A singular joy of multistory car parks is having the aerial noisily twang off the beams, hanging signs and all the other clutter dangling from the ceiling.

*Should that be 'excluding fuel'?

[Count Steer]

I live in a different world to you mate. I don't go to anywhere with parking restrictions, or multi stories, it just doesn't happen.

Some of the parking areas popular with MTBers in the Surrey Hills have height barriers so if you do decide to park somewhere other than Peaslake....

(Mentioned it before but the one at Friday Street, saw someone drive in in a car with 2 bikes on the roof, ripped the bikes off and stuffed 'em through the rear window. ).

[Mr. Dazzle]

When our friends visited in their (van based) Camper we discovered that almost every car park in MK has a height restriction

There's loads and loads of free parking here, all outdoors, but every single car park has a height limiting barrier on the way in. We just never really registered it before.

P.S. My dad did exactly the same thing with bikes in a multistory carpark in the early 90s. I got a new bike and the Volvo got a new window.

[Bowman]

Nice van too. What sort of mileage is it?

Its 52k at the moment. I've put about 5k a year on it for the last 2 years.

[Pirahna]

With respect to the bigger is better argument, here's wifey with the Crafter we were living in next to our current daily driver. The only way I could have got a bigger panel van was to get the extra high top. The Crafter is the extended 7.4m version, the Transporter is a SWB. For daily use I wouldn't want any bigger than the van I have now.

[weeksy]

With respect to the bigger is better argument, here's wifey with the Crafter we were living in next to our current daily driver. The only way I could have got a bigger panel van was to get the extra high top. The Crafter is the extended 7.4m version, the Transporter is a SWB. For daily use I wouldn't want any bigger than the van I have now.

It's remarkable when you put them next to eachother isn't it

[Count Steer]

It looks like you could fit one inside the other - like Russian dolls.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

You can fit a reasonably sized car in the back of a big Crafter, they're huge, nice to drive, but huge

[Couchy]

One bit of advice not to be ignored, do not put any mtb stickers on it anywhere as you will only be advertising what's in it, Thieves may look anyway but will def look if there's a sticker telling them what may be inside. Also fit deadlocks and when you park up strap the sliding door shut so it can't be folded down and then reverse up to something if possible. It's all you can do even if taking the bikes out into a hotel room

[MrLongbeard]

Job jobbed, problem solved;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282725714564
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255654891057 ... R7y85PCeYQ

[weeksy]

So onto the report.... I REALLY like it. Sure it's been used, sure it's got more marks than the Kuga has... but hey, it's a van.

Does it drive like a car, no, it drives like a van, but it does drive like a nice van at that.

Heated seat is a dream today.. air con.... DAB ... heated windscreen. Didn't get to test the Cruise out, but it's the same setup at the Kuga, so pretty familiar to me.

It goes along well, the clutch is nice, gear changes are nice. Brake pedal is a bit high, but that's van driving for you instead of cars. It's interesting with certain T junctions locally that in a van you need to re-think the approach angles etc.

Once i got it parked up i started throwing the bikes in..

2022-12-09_01-17-39 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

It takes the 3 bikes, would take a 4th easily enough, with enough space for the bike washer, the riding kit, kit bags, toolbox etc.. Sure, there's not a TONNE of space other than that.... but there's 'enough' that i'd get anything else in i could consider for sure..

My thoughts are leading me towards "Do i honestly need any bigger" and i'm struggling with the 'when' i'd actually need more.

[Mussels]

Another suggestion: Measure your actual van's height as empty as you can get including* fuel. My Transit was inches lower than the handbook dimensions. I can't remember the figures now.

A singular joy of multistory car parks is having the aerial noisily twang off the beams, hanging signs and all the other clutter dangling from the ceiling.

*Should that be 'excluding fuel'?

I noticed that with my Transit Custom but also different versions were different heights. All the LWB ones looked level and the SWB ones were higher at the back. The SWB looked higher but it could be the front was lower, as my LWB was just under 2m high it's worth checking.
2m is what most height barriers are set at.