General Cycling Discussion - Bike transport on a minivan....

My wife, two kids, and I are going to be going on a family vacation with my parents and my sister's family. We will be riding in two minivans, and I was really hoping to transport my bike with me. Is there any decent way to strap it to a roof rack safely? I understand that there are many racks, luggage things, etc, but I am not wanting to buy anything new if possible. I am not worried about security, because we aren't going terribly far, and we can just take the bike inside when we arrive.

Any suggestions? I have done some searching, but most stuff comes up with different bike racks.

Thanks

"Strap it to a roof rack" as in putting it on top of the van and lashing it to the existing van's rack? (My Dodge Caravan has rails for accessories- not that I use it.) If it's just this one time, you could pad the top of the van and strap the bike on top of the pad. Place the bike drivetrain-side up and use 4 or more nylon straps to hold it in place. It'll look Okie (http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blygd14.htm), but it'll get you there. You might want to get a couple of these pads: http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=45502&category=251 to cushion the pedal and handlebar a little more- they'll tend to push through the foam and ding the roof.

If you're going to do this a lot, invest in a good hitch-mount or roof rack. It'll save your sanity in the long run.

I always keep a mountain bike in the back of my caravan, but I had to take out the rear seat to do it.

If you had a rack on the roof, it would be kind of high-up, and you might have to stand on a chair or a step-ladder to secure the bike. Also, it would be too tall to go through a drive-thru lane at a take-out joint.

Sorry if this doesn't help.

thanks guys. I am probably going to try to just strap it on the top, but I hadn't thought much about the pedal. I suppose I could even take the pedals off if I needed to!

If you take the wheels off, you should be able to fit easily it in the back with all the luggage.

Take the left pedal off, and turn the bars even with the front tire. It will lay flat and only take a few minutes to set up when you want it.
Place a large cardboard box and then a blanket under it, then strap down snug.

If you lay them down, ratchet buckled straps will get a lot tighter than other types.
that will keep load from shifting..

a receiver hitch type, will keep the Miles per of fuel consumption from falling,
by having a bigger frontal area from extra stuff on top.

as they will all be in your slipstream ..

Bikes are easy to transport by Minivan.

We used to transport our Tandem all over the country for events just strapped to a roof rack. Laid flat and the problems were the downside pedal-As someone has mentioned and the bars turning. Bungees (Elastic Luggage straps) were the key and we had to find the right place to lay the frame down with a bit of padding to save the paintwork. Downside pedal was not a problem as we made certain that the crank was on a Roof bar and the pedal kept clear of the roof-Or pedals in the case of the Tandem.

The major problem was unloading as we made certain that there were plenty of bungees to hold the thing down and they were tight. When unloading- if you did not make certain you had a good hold of the bungee as you released the tension--It would snap out of your hand and twang against the paintwork of the car.

thanks everyone!