Bike Rack

Building the bike rack was one of the first van projects I undertook. I wanted to start by tackling a relatively easy project that I could complete on my own, as a confidence-builder.

I referenced the Far Out Ride tutorial, which they had tweaked from Traipsing About. That's one thing I like about the #vanlife community - it's a lot of creative people borrowing and modifying ideas, perfecting them and adapting for their own needs. I suppose I feel some obligation to contribute to this great body of knowledge, because I have gained so much from it!

I'm not going to get super in-detail with a tutorial here, because I think both of the sites linked above cover it pretty well.

Here's my bike rack in its final form. I love it! It's very strong, too.

It's unfortunate that I still have to do some disassembly every time I want to use it - the front wheel comes off and is strapped in with some velcro straps, and the seat has to be lowered a few inches. I decided to do it this way to gain a few extra inches on my Bed. It's already pretty high as it is.

At some point I may add a second pull-out rack for storage, using the same design, so I don't have to pull my storage bins out of the 'garage' every time I need something.