Is it possible to have a tri carrier bike rack? If so and you have one would you mind sharing where abouts you've placed it on van-front/rear?, purchased from where? cost roughly?Thanks
Bike rack for 3 bikes for an expanda?
- Thread starter Four of us
- Start date
We don't have a tri one but we have a dual carrier on the back of the spare tire for the kids bikes.
We put ours on the roof if we take them.
http://www.rhinorack.com.au/AccSubC...ccessory_Spare-Wheel-Bike-Carrier_440_11.aspx
We put ours on the roof if we take them.
http://www.rhinorack.com.au/AccSubC...ccessory_Spare-Wheel-Bike-Carrier_440_11.aspx
We have ordered a bike rake on our new expanda but it only holds two bikes. It mounts to the rear wall because our model doesn't have a rear fold out bed.
I think you can get a fiamma brand one that goes on the draw bar, pretty sure it holds two bikes, check with the dealer though.
KC
I think you can get a fiamma brand one that goes on the draw bar, pretty sure it holds two bikes, check with the dealer though.
KC
Hey Moto Moto - the wife is keen to see other bunk options not as big as the 17.56-1 before we commit $$$$, and I see you have a 14.44-4 on order. Do you mind me asking what you paid for it. PM me if you like.
Cheers mate,
Monk
Cheers mate,
Monk
Hi a Mate of mine, Tim built his own he is here on the forums, send him a message he might be able to help you out with the details
http://expandasdownunder.com/album.php?albumid=41&attachmentid=6913
Cheers Grant
http://expandasdownunder.com/album.php?albumid=41&attachmentid=6913
Cheers Grant
I made a swing out bike carrier for four bikes on the rear, welded up a complete new rear bumper and swing out arm so you don't have to remove the bikes to drop the bed end.
Cheers Zerosecta, the list seems to get longer of things to do, we have considered the new 17' expanda but I don't know if I can bring myself to do all the mods/changes again, after 4 years I'm still adding/changing things to this one.
Christian
Christian
I would love to stick a whole lot of stuff on the back of my expanda. Getting three large bikes inside the van is a hassle. However, attaching weight to the rear is a safety issue. The issue is not, as some posters have thought, balance of the van front to back, or towball weight, it is yaw/jackknifing. The more weight you stick at the back, ie a few metres from the point of sideways rotation (the axle), the more likely it is to whip side to side in a crisis situation, and be hard to stop: in extreme cases sending the van sideways to the extent the wheels go off the bitumen, perhaps into a rut on the side of the road which creates a new problem. Now this is not to say it will happen. It will depend on the weight and power of the towing vehicle. Obviously if you are towing with a 3 tonne 500nm vehicle it is less of a worry, but with a family car, less power, two wheel drive, etc the risk goes up. One needs to balance convenience v increase in risk of an accident with your towing equipment, driving skill, and where and how fast you drive.
Good point glee, not having too much weight at the back of the van is important. We have and counter balanced the bikes with a tool box on the front, bbq, front drawer loaded, 2 x solar at the front and a 3rd 90lt water tank at the front of the van.
Hi Stone Stomper, I agree absolutely that balance front to rear (with a little towbar weight) is critical and you have that sorted. My point is different. I have just noticed that it is also discussed at http://www.expandasdownunder.com/showthread.php/1408-Mounting-items-back-of-Expanda, so sorry for the duplication.
My point is about yaw, or rotation of the van around the centre of the axle in a horizontal not vertical plane. For example if a person were to stand up straight and extend each arm out horizontally sideways, and then be pushed in a rotational direction, it would be easy for the person to stop the rotation. But if the person held a barbell in each hand, was pushed in a rotational direction, it would be harder to stop the rotation and return to the original position. Now if the person were to hold the same weights close to his/her chest (analagous to bringing the weight on the van from the far rear, and the drawbar, to near the van axle) it will be easy to stop rotating and return to the original position. Sure the high rotational inertia present when weight is distributed far from the centre of rotation also reduces the risk of the initiation of rotation, but that is not the point because it can happen and it is risk being discussed. In an unusual road condition (eg pot hole, kangaroo, whatever) which is severe enough to kick off a bit of rotation, the extended distribution makes it more difficult to stop and return to original position. So to sum up, balance fore and aft is critical and hopefully everyone does that, but it does not remove the effect of having a lot of weight located a significant distance from the axle in either direction, albeit more so at the rear (because the front is attached to the car which helps, as i said depending on the weight, power and traction of the car).
My point is about yaw, or rotation of the van around the centre of the axle in a horizontal not vertical plane. For example if a person were to stand up straight and extend each arm out horizontally sideways, and then be pushed in a rotational direction, it would be easy for the person to stop the rotation. But if the person held a barbell in each hand, was pushed in a rotational direction, it would be harder to stop the rotation and return to the original position. Now if the person were to hold the same weights close to his/her chest (analagous to bringing the weight on the van from the far rear, and the drawbar, to near the van axle) it will be easy to stop rotating and return to the original position. Sure the high rotational inertia present when weight is distributed far from the centre of rotation also reduces the risk of the initiation of rotation, but that is not the point because it can happen and it is risk being discussed. In an unusual road condition (eg pot hole, kangaroo, whatever) which is severe enough to kick off a bit of rotation, the extended distribution makes it more difficult to stop and return to original position. So to sum up, balance fore and aft is critical and hopefully everyone does that, but it does not remove the effect of having a lot of weight located a significant distance from the axle in either direction, albeit more so at the rear (because the front is attached to the car which helps, as i said depending on the weight, power and traction of the car).
But in that example for weights out and weights in at body, you are changing the effective radius of the spin (yaw). This then changes the 'conservation of angular momentum'. (commonly noted for ice skaters who actually spin faster when the arms are brought in to the body, not the other way around)
The van doesn't change in shape or size, just the weight positioning. Thus it is only the position of the centre of gravity which comes into play. If I remember correctly, where the centre of gravity is forward of the wheels, the van should remain stable at all speeds (within reason). If too much weight is added to the rear, then the COG moves backwards and decreases the van stability as the velocity increases.
There's 1001 other factors coming into play also - forces of wind, suspension condition and travel, height of the hitch, but I'm not sure increasing the weight front and back and at a low level will negatively affect the yaw.
??
The van doesn't change in shape or size, just the weight positioning. Thus it is only the position of the centre of gravity which comes into play. If I remember correctly, where the centre of gravity is forward of the wheels, the van should remain stable at all speeds (within reason). If too much weight is added to the rear, then the COG moves backwards and decreases the van stability as the velocity increases.
There's 1001 other factors coming into play also - forces of wind, suspension condition and travel, height of the hitch, but I'm not sure increasing the weight front and back and at a low level will negatively affect the yaw.
??
Hi stray dingo - good post. I agree that in a rigid structure the COG is critical because it is the point about which a rigid structure tends to rotate. However angular momentum IS effected by weight distribution as your example of the ice skater indicates. The ice skater with arms out has quite different properties in relation to angular motion, than the iceskater with arms in, but the COG is the same in each case. Therefore the position of the weight - even where it doesn't change the COG - affects handling. What do you think?
Perhaps a better example would be undoing a van wheel nut...use a short spanner and you have buckley's - use a long one and you have a chance. Stick a lot of weight out the back of a van (even if balanced correctly back to front and not changing the COG), i suggest is like using the long spanner applying torque to the COG of the van to wrench it sideways in a turn (with centrifigal force being applied to the weight an torque/leverage aggravating the problem because of the distance from the COG.) My previous point was that once this starts happening, the angular momentum, where the weight is some distance from the COG, makes it more difficult to bring the van back into line ( I was loosely treating COG and axle as the same before but you picked me up on it!). What do you think.
Perhaps a better example would be undoing a van wheel nut...use a short spanner and you have buckley's - use a long one and you have a chance. Stick a lot of weight out the back of a van (even if balanced correctly back to front and not changing the COG), i suggest is like using the long spanner applying torque to the COG of the van to wrench it sideways in a turn (with centrifigal force being applied to the weight an torque/leverage aggravating the problem because of the distance from the COG.) My previous point was that once this starts happening, the angular momentum, where the weight is some distance from the COG, makes it more difficult to bring the van back into line ( I was loosely treating COG and axle as the same before but you picked me up on it!). What do you think.
I think you guys are reading to much into this - just like the guys that read to much into the battery being in the same compartment as the SETEC Unit....
Glee - All you say is true to some extent but what you are not taken into account is exactly what Stray Dingo has said - - - Stand back from the van, you will notice that the axle is closer to the rear of the van than the front, by quite a bit in fact - and this is to combat the very thing you are talking about - adding excessive weight to the rear of the van will decrease the tow ball weight and I mean "excessive" weight and this will cause a few issue to consider - for whole yaw thing that you are on about though, Id say you'd have to take that same excessive weight but mount it about 2 meters out from the back of the van for this to became a consideration.
Since I added my rear bar with spare wheel, my fridge seems to work better. Do you think this could be related? :smile:
Glee - All you say is true to some extent but what you are not taken into account is exactly what Stray Dingo has said - - - Stand back from the van, you will notice that the axle is closer to the rear of the van than the front, by quite a bit in fact - and this is to combat the very thing you are talking about - adding excessive weight to the rear of the van will decrease the tow ball weight and I mean "excessive" weight and this will cause a few issue to consider - for whole yaw thing that you are on about though, Id say you'd have to take that same excessive weight but mount it about 2 meters out from the back of the van for this to became a consideration.
Since I added my rear bar with spare wheel, my fridge seems to work better. Do you think this could be related? :smile:
Since I added my rear bar with spare wheel, my fridge seems to work better. Do you think this could be related? :smile:[/QUOTE]
:laugh:
Interesting read guys, you have certainly put some thought into it. I think at the end of the day if the van handles ok, works and your comfortable with it, do it. I'm sure anyone would make changes to the weight factor and position if the van started doing funny things, and if things did get out of hand there is always the manual brake on controller to straghten things up again, if you think quick enough that is....but i know that's not the point.
Cheers.
:laugh:
Interesting read guys, you have certainly put some thought into it. I think at the end of the day if the van handles ok, works and your comfortable with it, do it. I'm sure anyone would make changes to the weight factor and position if the van started doing funny things, and if things did get out of hand there is always the manual brake on controller to straghten things up again, if you think quick enough that is....but i know that's not the point.
Cheers.