Best small van for transporting motorcycles?

[Guest]

I'm toying with the idea of getting a van to use for various purposes, and moving motorcycles around will definitely be one of those purposes.

 

Obviously, a larger van like a Transit, Movano, Boxer etc. is the obvious choice, but is there a mid-size or smaller van that could work? 

 

I've been looking at the Fiat Scudo / Citroen Dispatch / Peugeot Expert which look like they'd do the job. 

 

Smallest bike would be something like a Van Van 125 and the largest would be a Harley Tourer or similar. It might be that the only safe option is the larger van route, but thought I'd ask here 

 

Cheers.

Edited January 10, 2021 by Guest
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[Bender]

I've had a few vans and had bikes in them, now you can squeeze bikes into all sorts of things but I don't think I would fancy putting a big harley in a little van

 

Swb transit gives room to get bike in plus a good long ramp I made an 8ft one makes pushing up easier, plenty of room left for anything else.

 

Little vans your looking at lwb high tops to do it in comfort.

 

My fazer takes up a surprisingly large amount of space in the back of a swb transit

[Guest]

Cheers for that @Bender 

 

You're right. I kind of wanted it to work with a smaller van 'cos it's easier to manage parking-wise at home etc., but to do this right it'll have to be a larger one. 

[Bender]

How many miles a year are you planning on doing with the van 

[Guest]

Hard to say at this stage, but prob 15,000 or so

 

[Bender]

Age of van is next thing, how old or not are you looking at

[rennie]

our campervan is scudo based!

wouldn't fit a bike in even without the camper conversion

also not enough payload for bikes

[Tiggie]

A smaller van that I've seen some use online is a Ford Transit Connect.  Might be too small for your needs though

 

 

[Bender]

Street glide is nearly 2.5m in lenght

[Trooper74]

This my transit 9 seat mini bus .... when bought just over 12 months ago it was £15,000 with 15,000 miles on it .... low emission, saves money if in London.

And great for separating the 4 children on long trips ......

Takes about 5 minutes for 2 people to take all the seats out giving a lot of load space for just about any bike.

It's faultless .... 

 

 

[Guest]

Yeah, bigger van it is. This is really helpful! 

 

Initially, I'll be bootstrapping so it'll be bangenomics (but working on cars is something I already do - haven't paid for garage work for years) so it'll be a sub-£2k Transit or Vivaro that I'll nurse along. If things go as hoped, I'll then buy or lease something much newer. 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Guest

[Tiggie]

Have you considered this?................

 

 

or this?........

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Trooper74 said:

This my transit 9 seat mini bus .... when bought just over 12 months ago it was £15,000 with 15,000 miles on it .... low emission, saves money if in London.

And great for separating the 4 children on long trips ......

Takes about 5 minutes for 2 people to take all the seats out giving a lot of load space for just about any bike.

It's faultless .... 

 

 

 

Love your van - looks cracking!

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, rennie said:

our campervan is scudo based!

wouldn't fit a bike in even without the camper conversion

also not enough payload for bikes

 

Yeah I agree, it's too small.

 

Isn't the payload on the Scudo just under a tonne? 

 

Citroen Dispatch van review (1996-2006) | Parkers

[Trooper74]

7 minutes ago, ZX7R said:

 

Love your van - looks cracking!

Came with the alloys ... all the vans the dealer sells have them fitted .....

[Bender]

If your not bothered about looks and speed 2.5 banana engine transit is easiest to work on with no dpf or emissions crap, engine is not the fastest but they are reliable, rust is usually the issue.

 

The next gen tdi are still alot more reliable then the later tdci.

 

2.3 fiat is a good van too bodywork tends to last much better than transits.

 

[Slowlycatchymonkey]

Have three different types of van and the enormous sprinter (so not practical for some things) is by far the easiest to load and unload, wide ramp and you can run the bike up and get in by yourself in one swoop. The smaller the van the harder it gets because you can’t step into it easily, you need a second person.
Although I think forking out for a wide ramp is a useful addition for whatever van you end up with. 

[Guest]

Just now, Trooper74 said:

Came with the alloys ... all the vans the dealer sells have them fitted .....

 

Very smart. Mine'll not be anywhere near your standards initially, but hopefully I can get something clean(ish) and presentable. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Bender said:

If your not bothered about looks and speed 2.5 banana engine transit is easiest to work on with no dpf or emissions crap, engine is not the fastest but they are reliable, rust is usually the issue.

 

The next gen tdi are still alot more reliable then the later tdci.

 

2.3 fiat is a good van too bodywork tends to last much better than transits.

 

 

Thanks, that is very useful. I think Transit is looking like a winner, although their relative popularity seems to keep prices strong. 

 

Just now, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Have three different types of van and the enormous sprinter (so not practical for some things) is by far the easiest to load and unload, wide ramp and you can run the bike up and get in by yourself in one swoop. The smaller the van the harder it gets because you can’t step into it easily, you need a second person.
Although I think forking out for a wide ramp is a useful addition for whatever van you end up with. 

 

Wide ramp is a very good shout. I agree, larger the better but not so practical when not in 'transport' mode - I can't have it all though, I guess. 

[Bender]

6 minutes ago, ZX7R said:

 

Thanks, that is very useful. I think Transit is looking like a winner, although their relative popularity seems to keep prices strong. 

 

 

Wide ramp is a very good shout. I agree, larger the better but not so practical when not in 'transport' mode - I can't have it all though, I guess. 

I made mine from inch ply with some added supports on the rear, has a recess that drops over door catch on floor to locate it. Just slides down the side of the bike when it's in

[Guest]

Just now, Bender said:

I made mine from inch ply with some added supports on the rear, has a recess that drops over door catch on floor to locate it. Just slides down the side of the bike when it's in

 

Nice. That's the stuff - the bought ones are expensive

[Bender]

The older pre 2006 I think tddi suffer from usual old van issues. Being a transit rust is always lurking somewhere, the pcm solenoid on the end of injectionn pump at front of engine often leak, bout 300quid so not the worst. Oil coolers leak but you can just bypass that, turbos pack in but if it dosen't implode will run happily as a tdi with less power.

 

Latter tdci can be nightmare injection wise. Loom to bank 1 dpf sensor snaps fetching fault up, easy fix. Crank sensors disintegrate, injectors usually get 100k out of, they do usually come out OK unlike sprinters, glow plugs  are hit and miss.

[Bender]

There are still places that will do re map and remove all of the emissions, egr,dpf etc although this is obviously a very bad thing to do  

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Bender said:

The older pre 2006 I think tddi suffer from usual old van issues. Being a transit rust is always lurking somewhere, the pcm solenoid on the end of injectionn pump at front of engine often leak, bout 300quid so not the worst. Oil coolers leak but you can just bypass that, turbos pack in but if it dosen't implode will run happily as a tdi with less power.

 

Latter tdci can be nightmare injection wise. Loom to bank 1 dpf sensor snaps fetching fault up, easy fix. Crank sensors disintegrate, injectors usually get 100k out of, they do usually come out OK unlike sprinters, glow plugs  are hit and miss.

 

Mega helpful, thanks. Rust is the enemy, really. As you say, the rest is do-able; nothing I've not had to do on various cars over years. 

[Bender]

I prefer rust as long as it's not a complete sieve it dosen't take too long to do door steps sills etc and plenty of panels about I usually just use sheet steel, non of the shapes are overly complex.