Date:         23 Apr 97 01:43:20 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Clark M. Carr" <75716.763@CompuServe.COM>
Subject:      RE: Anyone got a bike rack or towing hitch?



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>From:  Chet Douglas
Sent:  Monday, April 21, 1997 7:09 PM
To:  Vanagon List Server; 75716,763
Subject:  Re: Anyone got a bike rack or towing hitch?

Wrote:

Why not buy a decent Thule or Yakima and mount it vertically on the 
back?? I have seen alot of people do this.  Then you can take advantage 
of all of the other attachments for those racks.... I have a tilting 
rack on the back (my 87 has a tow hitch) as well as a full blown Thule 
system on the camper top.  You can never have enough rack space!  I 
wouldn't bother with the cheapy strap to the hatch solution.  They are a 
pain in the ass and not very sturdy.  Remember you get what you pay for. 
 I have enough money tied up in mountain bikes and windsurfers to 
warrant spending alot of money on the best quality racks to carry the 
stuff.

Then



Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1997 10:55:15 -0400 (EDT)
>From: SyncroHead@aol.com

Wrote:

You say that like you can just look up "Vanagon rear hatch" in the Thule or
Yakima book and buy one.  Not the case.  Any solution like this is going to
require a bit of thought and work on the owner's part.  I've got a bunch of
Thule racks and parts & I've toyed around with this idea for some time and
haven't come up with a solution I like yet.  Mounting the main rails side to
side is a problem because the rack would tend to slide down and the sides of
the top of the hatch are not parallel.  Mounting top-to-bottom baiscally
hangs all the weight on the top of the hatch through 1 pair of mounts - a
condition these mounts were not designed for.  More elaborate means can be
used for mounting, but this requires cutting and bending of the bars, etc...

Do you have any specific solutions to suggest on how to accomplist this
"Thule-or-Yakima-on-the-rear-hatch"  thing?



I think Chet is refering to one of the hitch mounted systems that Thule now
sells.  However Thule just bought the Rack-N-Loc company.

The Rack-N-Loc system I'm trying to mount to my Westfalia was bought out last
week by Thule.  In fact, during the transition none of the dealers for either
company seem able to get more inventory on the R-N-L system which is why I think
I'm getting this deal for $150. But then there's this idea of $250 for the
hitch... 

If what your saying is 'Aw, go ahead and spend the money' then I guess I will
get what I pay for but any way you look at this problem I'm comparing it to just
carrying the equipment inside the van or just getting a <$75 "bike rack".  So to
me it looks like I'd be getting about $325 worth of convenience.  If I spent 32
hours in the coming year just taking the bikes on and off the van that's a
sawbuck an hour for convenience and I'm really trying hard to imagine that much
biking...  Ah, never mind I'm just feeling tight and maybe this process helps me
assure myself that I didn't neglect a $100 option staring me in the face.
What's the list for if not to help you decide what to do and how to do it? :)

Regards,  -Clark