Cycle storage inside, any suggestions of models to consider?

[Scottish Scrutineer]

Looking for some help in our search for suitable motorhomes, either coachbuilt or PVC. Our requirements are:

• 2 berth minimum
• I'm 1.86m (6'1") tall, so bed needs to be reasonably long
• less than 7m overall length
• Secure internal storage for 2x road bikes, not folding bikes, so need about 900-1000mm headroom
• Either under-bed or garage
• Automatic gearbox option

I've got a short list, but willing to consider any others that I've not yet found, and welcome any feedback on those on this list.

• Adria Twin Sports
• Adria Compact (SL?)
• Rapido C03
• Rapido C55
• Auto-Trail Expedition 68
• Auto-Trail 620G
• Burstner Delfin
• Swift Escape 684
• Pilote 696D
• Pilote Atlas A696G

Would prefer a slimline, hence the PCV thoughts. Both of us have C1 licences and I used to drive and instruct on HGVs. Hoping to tour UK and Western Europe.

TIA

 

[Scottish Scrutineer]

Oh and on the garage size, you can never have too large a garage when it comes to push bike, you may want to take a spare

I’ve been known to take 3 bikes with me although now often take 2.5 with different wheel sets giving me an endurance bike as well as something that can handle anything up to singles

Now we need to squeeze a tandem in as well.

n+1

 

[Scottish Scrutineer]

Thank you all for the suggestions and comments so far. The short-list is getting longer
Off to the Adria dealer this weekend , and maybe the following one will be looking at the German offerings.

 

[Scottish Scrutineer]

We had a look at an Adria Compact SL yesterday. Big garage, 2m long beds, nice layout and finish. Unlike other Fiat based options, the cab window blinds were much neater integrated and the windscreen blind did not reduce the height of the upper edge as much as others. Also the offset to the steering wheel did not seem as pronounced, maybe they use a different swivel mechanism?
Still going to look at the Knaus 640 Meg on the MAN/VW cab next week as I’m not that confident about Fiats, especially with the automatic gearboxes. Weinsberg and Chausson are another manufacturers models that we want to look at after the recommendations here.

 

[Abgs]

I've had a Carthago Compactline 138 and now a Hymer MLt. Both are slimline at 2.12 m wide, have decent length beds - ( I'm 6'3'), and good sized garages.

Decent garages for bike storage was a major criteria for me - I can get my XL Specialized Ebike in either garage without resorting to removing the front wheel.

I'd throughly recommend either of them, but for different reasons. The Carthago for build quality, the double floor and amazing amount of usable storage space for it's 6.4m length. The Hymer for the All Wheel Drive system, and general look of thuggishness!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[379inca]

We had a look at an Adria Compact SL yesterday. Big garage, 2m long beds, nice layout and finish. Unlike other Fiat based options, the cab window blinds were much neater integrated and the windscreen blind did not reduce the height of the upper edge as much as others. Also the offset to the steering wheel did not seem as pronounced, maybe they use a different swivel mechanism?
Still going to look at the Knaus 640 Meg on the MAN/VW cab next week as I’m not that confident about Fiats, especially with the automatic gearboxes. Weinsberg and Chausson are another manufacturers models that we want to look at after the recommendations here.

Also check out the Knaus 650 meg. Basically the same as the 640 but with 10cm more headroom and the over head lockers above the beds are also mounted higher making it easier to prop yourself up in bed. (Very important for the morning cuppa). The MAN/VW chassis is an excellent easy drive with a smooth shifting auto box. We have had ours just over a year and covered 11,000 miles with no problems. Easily holds 2 full sized e mountain bikes (one is xl frame)in the garage without having to remove the front wheels. From memory the garage doors are bigger than the Adria compacts. (They were on our shortlist too).
An added advantage is it hardly uses any adblue. We haven’t had to top up once yet with an indicated range of 16000 miles still showing.

 

[Stoosal]

Benimar Tessoro 483. End of line now so may get a deal?

 

[Brains]

Thank you all for the suggestions and comments so far. The short-list is getting longer
Off to the Adria dealer this weekend , and maybe the following one will be looking at the German offerings.

Our short list got so long that we made some basic decisions to go right at the top of the list.

1st decision was to only buy a German van: On the basis they were mostly well built and they really were winterised.
2nd decision was no wood construction: Very few of the German vans used wood construction, so this was easy.
The 3rd decision (Which we might have been a bit flexible on) was if you are going for a german top, then get a matching German bottom as well, which means Mercedes rather than Fiat.

Once got rid of those on the list that did not fit the spec above, the list got a lot smaller!

We then got a Mercedes Hymer MLT
Twin beds over a massive garage
Under 7m

 

[Scottish Scrutineer]

Also check out the Knaus 650 meg. Basically the same as the 640 but with 10cm more headroom and the over head lockers above the beds are also mounted higher making it easier to prop yourself up in bed. (Very important for the morning cuppa). The MAN/VW chassis is an excellent easy drive with a smooth shifting auto box. We have had ours just over a year and covered 11,000 miles with no problems. Easily holds 2 full sized e mountain bikes (one is xl frame)in the garage without having to remove the front wheels. From memory the garage doors are bigger than the Adria compacts. (They were on our shortlist too).
An added advantage is it hardly uses any adblue. We haven’t had to top up once yet with an indicated range of 16000 miles still showing.

379inca, do you know what the weight capacity is like? I’ve seen a couple at 3500kg and see they have air bags on the rear, so just wondering what the basic weight is, or if it may need uprating.
Also, are there any issues with the rear overhang? The Hymer ML-T580 is apparently prone to grounding out the low-slung rear waste tank.
I must admit the VW/MAN is very attractive as I’ve owned VW Transporters for the last 8-9 years.

Thanks

 

[mikash]

379inca, do you know what the weight capacity is like? I’ve seen a couple at 3500kg and see they have air bags on the rear, so just wondering what the basic weight is, or if it may need uprating.
Also, are there any issues with the rear overhang? The Hymer ML-T580 is apparently prone to grounding out the low-slung rear waste tank.
I must admit the VW/MAN is very attractive as I’ve owned VW Transporters for the last 8-9 years.

Thanks

Globe-Traveller makes a Crafter van with a bike garage. I think with AWD option too if that's your fancy. It's a small builder but they are usually considered very good quality.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[379inca]

379inca, do you know what the weight capacity is like? I’ve seen a couple at 3500kg and see they have air bags on the rear, so just wondering what the basic weight is, or if it may need uprating.
Also, are there any issues with the rear overhang? The Hymer ML-T580 is apparently prone to grounding out the low-slung rear waste tank.
I must admit the VW/MAN is very attractive as I’ve owned VW Transporters for the last 8-9 years.

Thanks

Obviously it will depend on what you want to carry. In our case we weighed the MH in fully loaded trim. Which for us is
Full water tank, two full 11kg gaslow bottles, brim filled diesel tank, underslung spare wheel, stocked fridge (incl several beers), two adults ( both of which over the standard 75kg) and two 150w solar panels . In the garage we had twin agm leisure batteries (now single 280ah lithium), two full size mountain e-bikes, camping chairs, tools etc etc.
The results on the Weighbridge were front axle 1500kg, rear axle 2220kg, total 3720kg. We were plated at 3850, split 1800 front and 2100 rear. So we up plated, and as a paper exercise kept 1800kg on the front but increased the rear to 2380kg new total 4180. The standard vb rear air assist suspension is easily adjusted for load and makes for a comfortable and controlled ride, but does not give much increase in ride height. Touch wood, we haven’t grounded out the rear yet, (no underslung waste tank at the rear) but are aware that it is low, the MAN chassis rides fairly flat, not high at the back like many other MH’s. So the co pilot is deployed if we think there is a possibility of grounding.
I think 3500 would be possible but we didn’t want the hassle of thinking about what we carried.
The MAN tge with it’s standard 180 hp plus auto is silky smooth and very car like to drive, if you are used to VW the cockpit will look very familiar. Finally, we may have been lucky but for a coach built motorhome it has been relatively squeak and rattle free.

 

[StillGoing]

Looking for some help in our search for suitable motorhomes, either coachbuilt or PVC. Our requirements are:

• 2 berth minimum
• I'm 1.86m (6'1") tall, so bed needs to be reasonably long
• less than 7m overall length
• Secure internal storage for 2x road bikes, not folding bikes, so need about 900-1000mm headroom
• Either under-bed or garage
• Automatic gearbox option

I've got a short list, but willing to consider any others that I've not yet found, and welcome any feedback on those on this list.

• Adria Twin Sports
• Adria Compact (SL?)
• Rapido C03
• Rapido C55
• Auto-Trail Expedition 68
• Auto-Trail 620G
• Burstner Delfin
• Swift Escape 684
• Pilote 696D
• Pilote Atlas A696G

Would prefer a slimline, hence the PCV thoughts. Both of us have C1 licences and I used to drive and instruct on HGVs. Hoping to tour UK and Western Europe.

TIA

Hymer Exsis

 

[LostInSpace]

Hymer Exsis

Yes, The Exsis-i 580 meets the OP's requirements (as did our previous Exsis-i 576) apart from being slimline.

It 580 also comes with all the chargers needed to swap out the heavy AGM leisure batteries for LiFePO4 with only DIP switches to change.