Which chassis for motorbike garage?

[jimjam337]

Or a bike trailer?

I'd rather keep the length down and security up, but a good point!

 

[Guigsy]

I think the only way you'll get a motorbike inside on a 3500kg motorhome is to get a 'race van' type camper:

CaraBus/CaraTour [OUTLAW] | WEINSBERG

weinsberg.com

To put that in a garage of a coachbuild motorhome behind the rear axle, it's going to be at least 7m long. And pretty much everything that long has minimal payload beyond skivvies and a tank of fuel when plated at 3500kg. You're going to need something with a bigger mass and a C1 license.

 

[VXman]

Thanks guys. Helpful stuff for this newbie...So can 'most' low profile vans be 'upweighted' (wrong term I'm sure...) to more than 3500 or is it case by case?

Yes. My Burstner Lyseo just needed air assist (£600 fitted) to the rear to take it from 3500 to 4250. Having air at the rear also will booster the suspension to take th weight of your motorbike. I have a electric moped in mine (80 kg) but also carry 2 cycles, chairs, table and all the other rubbish needed for touring several months at a time.

Ours is 7.5 metre.

Ours has linked twin beds above the garage which I prefer to the island bed.

There is no reason why a A class would be any better than a low profile coach built. It's the front end that is different in the A class. The mid to rear is often identical.

Height is what you need to be careful of. I have to take the mirrors off my moped to get it into the garage.

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

I'm on the light chassis. It's been up-plated, with some modifications namely air bags on the rear +225 tyres. That gave me 2240kg on the back axle, so now 4090kg total weight. We carry a little Honda wave in the garage. Invariably on the light chassis you also need to upgrade the support under garage with some additional chassis rails to improve on the factory 150kg loading limit for the garage. We're 6.90 mt long low profile, twin rear beds.inside the garage the headroom is 110cm.
but we have everything on board we need, motorbike, cycles, and a small fleet of kayaks.
Mike.

 

[VXman]

"Up Plated or down plated" is the term. Case by case for sure as it often depends on what has been up plated before. Often it is rear air suspension and higher load rated tyres are enough to get an increase. SVTECH and another company I can't remember the name of specialise in this operation if you are happy to pay them.

Van Weight Engineering

Need to change the weight of your vehicle? You're in the right place.

www.vanweightengineering.com

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[jongood]

Jongood, Vansflyer seems to have it sorted with a C-Tourer (see above post) regarding the weight so could you poss explain what you mean? Thanks.

I read what Vansflyer put and if it works for him then fair enough. But unless its evolved since - the C tourer was built to be lighter than the then C line, I believe they're on the Fiat chassis (not Alko) but with alko extensions. Imo 180kgs of motorcycle will be pushing the absolute limits on back axle and tyres you then add the other stuff like chairs tables, bbq, bicycles and I reckon its too much stress and may well affect the handling and braking. I also know the one funflair is talking about and the grief they had just getting a towbar to work.

If this is your first motorhome I would always advise buying used first to see if it does what you think it does and your needs are what you think they are. And maybe in this case either look at a lighter motorcycle or get a tag or twin axle.

Hth,

 

[Vansflyer]

Can't agree with that, even the Compactlines are difficult to run at 3500, I have a 6.67m compactline on order went for the 4250kg as I don't reckon it can be run legally at 3500. The E lines at 4500kg have a poor payload so do the Liner for Two unless on an Iveco. Also nearly every Carthago I've see comes of of the factory 130 kg overweight.

Fair point on some of the vans low payload I should have been clearer.
Compactline and lightweight C-Tourers can be tight unless up-plated (no good for sub 3500kg obvs). C-Tourer / C-line with full fat chassis can go to 4800kg with rear air suspension and higher rated tyres. More payload in C-Tourer as less "bling" so more to play with. Older E-lines had more payload than the current ones apparently, not sure why? Still less payload than C-Line / C-Tourer as even more bling and E-Line being taller...
Agreed on on L42, lovely van but not a chance of fitting a motorcycle in the garage due to the design of the space and yes, v heavy when you tick the boxes.
However all modern Carthago have great underfloor storage in the middle of the van so not everything has to go in the garage and as Carthago we're too lazy to modify the Fiat drivers door step it makes a great place to stash bottles of heavy water / wine / beer. Ours was over the weight claimed on the spec sheet but I expected that as they all fib about the weight.

 

[Vansflyer]

I read what Vansflyer put and if it works for him then fair enough. But unless its evolved since - the C tourer was built to be lighter than the then C line, I believe they're on the Fiat chassis (not Alko) but with alko extensions. Imo 180kgs of motorcycle will be pushing the absolute limits on back axle and tyres you then add the other stuff like chairs tables, bbq, bicycles and I reckon its too much stress and may well affect the handling and braking. I also know the one funflair is talking about and the grief they had just getting a towbar to work.

If this is your first motorhome I would always advise buying used first to see if it does what you think it does and your needs are what you think they are. And maybe in this case either look at a lighter motorcycle or get a tag or twin axle.

Hth,

I understand your concern but it is just fine and has been for nearly 19k Miles and 4 years. VB rear semi air makes a great improvement and along with the higher rated tyres is needed for the van to be up-plated. I also got the front springs changed for better ones as the oem ones were woeful. I know when the bike is onboard vs not but at no time has the handling or braking been negatively affected even when we are full for a winter trip.

The chassis rails needed for a tow bar fitting is a completely different issue than the garage payload. You need to reinforce the chassis for towing a car on some of the C-Tourers but not to use the garage payload they claim is available, if you have upgraded the suspension etc.
We are easily within our rear axle payload by 150-200kg when "full" so I sleep soundly that we have some payload for more wine in the garage if needed.
I trust (maybe foolishly) that SvTech and Carthago have done the maths correctly regarding the axle load and the garage loading capacity. As an aside I don't believe any manufacturers MIRO or empty weight figures.

Forgot to add previously, the 790 Duke is great for my Mrs, she is Kylie size and I am much larger at 110kg. Very comfy two up but I did change the rsu as the OEM wouldn't cope with me, her and the topbox loaded up. It would have cost more in chiropractic bills than the shock did. More room than the 390 we had before and much smoother being a twin, and if riding solo is a ruddy hoot to ride

 

[Speve]

We run a Hymer B678 DL with full air at 4500 kg and when looking at uprating to keep a good towing capacity SV Tech told me we could reach 4800 KG gvw.keeping 2300 kg on front axle and 2500 kg on rear, That’s on an Alko Chassis

 

[funflair]

I understand your concern but it is just fine and has been for nearly 19k Miles and 4 years. VB rear semi air makes a great improvement and along with the higher rated tyres is needed for the van to be up-plated. I also got the front springs changed for better ones as the oem ones were woeful. I know when the bike is onboard vs not but at no time has the handling or braking been negatively affected even when we are full for a winter trip.

The chassis rails needed for a tow bar fitting is a completely different issue than the garage payload. You need to reinforce the chassis for towing a car on some of the C-Tourers but not to use the garage payload they claim is available, if you have upgraded the suspension etc.
We are easily within our rear axle payload by 150-200kg when "full" so I sleep soundly that we have some payload for more wine in the garage if needed.
I trust (maybe foolishly) that SvTech and Carthago have done the maths correctly regarding the axle load and the garage loading capacity. As an aside I don't believe any manufacturers MIRO or empty weight figures.

Forgot to add previously, the 790 Duke is great for my Mrs, she is Kylie size and I am much larger at 110kg. Very comfy two up but I did change the rsu as the OEM wouldn't cope with me, her and the topbox loaded up. It would have cost more in chiropractic bills than the shock did. More room than the 390 we had before and much smoother being a twin, and if riding solo is a ruddy hoot to ride

I mentioned chassis rails simply because I wouldn't want to be loading a reasonably heavy bike into the garage without some chassis support under the floor, maybe it's just me being exrta careful.

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[Jim]

Revolvor added a great spreadsheet for working out your axle loading, You can download it here

Motorhome Weight Calculator

The aim of this Spreadsheet was to allow me to add or remove items from my MH, once I had been to a Weighbridge, but to still know the actual axle-weights. Although I am confident that I have sufficient Payload, I wanted to know accurate Axle...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

 

[enark]

Tvm Vansflyer and Enark. The Carthagos look very tasty. I've had my eye on a C-Tourer on Autotrader which I think will fit the bill perfectly. Research to do....

If your budget is in Carthago range, don’t overlook Frankia, they make some very impressive vehicles. Think SMC are main dealers….we had a good look at them at the NEC recently. Have you considered tag axle vehicles, as this would increase payload, although length too….

 

[peterc10]

You will also need to check the height of your motorbike with the lowest bit of the garage. In our experience motorhomes with an island double bed have less headroom in the garage with those that have twin singles. Not sure why.

Our 4500kg Hymer B678 has an weight allowance of 450kg in the garage. We have a little Suzuki Address scooter weighing just over 100kg, plus about another 150kg of other stuff at most in our garage, but we still struggle to keep to our (uprated) rear axle limit of 2,500kg. Part of the problem is that all of the stuff in the garage is well behind the rear axle and that increases even more the weight on the rear axle while reducing the weight on the front axle. You may be better using a motorbike trailer, but that can bring security problems.

 

[jimjam337]

Many thanks for the helpful comments folks.

 

[A S R]

Burstner Elegance tag axle.
I have my 390 Duke in the garage permanently. I only use it ( very occasionally when it’s dry ) when I’m away in my van. Loads of payload ( just over 1t ) so no problem weight wise.
You will need a driving licence upgrade though.

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[Richard n Ann]

Burstner Elegance tag axle.
I have my 390 Duke in the garage permanently. I only use it ( very occasionally when it’s dry ) when I’m away in my van. Loads of payload ( just over 1t ) so no problem weight wise.
You will need a driving licence upgrade though.View attachment 794050View attachment 794052View attachment 794053View attachment 794054

Still got mine, must have done 5000 miles now. My new girlfriend likes bikes so she rides it plus it goes on the back of the van occasionally. Bought a bigger shed so the new Hornet can live there too. Buying bikes is addictive, I want a CB1000R now