AndyH

I just purchased a Chrysler Town & Country 2014. While I have seen the virtues of placing a tandem inside the minivan being heavily extolled in the Tandem Transport sticky thread, I have not seen many people comment on how they got a tandem on top of a minivan. This will be required of me when I want to take the tandem camping when the inside is filled with my camping gear.

I have looked at the Tandem Topper website where you remove the front wheel, attach the fork to the mount, and then pivot the bike up into place. While that looks practical for a low car, it doesn't seem like it would work well for a tall minivan.

Can anyone advise of a convenient method to getting the bike on top of a minivan? I prefer a one-person solution because my stoker is blind, but she would definitely be willing to help.

Thanks
Andy

Team Fab

Many of the swivel roof top mounts require the tandem to be very close to the edge of the car/van and may even need an extension to get the tandem outboard(just watch your head). Once outboard will work as designed.

If you have a hitch you could mount one of the bike racks that swing out of the way.

merlinextraligh

If you've got a trailer hitch, using a DraftMaster rack is dramatically easier than getting a tandem on top a large SUV or Mini Van.

linnefaulk

This guy has one mounted on his Ford Escape.

sculbertson

I use a Thule rooftop tandem carrier on a BMW X3 SUV. Loading and unloading works best as a 2 person operation but one person is able to do most of the work. This is how we do it. The stoker holds the rear of the bike steady while I remove the front wheel. I then lift the front end of the bike up to the mount and secure the fork into the holder. Once the front is secured, I move to the back of the tandem to take over for the stoker. I then lift the back of the tandem up to roof height and pivot it into place and secure the rear wheel. It is tricky on high vehicles with one person but with two it is quite easy. With that said, a rear hitch mounted carrier would be even easier.

mstyer

The Yakima carrier swings out wide enough that it would clear your roof line, but I share the others concern about getting the rear of the bike up on a high roof. For a really nice rack, check out One Up. Someone on the board here called them up and custom ordered a rack with a fork mount on one end and the standard wheel mount at the other. It shouldn't extend much wider than your mirrors.

Found the link: https://www.bikeforums.net/tandem-cyc...itch-rack.html

ksisler

OP; Can feel your pain. My 2XL / XL Santana with brifters is a massive space consumer in our Town & Country (the ones with bucket seats in the middle work better, but make a 7 pax van into a 3 pax + bike van). I have tried several of the pivot and push carriers. Haven't discerned a significant advantage of one over the other. I have been contemplating one of the ones that month on the trailer hitch...may buy one in the near future.l

Hope that helps some
/K

dvs cycles

When I used to put ours on top of a Rav-4 I mounted the rack as far outboard as my rails would allow and had to use a well placed bucket to set the rear on before attaching to the mount and then lifting up. You probably need a taller bucket or short ladder.

jhazel

I've used a Yakima rack on my daughter's Toyota Sienna mini van for my DaVinci Joint Venture. I need a second person and something to climb on. I am only 5'8" and I just cant reach the top with enough strength to get it onto the cradle. My granddaughter can stand on the rear wheel and provide just enough extra lift to make it work with me on a short stool. We've decided to put the tandem in the van and take another car for the people. We can get two tandems and two singles in the van and the people in a car. If I have to, I'll put the tandem up on the van roof again, but it won't be my first choice.

geronimo2000

I also have a tandem topper on a RAV4 and I can affirm that it is an easy one-person load to swivel the tandem up onto to roof. The tandem topper instructions say to line the carrier up with the roof rack supports - that means I need to have the passenger door open to lock the fork into the fork lock but getting it up onto the roof of the rig is not a problem.

Philly Tandem

I haven't had any trouble with the Yakima Sidewinder on our Honda Odyssey. It's important to use the strap that keeps the handlebars straight when loading. If I forget to use that, it's a lot harder as I'm fighting the articulation of the tandem and the Sidewinder at the same time.

If you have a drum brake on your bike, it might help to set that full on and then you can use the "locked" rear wheel to give you extra height to lift the rear of the bike up, compared with holding onto the bottom tube or BB. I've never tried that (just thought of it), but it seems like it would provide extra leverage and lifting height.

zonatandem

3-step stepladder works . . .

dwmckee

Gosh,I use a receiver mount conventional rack and put our tandem on that myself and keep both wheels on. I just took our CoMotion to Maine and back to Pittsburgh again this way and we never have any problems. I just cannot see why anyone would want their expensive bike way up there in all of that wind with bugs, branches and grit continually asssaulting it. Take a look at the pix I posted of it behind our minivan in the perfect vehicle for tandem thread. Behind the vehicle the bike is pretty protected from a lot of stuff and you likely get better mileage that way too.

vrooom3440

You know what part of a car gets dirty the fastest? The back end. Right where you put a hitch mount rack and bike.

We run a Subaru Outback and a Tandem Topper.

Agree that having the tandem bars locked into the straight ahead position is one key. I have a rope that I tie to the bars and captains seatpost for this.
Next the Subaru is high/tall enough that pedals have to be in just the right position so crank can go into door opening.
Still a bit of a chore to get back end up high enough to get into trough.

Another key is mounting the rack as far to the outside as possible. We are using the factory rack crossbars so we are somewhat limited there.

agriskman

We have a Thule tandem roof rack on a BMW X3. I lift the front of the tandem toward the fork mounting bracket while the rear wheel rests on a case box filled with empty Anchor Steam bottles. The box provides about 10 inches of lift which is plenty. (I am looking for a fold-flat 12" step stool as a longer run solution.) Our tandem weighs about 25 pounds so I can do it alone. A mini van might need more than 10 (or 12) inches but this is how I do it. Of course with the swinging roof rack you have to keep the captain bars straight.

dvs cycles

My Thule came with a strap for just that purpose.

JanMM

Ours did, too, and it greatly helps the process.
Our RANS tandem is long enough that the rear wheel rests on the ground as the fork is secured into the swiveling pivot. A shorter bike or a taller vehicle can be a problem. My long wheelbase recumbent is not quite long enough to reach from ground to pivot so I just lift it up without using the pivot. The tandem is really too heavy to do that - by myself, anyway.

AndyH

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I don't have a hitch, so that solution is out. I thought about getting the Yakima sidewinder to alleviate what I saw as my biggest concern: having the bottom of the bike touch the side of the minivan. However, it appears that with the factory roofrack system (crossbeams stow into the side rails when not in use), the Yakima is incompatible.

It sounds like I will need a bucket or other prop on which to place the back wheel so that I can get clearance of the side of the minivan, and go with a Tandem Topper or Thule. I think the multi-step stepstool is going to be required, as I am only 5'8".

As a previous poster mentioned, it sounds like this might make for a dirty bike at the destination. Anyone have ideas to reduce this issue? (i.e. do you take the seats off or cover the bike some way?)

diabloridr

Probably not what you want to here, but I would consider investing in a cargo box for the rack so there was room for the tandem inside the van.

WNY tandem

We keep our tandem inside, but I use this for getting my kayaks on top of my Sienna.

it might be just what you are looking for.

Werner, 39-1/2 in. x 12 in. x 20-9/16 in. Aluminum Work Platform, AP-20 at The Home Depot - Tablet

karenashg

There are auto shops that install hitches on vehicles--we got one put on our Prius so that we could get a hitch mount bike rack, and it's been great. It is more $ sure, but don't automatically rule out the hitch options. (I don't know where you are, but this is where we went: Torklift Central )

vrooom3440

You may not want to be too quick here... a hitch does not have be that big a deal and does add a lot of utility. I have put hitches on about every car I have owned in the last 20 years including Ford Mustangs. This is my favorite vendor (I have probably bought 4-5 hitches from them over the years):

Curt Trailer Hitch for Chrysler Town and Country 2014 - 13364

They usually offer free shipping on orders over $150 (but I see they are running a special just now that drops that to $99). And the hitch for your car is a simple bolt in with no drilling required.

There are actually adapter brackets available for most of the factory racks to put generic Yakima/Thule stuff on them. Our Subaru has retractable cross bars and I got custom parts from Subaru to bolt my Tandem Topper to the factory crossbars. You may want to consider this option as you could use longer cross bars and then get the bike mounted closer to the side of the car (the surest way to avoid interference between bike and side of car when putting the front half up). Downside is those extra brackets and bars raise the bike a few more inches higher.

As to keeping the bike clean... what time of year or weather conditions are you going to haul the bike in? In fair weather the real problem is not dirt so much as bugs. You can eliminate most of the bug problem with a simple bike bra on the front:

Sci'Con Sci Con Bike Defender at REI.com

Sometimes I may add plastic bags wrapped over the seats if I expect "heavy dew". I would avoid hauling the bike outside if driving where lots of water/dirt are expected.

twocicle

Hi Andy,

Just to chime in with my 2 cents... as you know, a key benefit to the minivan is the ability to put the tandem inside. Not only is the advantage to keep the tandem clean, but for security too. We often go to restaurants or grocery shopping after a ride, and so it is nice to have the tandem hidden away. Plus, never have to worry about driving into a garage.

Assuming you have rear seats that fold down into the floor and don't need those seats for other passengers, that setup couldn't be much easier and cheapest - all you need is a fork mount screwed to a plank and raised up enough to get the front timing ring off the floor. Or for something a little fancier, a rack such as that made by BikeTote can be used too.

chojn1

Andy,
Most Uhaul location can install a hitch for you for about $300.
You can also install one yourself for less than half that price. You can order the hitch from Amazon.
I've transported bikes on top, inside, on back and the easiest by far is on the hitch mount. Loading and unloading is strictly a one man operation.
I don't have to worry about injuring myself lifting that bike over my head, scratching the paint jobs, or hitting my bike on low hanging tree branch or garage ceiling.
CJ

DCwom

Have you considered putting some of the camping gear on the roof to make room for the tandem inside? One thing I find with the tandem, while large, is that there is a lot of space inside the frame, i.e. gear can be put through, on, around the bike. Camping gear tends to be a bunch of small squishy stuff.