Which side should we swing?

[Jane And Rog]

Got an Adria Twin SGX, with slider on the RHS.

We're looking to buy a van swing for a bike rack (two bikes max, both light road bikes) and wondered whether a left or right hinge made more sense?

Right = same side as slider (more usual choice apparently)
Left = more often pavement side in UK, might be able to just swing through e.g. 45 degrees to open the right door (which opens first, closes last).

Anyone got any thoughts?

 

[tonka]

I thought it would depend on which door opened and they usually fit there.
So you can open the door, leaving the bikes in place. Otherwise you would need to take the bikes off every time to open a rear door if you used the other one.
Or am i getting mixed up with the type of mount ??

 

[Jane And Rog]

No, tonka - the Van Swing is a thing to swing the bike rack entirely out of the way.

Link Removed

 

[Northernraider]

Well if it was me I would fit it like this

Because if you fit it the other way it will restrict how far you can open that door

 

[tonka]

No, tonka - the Van Swing is a thing to swing the bike rack entirely out of the way.

Link Removed

Learn something new everyday..

I was thinking it was one like we used to have and fastened on the rear door..

I would swing it like the pic above as well..

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[frogijock]

The obvious side would be the opposite from whatever side has the door handle, as that is the one you need to keep clear for opening and closing,

 

[Jane And Rog]

Looks like the left has it. I think we thought that really, it's just that the only one in stock is right hand, and ideally we'd like it for our long break (well, long for us) on Aug 8th. Thanks all, helped save us an expensive mistake.

 

[1ten]

Well if it was me I would fit it like this

Ours is a different rack to that but swings the same way.
it means you can open one of the doors with less space behind you.

 

[Northernraider]

Looks like the left has it. I think we thought that really, it's just that the only one in stock is right hand, and ideally we'd like it for our long break (well, long for us) on Aug 8th. Thanks all, helped save us an expensive mistake.

In my experience left is always better than right

 

[busby]

I thought it would depend on which door opened and they usually fit there.
So you can open the door, leaving the bikes in place. Otherwise you would need to take the bikes off every time to open a rear door if you used the other one.
Or am i getting mixed up with the type of mount ??

Think you are..Dont think they are talking about a door mounted rack,,BUSBY.

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[Jane And Rog]

Which rack is that 1ten?

 

[Jane And Rog]

Northernraider not sure about politics, but certainly when choosing which side of the M6 to drive on.

 

[gus-lopez]

No, tonka - the Van Swing is a thing to swing the bike rack entirely out of the way.

Link Removed

You do realise that once the rack is fitted to the towbar it has No Towing capacity whatsoever ?
To be able to tow legally the rack parts would have to be removed completely.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Yes. I think there is a similar system that allows towing, but it's much more expensive. We have never wanted to tow - the bar was on the van from new.

 

[1ten]

Which rack is that 1ten?

its a Busbiker, a great bike rack but a bit expensive. It was the only rack we could find that would hold 4 bikes and still let us open the back doors.

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[Grianan]

We also have the Busbiker. Our sliding door is on the passenger side and the bike rack is hinged in the passenger side. It goes beyond the 90 degrees so you can open both doors fully. Not been an issue yet.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Is the busbiker tow-bar mounted? In good news, I found a left hinged van swing and HWMBO found a Reimo bikelander rack on Amazon - second hand, almost as new but with £100 off. So our August holiday will be with bikes

 

[1ten]

Is the busbiker tow-bar mounted? In good news, I found a left hinged van swing and HWMBO found a Reimo bikelander rack on Amazon - second hand, almost as new but with £100 off. So our August holiday will be with bikes

No it attaches to the chassis. Its a pretty heavy duty and can take 4 bikes and still swing fully open. When its folded up it only adds 100mm to the van and also has a tow bar if you want one. its very good and gives you full access to the rear of the van whenever you need it.

 

[RobbyMClark]

Sorry folks
Thought the title was click bait.

 

[Grianan]

Sorry folks
Thought the title was click bait.

... so clicked it?

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[Jane And Rog]

It kind of was

I'm trying to remember our thought process with the Busbiker. I know it's a fair bit more expensive, but I think the other thing HWMBO liked about the Van Swing was that it's easy to remove the bike rack, depending on whether we need the bikes on any given trip or not. I think it's all built in with the Busbiker so you have to unbolt from the chassis?

 

[Grianan]

It kind of was

I'm trying to remember our thought process with the Busbiker. I know it's a fair bit more expensive, but I think the other thing HWMBO liked about the Van Swing was that it's easy to remove the bike rack, depending on whether we need the bikes on any given trip or not. I think it's all built in with the Busbiker so you have to unbolt from the chassis?

No you can take it off relatively easily but we leave it on as it hasn’t proved difficult up swing it open first.
Big thing is it takes more bikes and is very robust without putting any stress on the doors.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Agree about the stress on the doors, hence us going for the Van Swing which is tow bar mounted. We'll only be carrying two 9kg road bikes, so weight carried / number of bikes not an issue for us.

 

[Grianan]

We'll only be carrying two 9kg road bikes, so weight carried / number of bikes not an issue for us.

If we only needed to carry 2 bikes we would probably have gone with the same as you

 

[Wiener-dogs201]

Phew, was getting worried that with all this talk about swinging we perhaps should not have bought a MH. Then, after reading (obviously had to have a look, for a friend ) I realised it was not about that sort of swinging or even the village bike. But very informative as we did not know that such bike devices existed, even though we do not cycle (one of us has epilepsy and is banned from using type of vehicle), but my DiL is insured to use the MH and she and my son and the grandchildren cycle so maybe they will read the thread and then look at cycle rack option for when they use the MH.

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[MobyDick57]

Hello
We are about to purchase a left hand hinged bikeswing, because our camper van loop alarm extends from the rear left hand side of the van. Therefore we can swing the bike rack aside without having to disconnect the lockdown loop alarm

 

[Chris CM]

We’ve got a bus biker, hinged on the near side, useful to allow access as the offside rear door opens first. Another useful thing is the fact that you can get to the rear of the rack/bikes when loading to facilitate putting a cover on, it’s dead easy to pull the cover fully over the bikes and rear bar of the carrier and get to all the straps and buckles, and it’s got the tow ball, but only useable when the rack is folded.