Keeping bikes below roofline with T6 bikerack

[stephen watson]

These are my brim to brim diesel consumption figures with 2 x Brompton, 2 x children's toy bikes and a double bike trailer, all folded to below the roof line. My van is a 150 DSG Beach.

On 7 June I filled the tank in Belgium, near the French border.
Subsequent refuels:
60.27 litres, 513 miles, 38.69 mpg
56.83 litres, 543 miles, 43.44 mpg (not a complete refuel)
71.85 litres, 476 miles, 30.12 mpg
72.33 litres, 584 miles, 36.70 mpg
69.00 litres, 547 miles, 36.03 mpg
71.13 litres, 577 miles, 36.85 mpg
78.03* litres, 591 miles, 34.43 mpg
73.34 litres, 629 miles, 39.02 mpg
72.23 litres, 523 miles, 32.89 mpg
75.77 litres, 587 miles, 35.23 mpg
72.77 litres, 542 miles, 33.85 mpg
70.00 litres, 547 miles, 35.51 mpg (Luxembourg, 17 August)

Totals:
843.55 litres, 6659 miles, 35.89 mpg

The trip computer gives a figure of over 38 mpg.

*The low fuel warning bleeped soon after we passed a filling station in Sodankyla, instead of turning back we continued. The next filling station was 65 miles on along northern Finland's empty roads, and was closed! The next filling station was another 15 miles on, just north of Rovaniemi.


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Do you have the 70 litre or 80 litre tank Tom? I'm guessing it must be 70 litres but as I got mine
I think around the same time as yours I didn't think there was an 80 litre option. The most I've ever got in was 69.7 litres when it showed zero range left. I've kept track of my mpg over at the summer (using sprint monitor to record and compare with others) and the VW trip computer seems to be consistently about 5mpg more optimistic than my full to full calculations. I've been getting around 38mpg, driving very carefully, but the computer usually shows about 43mpg.

 

[Amarillo]

Do you have the 70 litre or 80 litre tank Tom? I'm guessing it must be 70 litres but as I got mine
I think around the same time as yours I didn't think there was an 80 litre option.

We have the 80 litre tank. It wasn't an option when we ordered, but as soon as I heard it was an option I called the dealer and had it added.


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[clarinetbcn]

In Spain we use liters/100km, but for comparison's sake, just got back from 7000km trip to Scotland: with 2 bikes on the tailgate rack, 10-11 l/100km, with same bikes inside the van, 7-8 l/100km (measured with Road Trip app, the VW computer is just silly). September trip to Norway will be with Stephen's solution, thanks to him and this great forum. Now to solve the cover issue, as our chains etc. really didn't like riding outside in the driving rain...

 

[haydnw2]

Has anyone done this for forks with a 15mm thru axle and 110mm Boost spacing?

 

[The Tall Luthier]

The short term mpg dash reading went back to 40 plus without the bikes but with the rack still fitted. We are going on a long trip in May and will carry the folders and check the brim to brim readings.
We have used your comfort mattress during winter when sleeping downstairs was a warmer option but since fitting the iso-top we always sleep "upstairs". We will use the mattress again when our grandchildren become regular passengers.

Hiya. I am searching though old threads for the IKEA bike rack mod and found yours. Can I ask please, did you notice any difference to the mpg when you used the lowered forks on a long journey?

 

[greenfintry]

I did the ikea fix - excellent adaptation- some improvement in fuel con but biggest win is staying beneath the magic 2m height

 

[The Tall Luthier]

I did the ikea fix - excellent adaptation- some improvement in fuel con but biggest win is staying beneath the magic 2m height

The 2m is the magic number, not for tolls necessarily but car parks. We’ve been stymied a couple of times approaching them without realising the velos are mounted.