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Looking for any tips on this. Just recently acquired an estate car, which has a flat floor with seats folded.
When I'm putting the bike in it, I fold the seats down and put a thin tarpaulin down to keep the mud off the interior. I then put the bike in, taking the front wheel off.
The issue I'm having is the bike is sliding about, and I'm guessing this is due to the flat floor. My previous SUV didn't have a flat floor and the step in the floor acted as a buffer to stop the bike moving around.
Anyone else on here had this issue and how to fix it? It's quite annoying.
Won't it fit with the front wheel on and turned? Put it in rear wheel first
Use the tie down points
Use the tie down points
This. Keep a bungee strap in the back.
Have you got a wheel out?
I stick mine in rear wheel first and then the bars and front wheel seem to create some kind of grippy triangle of non sliding by the boot lid but I do have a big flat rubber boot liner that they rest on rather than a slippery tarp.
I regularly chuck my son's touring bike in over the summer and don't really seem to have much of a issue and that's with the very flat SMax floor.
Bungee to the anchor points is probably the way to go to keep things in check. Preferably lashed two ways.
As above, loads of cars have lashing points.
Use a 1 inch wide webbing ratchet strap round 1 or 2 opposite locations on the frame and strap down to the boot floor tie downs or the body mounted 'hooks' that the rear seat backrest locks to.
Strategically wedged with trug of riding kit used to reduce the side to side slide, car brakes weren't good enough on the old octavia for it to slide forwards 😄
A piece of carpet rather than tarpaulin. Less slidy.
then i got rid of the estate as its rubbish for putting bikes in and got an MPV
what did you get @alan1977?
Mazda 5, fitted a fork mount in the back and one on the back of the flip down middle row of seats, can fit me plus 3 and a bike, or me plus 1 and 2 bikes plus kit upright in the back, front wheels off
New bike with longer wheelbase?
I put mine in on a tarp, drivetrain side up, stem down. Fits the length of my car well (rear wheel to end of handlebar), and sideways movement is prevented by placement of gear bags.
Get the STW pedal covers to prevent the pedals wearing through your tarp or getting wedged down in the seat fold and tearing the cover.
https://singletrackmag.com/shop/nox-sox-pedal-covers/
can you put a seatbelt around the saddle? even if its on its side this might do. I had an Alhambra which the bike went in upright with the front wheel off and i put one of the seatbelts around it to hold it up
Has the added bonus of coming in handy if you need to abduct anyone en route
Never had a problem getting my bike in the back of my old Octavia hatchback with the rear seat down. I used to put an old removals blanket on the rear loading area with the front wheel out and it used to sit without moving around.
I use rubber flooring offcut (comes in a big roll) to line the boot. Get the stuff that's ribbed and run the ribs front to back and the bike will slide on when pushed but then stay out. Easy to sweep out too
Rubber mats used here. Sliding had never been an issue.
A piece of carpet rather than tarpaulin. Less slidy.
Or an old curtain. Which might catch the bits of mud better.
New bike with longer wheelbase?
Preferably more expensive than the car.
Smaller estate car, job jobbed
Also, if you're driving round with duct tape, a roll of carpet/curtain and probably a selection of zip ties, you might want to have this thread handy on your phone to show the police if they stop you.
I pull up a section of the boot floor upholstery overlap with the seat backs, then wedge a pedal in the space.
Drive slower round corners?
I tie mine down to the lashing points with a ratchet strap then lob an old duvet on top to stop the rattling and hide it from scrotes. Main reason for tying it down apart from potential damage to the interior is that I wouldn't want it joining me in the front of the car in an accident.
Slow down round corners ?
Never had mine move around and it’s a big space in there
Exactly this! Mine, whether light hardtail or monstrosity of ebike hardly move around once they are in my Passat. I use a tarp too. I do have an old blanket in the boot too, goes over the bike when another one is in there, or just to put the wheel on top. But yeah, sensible driving and not a great deal of sliding around.