Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

! ctal van illUc ••• f'. . ~~ ------------------====------------------------------------------------------------.....; ; ; ; ; ; ;~ ~ Building the g ~ ......................... Cycle News O"l "; van- ~ Inside, underside, § but not upside down ~ By Charles Morey Building up a van to suit the owner's personal needs and desires is one of the hottest fads going. As a resu lt , tons of bolt-on goodies are readily available through hundreds of van shops to help the new van . owner trick out his truck and empty his wallet with speed and comfort. Almost anything- he needs to make his vehicle more comfortable. more economical and/or faster can be ' bought prefabbed and ready to bolt in . Almost. Inside 8 Among all the furry wall hanging paraphenalia , dark stained wooden- looking hollow beams and plastic beer can holders. we've yet to see an interior kit for the bike' toting van driver. Lots of hot set -ups for everything from parking lot seduction to making the scene at McDonald's, but no trick floor plans for bikers. , . Racers who virtually live in the ir vans have devised several alternatives , most of them practical only if you are a full -time racer/driver who spends his life on the road and is never asked to take a load of Brownie scouts to the zoo or his parents out to dinner. ' . The average racer van is set up to carry bikes , tools and spare parts. It often ha s a bunk that the passenger, either a mechanic or another rider , can slip into for a few hours of Zs while making a nonstop run through the night . Racers' vans , with some exceptions . don't use a standard back seat. Instead that's where the bunk is loca ted . Some of the more elaborate vans have partitions to separate a plush up-front interior from the bike/tool area . In the case of many of th e AMA Grand National riders , the wall has been stepped forward toward the front so that the bikes can be rolled in straight. TheJront wheels fit in under th e step which forms 'the bunk on the front side . Dirt bikes with higb -rnounted fenders don't lend them selves to this particular plan. Obviously there are many routes to choose from in setting up your van to suit your needs . The best thing to do at the start is sit down and list your requirements. For example, there's how we did it. A racing journalist's van needs many of the same featuresthatarefoundon a racer's van . We have to be able to carry test bikes and, on that rare Sunday off, our own machines to practice tracks and organized events. . . Being either married or especially fond of the softer sex presents another set of requirements. Ladies . d on't particularly care for the idea of sharing their passenger space with our equipment . Gas cans and dirty riding gear are not nice to a lady's nose or her penchant for cleanliness should they actually be close enough to touch . The racers' wall idea is a good one. Putting our favorite th ings in back, out of her sight, smell and mem ory, sounds like the hot set ·up. · A jo urnalist's vehi cle also resembles the racers' in tha t we often ha ve to do long straight -th rough drives . We need a bunk too . And there's the consideration that must be given to social obligations. If the couple that you and your la d y go ou t boogeying with are "comfortable" people, they might not mind sitting on ';1 bunk. If they a ren't quite that laid back they'd probably appreciate a regular seat. Mom and Dad might feel a little out of it perched up on a bunk, too . Before : A stock. scary van. Note the right rea r wheel and left fro!",~ tire. That's about it . We needed enough space to carry at least two bikes, plus keep a clean passenger area with a bunk and a standard back seat. And we wanted it all in a standard length van . That in itself was a problem. If you haven't purchased a truck yet, you might want to consider some alternatives to making everything fit into a regular sized van like we did. A couple of the folks at Husqvarna in Antioch , Ten nessee have some excellent space expanding features in their vehicles that you m ay want to think a bo ut. Obviously, th e extra room costs extra . money. But perhaps it's worth it in the long run . Dick Burleson started with a Dodge Maxi , the longer body style that gave him 18 inches over standard length to begin with, and then he added one of those "turtle top " roofs. The raised roof provides either stand-up room or extra storage space. Dick has a good sized cabinet over the driver /passenger area , and up until quite recently, space over the bike storage area in back made a big do ub le bed. Likemost van owners, Bu rleson is constantly rebuilding and improving his truck. The doub le bed which went unused -- Husky's main woods man usually ca n get the company to pay for a motel room -- was done away with. and the extra vertical space was put to good use as headroom in his mini shop. In Dick 's truck you can find a workbench, complete with vise. storage for two or three bikes and room to stash several gas cans. Up front (he has a wall separating front from rear) are a small sink for washing up after the race , a toilet to minimize en route "pit stops" and a single bunk for driver/passenger trade-outs on a long haul. Nice. Taking one step past Dick's raised top space· gainer. Nils Arne Nilsson went the extra bit more Flip-up seat allows storage access. by having his Dodge Maxi widened by one of those companies that does emergency vehicles. The addition of what looks like an extra foot right in the middle of the truck , along with the raised roof, puts van interiors into the amphitheatre bracket. corn plete with echo. It's big! Variations are as limit less as the hum -an imagination. We 'll show you what we did with a standard length Dodge. to the interior and with the suspension, with the understanding thai it's intended as a suggestion. We don't pretend to have a ll the answers . Bu t between what we've discovered in this experience and what you already know , a Cycle News reader should be pretty Nell equipped to do his own truck . Dodge's sta ndard leng th BzOOvan looks pretty big as it comes from the factory Wi th th e interior completely stripped (you even have to buy the spare tire -- it's an optio n) there seems to be enough room for just about anything in there . As we were to discover, there is lots of room. but you have to be car..ful not to wasteany if your plans include all the features ours did . Priority number one was getting those bare steel walls covered. We lived in dread of having a gas can roll into the single wall on the inside and leaving a dent that would show on the outside. Not only that. it su re was noisy! We chose standard six -inch house insulation (spun fiberglass) to pack the space between the panelling and the outer wall. It does a good.job of helping quiet things down while giving the truck's heater and air conditioner a helping hand at the same time. The panelling we used was on sale at K Ma rt.un . der the brand name of Aspenite. It 's just like quarThe seat is "L" shaped. and . ..

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