At 40" above floor, you can't sit straight up in bed without your head hitting ceiling. You're a tall guy with big bikes, so it will be tough fit either way.
Yeah, I know, but bikes inside the van is worth it. I'll squirm into place in bed. Tried it with my friends Sam and Jason's van. It was bearable. I'm not positive that this is a good idea, but it's the idea I'm comfortable with now. Compromise.
IMG_8171 by
mtbkers, on Flickr
Bikes in back by
mtbkers, on Flickr
I'm 4" taller than the tallest person in their family, and my bike is taller too. I'm taking the liberty of quoting Sam here:
The "new plywood floor" is 1.5" higher than the black plastic step/floor that is at the back of the van where the doors close.
I've taken these measurements from my new plywood floor.
From floor to bottom of the bed rails (the two supports that run down the sides of the van) is 37".
From floor to bottom of aluminum framing of bed is 38.25"
(The aluminum tubes for the bed rails and bed frame are 1" thick but the bed frame sits on 1/4" of rubber, so the bed sits at about 1.25" higher - see photo below).
From the floor to top of bench seat without headrests is 39.5". It's not actually the top of the seat, but rather the top of the seatbelt mounts. You will probably need to allow at least 40" from the floor to be safe.
At 40" you will have a couple of inches less headroom than us. Erik was convinced we didn't have enough headroom when I was designing for Jason's quirky Maverick fork, which is why I think we just had thin Thermarests for our road trip (in hindsight, I would have put the panels up even higher so that I can squat underneath without scraping my back on the bed panels when getting stuff from the depths of the "garage"). Unless you're sitting up in bed reading a book, you won't even notice. And who reads a book sitting bolt upright? If at all. That being said, Jason is 5"10. You are taller. But I'd much rather have less headroom in bed and more in the garage.
We will probably go with the bed at 40" (floor to underside) and a mattress, meaning crawl in and crawl out. It also means that the bed will clear the top of the bench seat in front, with headrests removed. In a 144" Sprinter, we'll need some overlap and creative fit, and our kids will need those seats, and we'll want that open space between the front seats and the back seats for the two golden retrievers, and just for a little bit of hang-out and food prep space. It could also be floor sleeping space. I can read in bed without sitting up. We'll likely have the bikes on a hitch rack quite a bit of the time, but being able to put them inside is pretty nice, and we'll do it when we can. The below-bed area may be a sleeping area for the kids, when the bikes are on the hitch rack. Kids are 15 and 17. At some point this van won't sleep four people.
Not sure if I'll be able to adapt any rack idea. I was thinking that something like this:
...but single, one per bike, with a quick-release base that could snap into the mac-track front and rear might work. I'm imaging the rear is placed in advance for wheelbase. The bike is rolled in, and then the front is placed in. Maybe there's even some fore-aft adjustment with a knob and a sliding plate. The plate on the bottom would have some "rudders" fore and aft of the hole for the quick-release that keep it centered in the mac-track. Not sure if this will work. Fork-mount works. In either case we'll have the mac track rearranged to be installed flush, at intervals, count of four I think, parallel to centerline, as in the second picture above. If I come up with something better than fork-mount later on, I can substitute it.
Bikes are a central part of our lives. The Sprinter, for us, exists because bikes. I think for many people that suggest hanging them on a rack outside, or getting folding bikes, the Sprinter exists because Sprinter, and the bikes are an afterthought. Ours are pricey, and steal-able, and I'd rather they didn't get rained on or covered in road spray. I'd like to be able to walk into a restaurant out on the road somewhere and not have to worry about them.
Hein, sorry for the thread jack! Hopefully it's close to germane.
Morgan