Chausson and motorbike racks

[Hawcara]

I have been looking at Chausson motorhomes and wonder if anyone knows the answer to the following.

The Chausson Flash 04 and Welcome WS both have transverse fixed beds and a garage. The former is on a transit chassis and the latter on a fiat. But in the manufacturer's brochure it states that they will take a towbar but a motorcycle rack cant be fitted. Other models do have that option. Both have a high payload 600kg+.

I dont have problem with a towbar and trailer but a rack would be easier.

Thank you 8-)

[Brian Kirby]

If you look underneath the "garage" floor I think you'll find the answer.  Also, it has a longish rear overhang, with a fairly short wheelbase.  I doubt there is ground clearance for the kind of structure that would be needed to take the weight of a bike, and I suspect that in any case the additional rear overhang would exceed permissible limits.  Added to that it is a FWD chassis, and the weight of a bike that far back would almost leave the front wheels flapping in the air.  Nice van, but if you want to take a bike, you'll need a trailer.  A light scooter may go in the garage, however, subject to the loading limit on the garage floor (there will be one!).

[rupert123]

If you cannot have a normal type scooter carrier then take a look at the Easylifter Hydra Trail. This takes most of the weight on its own wheels and will be better than a trailor, if you have to tow buy a caravan.

[ips]

Dont meen to be abrupt but...why do you want to put a rack on, or a trailer for that matter; when the model you mention has a garage. ... I am confused.

 

[Hawcara]

Thank you for your responses.

I am very interested in Chausson and the models stated but I have not actually seen a Flash 04, only the brochure. It seems a cheaper version of a Hymer van and would fit our lifestyle. I have not looked under the back and have no real measurements of the overhang.

We already own a caravan and wish to change to a motorhome, but a scooter will give a lot more flexibility that lumbering around town centres trying to park a car.

I have looked at Hydratrail and they seem rather expensive and with a scooter all the weight is at one end. This could pose a problem when the wheel is in the centre of the rack.

I dont have a problem with a small trailer and will probably go down this 'road', but it is far easier to get answers from experienced people on this site than a salesman. 8-)

[Mel B]

Hawcara

 

We have a Chausson Flash 04 (5.99m) and changed to it from a Rimor Sailer 645TC (7.14m) partly because we wanted something easier to park, with it being shorter. We have just been to France for 3 weeks and have been able to park it within a very short distance of village/town centres without difficulty, most of the time in a normal 'car park' spot, I would therefore question your need for a scooter unless you intend to leave the motorhome parked on a campsite for a few days at a time and just use the scooter. We always take our cycles away with us for the times that we can't get parked within a reasonable distance of the town but on this trip we only tooke them out once, and even then we found that we were closer to the bits we wanted to see that we thought we were so didn't really need to use them anyway. We are therefore reviewing our need for full sized bikes especially since we also carry 2 large inflatable canoes and all the gear in the garage as well as a spare tyre for the motorhome (as they don't come with them as standard!), so space in our garage is at a premium thus having 2 slightly smaller folding bikes may make things a little bit easier for us - having the 2 full sized ones are by no means a major problem, but as we have the folding ones anyway it seems daft not to consider using them instead (we'd use the standard bikes at home).

 

The garage on the Flash 04 will carry a small scooter (we had a Yamana Vity 125cc which would have gone in our Flash's garage but decided we didn't need it and sold it, as we had 2 Syms scooters (larger version of the same type of thing) to use when at home. The garage has a good payload so that shouldn't be a problem unless you cart loads of stuff about.

 

The Flash 04 chassis structure goes virtually right to the back of the van, being just a couple of inches in from the very outer edge of the bumper, and already has the electrics in place. As has been said, though, I'd be wary of fitting a scooter rack to extend the length of the rear due to the leverage effect that the weight would have in 'lifting' the front drive wheels. Instead, I would seriously suggest you give consideration to slightly longer van in the first place with a garage as the extra length would be the same as with a rack but you'd have more space inside overall - just checkout the payload for any vehicle you go for to make sure it's got the capacity you need (don't trust the manufacturer's figures!).

[Brian Kirby]

Plus, if doing as Mel suggests, get a van with a longer wheelbase and a shorter rear overhang, so that the weight of the scooter is closer behind the rear axle.