[carolinavangirl]

Still don’t have my 2022, they tell me it’s on a car carrier headed to my dealer today, so trying to do some planning before it arrives and i have to drive it to the builder( in hopes he can get it done by August.). one of the answers i owe the builder is on bed height. my goal is to put a bike underneath( with front wheel removed, seat post on and where i set it) . i saw in a few posts here ideas for bed frames and discussions but does anyone know in a 2022, how high the top of the mid wall rail ( the one parallel to the floor) is on a pm 2500 hr 159? in a few pics i see folks have built their bed on that and bikes are underneath, but i can determine if you removed the seat post, lowered it or just have a smaller bike. thanks in advance. the diagrams available online have a lot of dimensions incorrect. my road bike is ~34” and my “beater” bike is 32”. taking the front wheel off each no big deal, and the length will fit under the bed from the back door to the end of the bed, but lowering the seat on the road bike would require having a bike shop cut down the post(or removing it would require some wrenches and colorful language each time i took it with me ). Cannondale what were you thinking?! measurements appreciated

 

[Dirtrider]

Congrats on the new van!
Just tonight, I finished mounting my bike to my bike's 60" sliding tray. I have a Specialized Levo Carbon expert size Medium with a dropper post. With the front wheel off mounted on a MRP boost axle fork mount, the bikes highest point is the top of the seat. When on the tray mounted down, it's 33.5 inches high. I am making my bed frame bottom to be 34.5 at it's lowest point which makes the bed quite high but oh well. Having my bike in the van like this setup is what I wanted and built. Hate leaving it on a rack outside. Not in today's America...
I have a 6" gel mattress which will be just fine and leave enough head room for me. Hope this helps and good luck with the build

 

[carolinavangirl]

Congrats on the new van!
Just tonight, I finished mounting my bike to my bike's 60" sliding tray. I have a Specialized Levo Carbon expert size Medium with a dropper post. With the front wheel off mounted on a MRP boost axle fork mount, the bikes highest point is the top of the seat. When on the tray mounted down, it's 33.5 inches high. I am making my bed frame bottom to be 34.5 at it's lowest point which makes the bed quite high but oh well. Having my bike in the van like this setup is what I wanted and built. Hate leaving it on a rack outside. Not in today's America...
I have a 6" gel mattress which will be just fine and leave enough head room for me. Hope this helps and good luck with the build

thanks, does you bed frame sit atop the vans side rails or above that? ps saw your post, like your garage pic/tray. do you do anything to ‘hold’ the back tires? with carbon forks/frame i worry they’ll wobble side to side on the fork mount. so i bought a velcro hanging strap ( meant to hang the bike from its tire, and will probably try to build incorporate a d ring on the floor or from bed platform

 

[MsNomer]

Height to that mid-wall rail is going to be the same as on every other PM ever made. The holes in the middle of that rail are 30.5” above my floor, which is approximately 1” thick.

 

[carolinavangirl]

Height to that mid-wall rail is going to be the same as on every other PM ever made. The holes in the middle of that rail are 30.5” above my floor, which is approximately 1” thick.

thanks!

 

[Boondogger]

Would just letting builder know the height of the bikes that will be stored under the bed be sufficient?

 

[RV8R]

Would just letting builder know the height of the bikes that will be stored under the bed be sufficient?

This advice is very wise in my mind ! 👍

Tell the Builder what you need as “clear height clearance” for your bikes

I set the clear height for my build @ 24.5”, however this was for a 24” wide table we pack with us (on edge).

You want to give yourself a little extra.

 

[carolinavangirl]

Would just letting builder know the height of the bikes that will be stored under the bed be sufficient?

yes, but if the height were to be such that I could not sit up in the bed I’d consider an external bike rack/lock instead and just put the bike inside when not there.

 

[RV8R]

yes, but if the height were to be such that I could not sit up in the bed I’d consider an external bike rack/lock instead and just put the bike inside when not there.

Then;

mattress thickness
Cargo Floor thickness
Living floor thickness
Clear height needed
Maybe other parameters

In our case; metal van floor plus 2” plus 24.5” plus 0.75” plus 8” mattress IIRC was about 33” above living area finish floor height. I went to a lot of effort for the bed structure to only be 0.75” thick where the clearance was needed

Is your living area finished floor height different than the bike cargo finish floor height?

If you want your bike under the bed & a thick mattress, it starts to get into the nosebleed section in the bleachers ,,, 😳

The fix to that is a “step up” for the bed. We have that on both vans we built

“Step Up” doubles as the “Power Center Housing”

 

[Dirtrider]

thanks, does you bed frame sit atop the vans side rails or above that? ps saw your post, like your garage pic/tray. do you do anything to ‘hold’ the back tires? with carbon forks/frame i worry they’ll wobble side to side on the fork mount. so i bought a velcro hanging strap ( meant to hang the bike from its tire, and will probably try to build incorporate a d ring on the floor or from bed platform

I have 3/4 framing on top of the side rails and then it's about another 2" above that. Others have mentioned it will vary greatly by the thickness of YOUR van so please don't go off what I'm writing here. As suggested, I would give the overall dimensions of your bike to them and it will be their job to figure it all out. I knew I wasn't going to be able to sit up in bed with this setup which is fine for me. Having my bike inside was the #1 reason for buying this van. I had a Chevy Express that I converted and was very happy with other than the bike outside & making the bed are twice a day. (it pulled out /in to provide a full size mattress area). I might put a rear tire strap on the tray but not concerned about the frame damage. It's been on a 1UP rack for a couple thousand miles and the beating it takes on the trails is way more than this tray will dish out.

 

[carolinavangirl]

I have 3/4 framing on top of the side rails and then it's about another 2" above that. Others have mentioned it will vary greatly by the thickness of YOUR van so please don't go off what I'm writing here. As suggested, I would give the overall dimensions of your bike to them and it will be their job to figure it all out. I knew I wasn't going to be able to sit up in bed with this setup which is fine for me. Having my bike inside was the #1 reason for buying this van. I had a Chevy Express that I converted and was very happy with other than the bike outside & making the bed are twice a day. (it pulled out /in to provide a full size mattress area). I might put a rear tire strap on the tray but not concerned about the frame damage. It's been on a 1UP rack for a couple thousand miles and the beating it takes on the trails is way more than this tray will dish out.

ok thanks, yeah i was trying to do some of “ their work” i guess in terms of this. i knew my bed is minimally going to be on that rail not lower, as i want a large garage space and wanted to have the water/electrical above the wheel wells. the question i asked about the measurements is really more about worst case scenario/alternatives and to confirm the height of the rail. the bed frame will be metal like yours and i want at maximum 6” memory foam, so it might workout at my height. i was already planning on using my bench that house the toilet as a step to get up/down from the bed in the design because at 31+6” mattress it would not be a sit down on the edge of the bed scenario.
Appreciate the pics to visualize it all

 

[RamVanGuy]

I have a raw unfinished 2022 van to measure and from top of the floor ribs it is 31.5" to center of rail beam at hex holes. The top of beam is approx 33 off floor but tricky to be precise since upper edge slants and is not sharply defined. View attachment 86523

 

[Balero]

Something we failed to take into account when building our bed platform: the vehicle is not level. If you want the bed horizontal without needing to use ramps under the wheels, you need to shim the front edge of the bed platform. At this point we just live with it because we are lazy, and/or try to take advantage of camping sites with a slope by parking "uphill". Or maybe someone's got a better solution...

 

[MsNomer]

As soon as you put in that shim, you'd be in a spot where you wished it weren’t there. Just park the best you can and don't worry about it.

 

[watercamper]

I think you want to keep the seat on but just in case you find the bed dimensions problematic, it's fairly easy to have your post cut down or a quick release installed to tighten it up. No wrenches to take it on and off. You will have to mark your height. Just don't leave it unattended in a questionable place. Unless Cannondale has something weird??

 

[carolinavangirl]

I think you want to keep the seat on but just in case you find the bed dimensions problematic, it's fairly easy to have your post cut down or a quick release installed to tighten it up. No wrenches to take it on and off. You will have to mark your height. Just don't leave it unattended in a questionable place. Unless Cannondale has something weird??

Cannondale uses seat wedges on the post, there is a sort of discrete hidden bolt you need a tool for to adjust the seat, no other externally visible parts my other bike has a quick release. I’ll ask my local bike shop, i think it’s by design for weight savings/aerodynamics etc, i wouldn’t really care if the changed out the whole post frankly if there was a quick release option, I’m guessing the post is carbon too not sure what limits that has, but it’s not something i’d take a hacksaw to for sure. I got it online as a leftover old model year on clearance before the pandemic caused the supply chain issues it’s a really nice ( read: normally way way way out of my price range) bike in every other way. If i had to take my other older bike it wouldn’t be the end of the world, it’s road worthy and if someone stole that it’s street value is about yard sale prices.

 

[watercamper]

I had no idea. I'll follow your post here to understand what Cannondale has done if you decide to post your findings. Just FYI, one of the ways to save a bit of room is to attach the front axle directly to the subfloor instead of a sliding drawer. In this case, all inches count. Also, measure yourself vertically while sitting in bed. How much do you need when sitting on a mattress to the top of your head. Make sure you slump a bit because we never sit straight up in bed. Then start with the figures that others have given you and you know about your bike and desired mattress size to see where you are in relation to the height value. Make sense?

 

[carolinavangirl]

I had no idea. I'll follow your post here to understand what Cannondale has done if you decide to post your findings. Just FYI, one of the ways to save a bit of room is to attach the front axle directly to the subfloor instead of a sliding drawer. In this case, all inches count. Also, measure yourself vertically while sitting in bed. How much do you need when sitting on a mattress to the top of your head. Make sure you slump a bit because we never sit straight up in bed. Then start with the figures that others have given you and you know about your bike and desired mattress size to see where you are in relation to the height value. Make sense?

totally and i’ll update with findings in the bike. i did the measurement you suggested if the total clearance pre build is 77”, subtracting a generous 4” for ceiling and floor finishes/insulation we’re at 73”, sitting straight up on a staircase at home 35”, factoring in the give of the mattress and slouching let’s call it 32”, so that leaves 41” including the mattress, i’m planning 5-6” memory foam so it’s right at 35, the bed structure is going to welded metal, so they’ll be a sweet spot between the slats where the seat is could be touching the bottom of the plywood bed base, if the slat positions are staggered for this purpose. I’m looking for a fork mount that attaches to Ltrak that will mount at floor level. i want Ltrak to secure other cargo to anyway and the advantage of ltrak is the adjustability. if i don’t take the bike, i can remove the fork mount and not have an obstacle. planning on posting pics of the final build, and layout as soon as they exist.

 

[watercamper]

I needed to mount my new mtn bike as low as possible. I didn't want to have to raise my bed. None of the off the shelf mounts worked for me. Too high. I went to HD and bought a piece of PVC pipe whose ID matched the OD of my axle. I mounted the pipe to a 3" x 2" pc of plywood using 2 metal conduit clamps and screwed it to my plywood subfloor. It worked. Instant fork mount for pennies. If you're interested in a photo LMK. And like you say, it's removable when I don't bring the bike.

 

[RamCares]

Hey carolinavangirl,

Congrats on your new van! For anyone who may also be waiting for a new van, you can track your order here: RAM Vehicle Order Tracking

Callie
Ram Cares