bikes alongside each other on a parallel plane often clash handlebars and footrest an Irish rally attendee, carpenter by trade made. a small wooden ramp with side restraining wheel pieces which allowed one of his machines to rise above the other avoiding this problem, rear barn doors are probably better than a rising tailgate,
I have a Toyota Hiace 2004 model, bit agricultural but solid as a rock, 3000 mile Latvian trip with two bikes in it, never missed a beat, still has it's original batteries, shows 84000 on the clock.
it has a hook on it and as it is a tad higher than front wheel drive vehicles, I have fitted a step on the towball mounting. It is slightly smaller than a transit, I believe, I also use it as my runaround. It still has its cabin bulkhead so makes a reasonably civilised drive.
The negative is nearly all vans came with just the one side door. personally I would avoid the French expert, despatch type many about and quite cheap I have had two with a small business the first one's gearbox exploded at 64000 miles 'nothing to do with us' said the manufacturer 'most unusual'
the local small franchised dealer had the parts on his shelf,!!! I rest my case [Toyota tell me they have not got any gearbox replacement part in the U,K they DON'T go wrong and any part would have to come in from Belgium]
I have had a couple of opaque windows put in the forward side of the van and I don't get charged as a van over the bridge,
I was also told for the purpose of the Channel Tunnel charging it was classed as a large car. phew!kind regards
