# Cycle Rack Blues and How thin is that aluminium skin??



## mervyncp (May 1, 2005)

Had a bit of a mishap with the cycle rack on the back of my '93 Hymer B644 whilst away in France this year. 

Whilst manoeuvring in a supermarket car park I very gently nudged into a wall. Didn't give it another thought until I pulled out of the car park, got up to about 30mph and there was a bit of a crash from behind. A quick check of the rear view mirror showed the bikes had disappeared. Oooo errr missus. 

I pulled over and found the rack and bikes hanging on the back and scraping along the ground, the top of the rack having come unhooked, obviously when I "nudged" the wall. 

Needless to say, the rack swinging down has caused some nasty damage to the rear of the van which I shall need to cover and strengthen with a piece of 3mm aluminium plate. 

The thing that amazed me though was how thin the aluminium skin on a Hymer body is. I measured it with a vernier gauge and it is a mere 0.48mm, or about 20thou in old money. It is surprising how rigid it feels when bonded to foam and hardboard. 

The other bone of contention is how badly designed the cycle rack is. Had it been designed to allow the lower bar to swivel in it's bracket, no damage would have been caused at all.


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

Mervyncp,

Bad luck with the damage to the van.

I am going to be contentious now, you can hardly blame the damage on the design of the bike rack, it was you that hit the wall.

Sorry and all that, but the bike rack was not driving.


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## mervyncp (May 1, 2005)

steco1958 said:


> Mervyncp,
> 
> Bad luck with the damage to the van.
> 
> ...


Quite right. I wasn't seeking to blame the rack for the damage, that was definitely my carelessness. However a little more thought put into the design would have prevented it.


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