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I’ll start with a bold and maybe provocative statement here; The Day Van (not camper van) plays a bigger part in motorcycling life than we give it credit for, and motorcycling magazines rarely feature a van as being part of the story unless it’s showing off a new bike rack or something. If you own any type of motorcycle, there are very good chances that you’ll transport it in a van at some point, particularly off-road motorcycles. Vans have character, play a huge part in motorcycle life, and are as well loved as the motorcycles they carry. Just go to any road race, trials, MX, hillclimb etc etc event and the car park is full of vans, and most of these are used as ‘Day Vans’, with a few also offering the space for ‘very basic’ overnight accommodation next to the motorcycle, petrol fumes and all!
As a ‘shout out’ to bike magazines, I’d like to know more about the vans that are owned by the people that they feature, because they will all have a great van story to tell, even if it’s about a hire van. Vans are not just cool because I say so. The numbers support it as well. According to the Royal Automobile Club (RAC), the number of vans in the UK alone has increased substantially over the last 25 years, with the numbers doubling from 2.3 million licensed vans in 1998 to 4.6 million licensed vans in 2023. New van sales in 2024 are on the increase over the previous year. However, in 2022, only 6 per cent of the total vans on the road were in their first year of use, and the average age of a van on the road in 2024 is 8 years old, which is what ours will be next year. This is interesting because everyone is talking about the growth in electric and hybrid vehicle sales, but quietly behind all of this hype, van sales are critical to the health of the total industry, which means they must be cool as well!
Let me introduce to you our cherished day van. It is a VW T6 Multivan TDi that we bought new in November 2017, and on mainland Europe as we worked and lived there, so it’s a left hand drive van. This was of course, after spending a few months getting the specification right, and waiting for it to be made and delivered. It is the 70th anniversary edition of the original and classic VW van, which originally carried the name of Bulli, as does ours. There were three of the 2 litre turbo diesel engine power options to choose from and we couldn’t for the life of us decide which to get, so we got the middle one, and it makes our van quite brisk. It also has the 7 speed automatic gearbox and we won’t ever, ever, have a manual gear change/shifter ever again! Our van does not have a name, it’s just ‘the van’.
We never intended our van to be slept in, although with the bench seat laid flat, it is possible. We have used it with people in all of it’s 7 seats, but we mainly have it with just the two single seats in the back running down one side so that when we flip out the excellent VW table from the van wall, we can work, have a picnic, fire up the coffee machine, whatever etc. This means that the big bench seat now lives folded up in the garage taking up space for another potential bike, and it only comes out when family come to stay with us. Having two seats down one side leaves a lot of space down the other side, which is regularly used to move motorcycles, bicycles, long objects like 3 metre/10 foot bamboo canes, surf canoes, stone edging for the pond, furniture, and this list can go on, and on, and on. The van is the most endlessly versatile vehicle ever and can do work and play brilliantly! Fact!
This is the only vehicle that we have and we’ve never been in a situation where we’ve really needed a second one since we bought it, which is good as we live in a small country village with infrequent public transport. If two buses come through the village inside three hours, one of them is certainly lost! We also bought our van with the intention of running it until either it, or we die. As I type this, the van is now nearly 7 years old and we have done 100,000 miles/160,000 kilometres. It has been maintained to the VW schedule, and a few things have needed replacing, some wires were chewed by a nocturnal animal with very sharp teeth, and it needed to have a new sliding side door when I (stupidly) caught it on a concrete wall.
Our van has regularly travelled from mainland Europe to the UK and either fully loaded with stuff, including motorcycles, the cat, or with just the two of us, and the cat. It is without doubt, THE most comfortable mile/kilometre muncher that we have ever owned. Now that we have repatriated to the UK, we naturally got the van imported and registered here too, and my wife and I are both experienced at driving it with the steering wheel on the wrong side for the UK. It is funny to watch other UK car drivers react and stare when they see somebody in the right side seat using a mobile phone, eating with both hands, asleep with feet on the dash board etc, and just before they realise it is a left hand drive van.
As we are both fresh air freaks, we have had, and continue to have regular wilderness-ish adventures, but they’re always done in a day in our van. For example, we will take the van to the Shetland Islands on our next holiday later this year, so it’ll be days out in the van and back to the rented cottage for a decent bed, shower, toilet etc. Like all vans, ours has masses of places to put stuff from a wine/beer cooler to the usual pockets and drawers, to the portable fridge that we carry in it all of the time. All of this storage does mean that things (annoyingly) can be misplaced/lost even in the confines of the van. When it comes to storing stuff in the van, the question is not ‘where do we put it?’, but actually ‘where the hell did we put it?!’ We do of course, have VW van cushions that my wife has knitted. Of course!
From a motorcycle perspective, I bought a nice aluminium ramp which allows me to wheel in the Cannondale MXer (which you can read about in the menu tab) or a trials bike or two really easily, and strapping them down is eaually simple. With the tailgate open, it’s a great place to work on the bike if it’s raining or too hot, and getting changed in/out of moto gear inside is good as the dark windows prevent anyone being offended/surprised whilst I’m changing. None of this that I’m writing is new to you or the world, yet the day van isn’t recognised in the motorcycle world anymore than that all important 10mm ring spanner is in the tool chest.
Day vans, regardless of their age, brand, model, or condition play a huge part in motorcycling, and they should be recognised and celebrated more as the soulful vehicle that they are. Long live the day van!
All photos by the Author
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