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Forty Winks Bike Station 1 (thru-axle) review

Transport your bike neatly and securely

Our rating

4

100.00
A neat solution for transporting your bike, with solid attachment.

Andy Lloyd / Immediate Media

Tom Marvin

Published: May 1, 2021 at 2:00 pm
Our review
A simple yet secure in-van bike stowage solution

Pros:

A neat solution for transporting your bike, with solid attachment

Cons:

It’d be good if it came with a range of alternative securing bolts

The Bike Station 1 is a simple but effective in-van bike rack, designed to keep your bike stable while navigating twisty turns on the way to the trails.

With an adjustable fork-axle hitch and various adaptors (which come with it), the system is able to accommodate 15mm and 12mm axles from 100mm to 150mm wide. There’s also a QR (quick release) version.

While the supplied M10 thumb-screw bolt is designed for VW Transporter hitch points, I was able to secure the rack in the back of my VW Caddy with a different bolt plus a washer.

The bolt slots meant positioning wasn’t an issue, and I’ve set it up so that a bungee pulls the bars to the van’s inner wall, adding yet more security and stability.

I like the tidy-looking aluminium construction, with what so far has been a scratchproof finish. Even with no bike attached, I haven’t found it interferes with load space too much, although it’s easily removable.

I’ve fitted it towards the rear of the vehicle, although it could be placed closer to the front, with the axle accessed via the side doors.

A two-plus-bike, full van-width option is also available (£149.99), designed for a Transporter’s load space, although Forty Winks should be able to provide information and measurements if you have a different van.

Product

Brandfortywinks
Price100.00 GBP

Features

FeaturesAxle Sizes: 12x100mm, 15x100mm, 15x110mm, 15x132mm, 15x145mm, 15x150mm

Tom Marvin

Senior technical editor

Tom Marvin is a technical editor at BikeRadar.com and MBUK magazine. He has a particular focus on mountain bikes, but spends plenty of time on gravel bikes, too. Tom has written for BikeRadar, MBUK and Cycling Plus, and was previously technical editor of What Mountain Bike magazine. He is also a regular presenter on BikeRadar’s YouTube channel and the BikeRadar podcast. With more than twenty years of mountain biking experience, and nearly a decade of testing mountain and gravel bikes, Tom has ridden and tested thousands of bikes and products, from super-light XC race bikes through to the most powerful brakes on the market. Outside of testing bikes, Tom competes in a wide range of mountain bike races, from multi-day enduros through to 24-hour races in the depths of the Scottish winter – pushing bikes, components and his legs to their limits. He’s also worked out that shaving your legs saves 8 watts, while testing aerodynamics in a wind tunnel. When not riding he can be found at the climbing wall, in his garden or cooking up culinary delights.
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