Minivan ramp

[hypophthalmus]

I'm preparing to try to load a bike into the back of a minivan.

For the ramp, the most economical should be to build one out of wood, southern yellow pine to be exact. I'm estimating it'll cost about $30 in lumber.

I've attached a drawing of how I'm thinking of doing it. It's kind of crude, but more or less to scale.

I'd start with a 2x10x12 board (shown in blue).
To brace it, I'd use a 2x6x10 board (shown in pink) on its side underneath with plenty of screws.
Because 9.5 inches is a pretty narrow ramp and I'm paranoid, I'll cut a second 2x6x10 in half to make two 1x6x10's, and screw them into the side of the ramp to make guard rails (shown in green). Hopefully that will prevent it from rolling off.

The incline at 12 feet looks like it should be quite manageable, even on flat ground.
I'm still not sure how I'm going to keep it from sliding. There's a lip on the bottom of the rear opening of the van that I could hook over somehow. Or maybe put a hole in the ramp that I can push a tow strap or two through.

This isn't a terrible idea, is it?

[de dee]

  I used a 2x12 x10 ft.,  it is good for 400 Lb.    how much does your bike Wt.   and you can get a steel end for the board to hook to the van at H F.   or hook to the door latch

[hypophthalmus]

I've heard about the ramp ends, but it'd bring the cost of the ramp up substantially, so I'd rather build something. And I can't tell that they'd actually prevent it from sliding backwards.

The bike weighs 320 pounds at most. Maybe the bracing is unnecessary then, although I'd feel better knowing it's nowhere near the limit.

[hypophthalmus]

I built it.

After measuring the inside of my van again, I realized a 12' ramp probably wouldn't fit, certainly not easily. So it's 10 feet instead, and the 2x6's are 8 feet.

It seems quite stiff, whereas just the board flexed a fair bit with just my weight on it.

It sliding around probably isn't much of a concern. It's fairly heavy even on its own and doesn't seem much inclined to slide. But I screwed a sort of hook underneath for tow straps to wrap around.

Edit:
Oh, and the lumber cost only $18 at the little store in town.

[CROSSBOLT]

That will work!

[hypophthalmus]

It did work.

When loading it, the ramp was actually going downhill to the van. I didn't plan for this, and it was tilted slightly. But the person I bought the bike from and his friend took it upon themselves to do all the loading. They seemed unconcerned, and it worked fine.

Unloading it, we had to be careful for the side rails to not interfere with the side stand or the exhaust. If I were to do it again, I'd make those shorter. But it was quite manageable, and nothing disastrous happened.