A notable concern for the Astroliner project is final weight. I’m building in stages, so I get to adapt/change as I go along, but the final goal is to have about 10 people pedaling with one driver and a vehicle weight of 3000 pounds. Chevrolet didn’t market this vehicle to be converted into a party bike, so this is some serious repurposing. People also aren’t publishing weights for all this because some of it is odd data. How much does the top of an Astro weigh?! That’s an odd thing to know.

Here is a table of weights from things I have weights from so far. I’ll update this as more data becomes available. Some of the pieces were removed by someone else (like the exhaust) so I don’t have data for that. The seat belts were gone before I got a weight for them, so no data there. A few of the lines are reported weights I haven’t and won’t confirm. I’d say “all weights are approximate” but the ones from the postage scale should be pretty darn accurate.

Item	Approx weight (in lbs)	Source and/or notes
2000 Chevy Astro 1/2 Ton V6 Cargo Van	3,916	NADA Guides
4.3 liter Vortec V6	430	Online report (unconfirmed)
GM 4L60E transmission	170	Source had a range. Low confidence in this number.
Top of Astro cut off	230	Scale at scrapyard
Dash (empty with dash pad)	38	Weighed while balancing
Driver door	84	Weighed on people scale, manual window
Passenger door	84	Weighed on people scale, manual window
Back half door (driver side)	51	Weighed on people scale, has window
Back half door (passenger side)	51	Weighed on people scale, has window
Side sliding (passenger side of course)	63	Weighed on people scale, has window
Passenger seat	41	Cloth upholstery
Dashboard gauge cluster	3lbs 3.8oz	Weighed on postage scale
Delco AM/FM radio model 16255315 (stock)	3lbs 0.6oz	Weighed on postage scale
Driver side airbag	2lbs 12.0oz	Weighed on postage scale
Passenger side airbag	8lbs 4.2oz	Weighed on postage scale. Includes breakaway interior panel.

What does this mean for a pub bike project?

There’s a few kinds of weight for removed items:

1. Uncounted weight: Things removed that don’t count against the 3,916lbs. My Astro was outfitted with shelves and other things for CenturyLink field telecom service purposes. When those things are removed, they weren’t in the 3,916lbs reported weight so although important, it’s not a ton of fun to remove those items.
2. Counted weight: Items that are removed and will not replaced. Goodbye doors, motor, gas tank, airbags, transmission, etc.
3. Questionable weight: There will be a stereo in the Astroliner at some point. Will it weigh more or less than what the Delco stock AM/FM weighs? I don’t know, but it will weigh something so that’s not really 3lbs 0.6oz of weight savings when the stereo is removed because it’ll be replaced with something.

When I’m up to 10 exercise bikes, that’ll be an estimated 340lbs added back on because the bikes alone come in around 32lbs each. There’s extra components too, but the bikes won’t be complete (no handlebars for example) so they also get stripped down a bit.

How about that 3,000lbs target weight?

Add up the motor, transmission, van top, passenger seat, doors, dash, and airbags, and that’s about 1,256lbs. That’s not a complete total either, since things like A/C, gas tank, and exhaust aren’t in that count. Still. remove that from 3,916lbs of base vehicle weight and you have 2,660lbs. Add in 340lbs for the bike drivetrain and that’s 3,000lbs and there’s still not a canopy or other things like trim taken into account. On the flip side, the alternator, A/C, exhaust, fuel system, and more also aren’t in that total. 3,000lbs is looking like a reasonable goal.

We’re two months into the first wave of the Astro Bikeliner project. One month left to go. Having never converted a van into a party bike AKA pub bike, there’s been a lot of learning and more remaining. Here’s where we are.

The van made it back from Garden City a few weeks ago to get the motor pulled out (and gas tank, and exhaust, and…) so it was pretty much a shell at that point. Really, the only things left were the dash, part of the A/C system, and the top of the van.

After watching a few videos (including the one below), the idea of chopping the top off was less daunting.

So, we were at it. The Idaho Statesman came by and shot some video. They left before the top was off, but don’t worry, there’s pictures.

I’d like to thank Joe, Bob, and Graden for coming by for the top removal. Joe and Bob did the cutting. I tried to find things, moved things, and did some drilling. Graden came by to help and was on a corner when we pulled the top and it wouldn’t have come off without him. You really don’t want less than four people for that. Thanks again for all the help everyone.