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Wayne&Sam · 10-04-2014, 02:53 PM

Yes on all accounts. If you look at the floor by your closet, you'll see a recess. The notched board fit in there. Then I put in the board with the fork mount. Nothing can move and it lifts right out.

MaineStreamer · 10-04-2014, 02:57 PM

Wow! Great photos! I am heading off to a bike store to shop for fork mounts. Do you still have your fork mount rack that is shown in the pictures, even though you now have a different Airstream? Is it available for sale?

Marty from Maine

dkottum · 10-04-2014, 02:57 PM

I can see there are several best ways to carry bicycles here. Don't fully understand how you travel with them inside the Airstream. At the end of a days travel you must surely take them out? If so they are then in the weather, so why not carry them outside? Or is this a weekend destination solution, maybe having a cover when you get there?

Hard to imagine pulling them out every night on a tour of the country to use the Airstream for comfortable living.

Wayne&Sam · 10-04-2014, 03:08 PM

Marty- I still use the mounts. I originally made them to use in my vehicle.

doug- It just gives flexibility. I usually travel with a couple of bikes in the car.

lcurrie · 10-04-2014, 05:46 PM

I have one fork mount for each bike. I drilled holes in the MDF seat bases and installed them there. For travel, I put the table down into the sleeping position and just toss the pillows on the bed.

As mentioned in the original post, I replaced the regular nuts on the fork mount bolt with wing nuts so I can remove them quickly. Usually I just leave them in place and toss the cushions back on. It makes the cushion lift off the bottom a little visually, but I can't feel it when I sit down.

Lynn

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lcurrie · 10-04-2014, 05:48 PM

I'm a weekender, not traveling from place to place. That said, taking them in and out isn't anymore work than pulling out the awning.

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MaineStreamer · 10-04-2014, 05:57 PM

Thank you, Lynn.

Marty from Maine

slabatFB25 · 10-05-2014, 08:03 PM

Carry-Bikes by Fiamma
I installed one myself a few months back. Looks great, works great, it makes life easy, love it.

Landrum · 10-05-2014, 09:12 PM

We are really enjoying our Fiamma as well.

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MaineStreamer · 10-05-2014, 09:17 PM

I have ordered two fork racks that I will mount on a piece of wood, due to the low cost and simplicity of carrying bikes inside. If that doesn't work out well, I can get a bike rack for outside of the trailer.

AluminumTube · 10-06-2014, 10:01 PM

Lot's of very good information with accompanying experiences. No one has mentioned a custom fabricated receiver hitch on the back of the trailer. The rear cross member was welded to the skid plates on the trailer frame, and the forward cross member was bolted to the trailer frame. I did this on our 2002 25' Safari, and was very happy with it. Used a Thule tray style rack (bikes suspended by their wheels). Convenient, as not a high reach to place the bikes on the rack, and then can use the same rack in the truck receiver when not towing. On bad weather days, we covered the bikes. My only concern was tail light visibility when the bikes were covered, and I didn't think much about all the weight in the back.

We now have a 2015 27' International, and I am wondering if I really want to do the same thing. The same hitch shop is available and does great work. I can't bring myself to do the Airstream Fiamma because of drilling into the trailer, and the lack of flexibility of taking the bikes on a day trip with just the truck. But, I wonder if the extra weight of the custom fab steel receiver + the pretty heavy Thule rack + the bikes will have too great of a reduction in tongue weight?

I'd love to put them on the roof of the truck, but way too high a reach & too heavy for this geezer. Where's the gas strut lift assist?

Any experts out there on weight & balance, or any other opinions, for that matter?

FYI - my first post - hope I didn't mess it up

Tincampers · 10-07-2014, 05:18 AM

You did fine AT. Don't they make bike racks that fold down towards the ground for loading and unloading? You don't happen to have any pictures of your previous set up?

dkottum · 10-07-2014, 06:37 AM

The reason no one mentioned a rear hitch rack is because of the semi-monocoque Airstream design where the body and shell of the trailer support each other. The connections between are secured to the aluminum shell and not strong enough to withstand the bikes/rack/crossmember bouncing on the frame alone. The risk is frame and shell separation and has a long history with Airstream because of their construction.

The usual answer is simply, don't do it.

The Fiamma bike rack is designed to rest on the frame, but is attached to the shell to hold the rotational downward forces imposed by bumps in the road (where do you ever see those).

Don't worry about drilling a few holes in the shell for this, there are already 3,000 of them. It's an accessory like awnings and such. I took the time to seal each screw hole, then around the head of the screws, and then all around the base of the two mounting brackets. In the unlikely event you don't want to use it again, take it off and replace the screws with rivets and sealant, increasing the total rivets to 3,004.

MaineStreamer · 10-07-2014, 06:44 AM

Very clear and helpful explanation. Thank you.

Gringo · 10-07-2014, 09:15 AM

Been thinking about this airstream rack for a week now. Because I really like the way it looks and the convenience of just making the bike rack part of the trailer.

But then, in addition to my misgivings about putting 50-70 lbs back there and letting it jerk on the trailer hundreds of thousands of times on bumpy roads, there is the fact that it DOES make the bike rack part of the trailer.

And that's also a problem. For example, right now we're back in a KOA for a few days after a couple weeks boondocking. We want to go explore the hills above Horsetooth Resovoir, and so we want to take the two bikes up there and explore. We don't want to ride from here to there and back, not because we can't but because we don't want to spend half of the day getting to and from the place we want to explore. So we need to transport the bikes ......uh...explain to me how you do that with the Airstream bike rack? Do I haul the entire trailer to a rough parking lot to transport the bikes? No. I need ANOTHER rack to transport the bikes. A $ 500 Airstream rack that gets the bikes from campsite to campsite, and then an additional rack of some kind to get the bikes from some campsites to where I want to bike. You know, the places without the freeways.

Well, in my dumbass east texan thinking, it seems to me that if I can buy ONE five hundred dollar rack setup that will transport the bikes wherever I want to take them, then that would make the most sense and be the most cost effective.

And sorry, but no matter how pretty that Airstream rack is, I don't need a $ 60,000 bike rack that takes up 30 ft. of parking space and won't fit in little dirt trailhead parking lots.

Makes more sense to transport the bikes with the truck. Not with the trailer. A receiver on the front of the truck means I can carry the bikes whether I have the trailer hitched up or not. And I can move that hitch to the back of the truck when the trailer isn't hitched up. It also means that if I want to carry a bunch of other stuff, I can put carriers front and rear on the truck. Lots of bikes. Kayaks. Overhead pipe racks. Ladders.

I don't get the feeling I could do that if I just screw a rack to the Airstream.
It sure is pretty, though. Does it come in Ford Red?

mefly2 · 10-07-2014, 09:36 AM

Anything carried outside will be subject to road grime collecting on all oiled parts of the bicycle. If it is an inexpensive bike, you probably will not care ... mine go inside the AS or the TV. The rear "low pressure collection area" of the TV / front of AS or the rear of the AS is the worst place for picking up road grime / debris. Look at your chains and derailleurs ....

After banging our heads under the pickup topper while bolting down bikes into fork mounts... worrying about them (or us) falling from the top of the topper while mounting / dismounting bikes in the bike racks ... poking ourselves in the stomach moving around them in the FC ... we sold the bike racks - even the front hitch mount ...bike storage / moving was just One of the reasons we bought the EB ...

Gringo · 10-07-2014, 09:43 AM

so, you only bike on pavement on dry days?

MaineStreamer · 10-07-2014, 11:13 AM

EB? What does that stand for?

dkottum · 10-07-2014, 12:24 PM

The bikes do not get messed with road grime on the Airstream rack in our experience, never any bugs either. If that was a genuine problem we would cover them on the rack, but it's not. We can't use the Airstream with bikes inside.

We transport them all over the country on the Airstream rack with no problems, couldn't be better. When we are camped and want them handy, and when we want to take them for a side trip with only the truck, we put them on this $25 little rack in the bed of the truck with one sturdy nylon strap around the seat posts and secured to the bed, no road grime or bugs there either. It also works great for transporting the bikes across the country but not as convenient as the Airstream rack.

Dave-Nancy · 11-27-2014, 11:23 PM

We purchased the carrier recommended by Airstream. It was expensive, but is an amazing one. One can slide the rails to extend to either side, which we do when we carry our tandem. The tandem goes when we are near great bike paths. The mountain bikes go when we are in the woods or near trails. Go to the AS site to get the particulars. Plan on about $600. After years of hauling bikes with various racks, it is well worth the cost. Dave