Fiamma Bike Rack failure -has this happened to you?

[Two Peas]

We recently experienced a failure on one of the arms that hold the bike rack. The rack was installed at the factory and, according to Airstream, the load is 77 lbs. We carry two Townie bikes (35 lbs each) and were traveling on some fairly bumpy roads in Texas & Louisiana. I went to take the bikes off and noticed that one arm was completely detached from the Airstream.

To make matters worse, I had just heard from a fellow Airstreamer that his bike rack fell off on a highway and they lost both bikes - but thankfully no one was injured. This is two complete failures I know of in less than a month's time.

I have contacted Airstream - whose only real response is that it is a vendor problem. I am also reaching out to Fiamma, but beforehand want to see if others have had similar problems. I'm not a metals engineer, but the part that connects to the AS seems substandard for this job - pictures attached.

And to warn others to check this rack regularly - it's very dangerous, particularly to those traveling behind you....

[SeaLevel]

There have been several threads and many people reporting the same failure over the years. Repeated bouncing puts too much stress on that bracket, exposing the weakness of that design, especially once you get close to the supposed 75 lbs. limit.

[Dave-n-Janet]

Horrible. Glad you caught it before losing the rack and bikes while moving.

[BigSxyWhtGuy]

Horrible. We pack our bikes in the bed of the truck. I haven’t heard of these failures when I was researching, unfortunately you will usually find issues with stuff if you’re looking hard enough. It’s obviously not a one off, but not enough for them to do a total recall. Looks like they need to use a different material for that bracket?

Best of luck! Glad you didn’t lose your bikes or worse.

[SilverWind]

I've had Fiammas on three Airstreams over the past 10 years. All installed by me. One was a transfer from an earlier trailer.

I'm always careful to adjust the support arm angles so that they don't bind on the vertical tubes thereby avoid putting undo stress on the trailer wall bracket cast members. I've found that the arms should actually float a very slight bit on the vertical tubes.

Our two bikes have always been 27 pounds or lighter, so well within the weight limit.

[SilverWind]

Here is a source for replacement arms for the Fiamma Airstream Carry-Bike

I am going to carry one or two arms just in case.

https://www.fiammausa.com/en/carry-b...e-airstream-en

[Arcticfox]

Originally Posted by SilverWind

Has anyone here found a source for replacement arms for the Fiamma Airstream Carry-Bike?

Fiamma's Spare Parts catalog does not feature the Airstream rack. They all seem to be van or rv specific.

I'd like to carry one or two arms just in case.

We had our rack break at the same point as above. You can order parts direct from Fiamma USA. Part numbers etc can be found at the following link:

Hope this helps
Cheers
Doug

https://www.fiammausa.com/en/carry-b...e-airstream-en

[cheshta]

I checked my rack today and discovered the same failure on one of the support arms. Thank you for alerting me to this problem. Perhaps a stainless bracket such as those sold in marine chandleries would be a better option so long as we take care of the electrolysis issue.
Cheshta Buckley

[Arcticfox]

Originally Posted by cheshta

I checked my rack today and discovered the same failure on one of the support arms. Thank you for alerting me to this problem. Perhaps a stainless bracket such as those sold in marine chandleries would be a better option so long as we take care of the electrolysis issue.
Cheshta Buckley

I've wondered this also. These brackets very much seem to be the weak point of the rack. With luck someone much (smarter) than me can come up with a replacement part that we can substitute with.
So all you engineer types please put your thinking caps on....

As a side note I know about 6-8 people who own this same rack and everyone of them has had this issue of it breaking at the same point.

By the way the replacement parts are not cheep. The manufacture seems to be taking a "known problem" and instead of trying to fix it. Is doing nothing but turning it into a "profit centre"..... Surprise Surprise .....

[kswelsh]

I'm really glad I read this thread. We were going to have one installed on our 2012 Classic today by the dealer, but the shipment did not come in. I'm having second thoughts now after reading that this is a problem that has happened to more than a couple people. Some of the roads we travel are so bumpy, I would hate to have the bikes and or rack fall off and risk injuring anyone. We have a bike rack that can attach to the front of the TV bumper that works ok (even though it is a little bit of a pain for the passenger to see well through the bikes).

[Arcticfox]

Originally Posted by kswelsh

I'm really glad I read this thread. We were going to have one installed on our 2012 Classic today by the dealer, but the shipment did not come in. I'm having second thoughts now after reading that this is a problem that has happened to more than a couple people. Some of the roads we travel are so bumpy, I would hate to have the bikes and or rack fall off and risk injuring anyone. We have a bike rack that can attach to the front of the TV bumper that works ok (even though it is a little bit of a pain for the passenger to see well through the bikes).

Don't let having this issue scare you....

We mounted our rack back in 2013 and its been great. It's travelled about 100,000 miles since the install and the failure we had just happened last fall. I still haven't purchased the replacement parts as shipping them to Canada seems to be expensive.
So in the interim we just used a SS-bolt to hold everything in place and it seems to work fine. My buddy will bring us the official parts when we meet them next month in MI and I will change them out when I get time. In the interim the bolt seems to be working fine.

[Dlat]

Originally Posted by Two Peas

We recently experienced a failure on one of the arms that hold the bike rack. The rack was installed at the factory and, according to Airstream, the load is 77 lbs. We carry two Townie bikes (35 lbs each) and were traveling on some fairly bumpy roads in Texas & Louisiana. I went to take the bikes off and noticed that one arm was completely detached from the Airstream.



To make matters worse, I had just heard from a fellow Airstreamer that his bike rack fell off on a highway and they lost both bikes - but thankfully no one was injured. This is two complete failures I know of in less than a month's time.



I have contacted Airstream - whose only real response is that it is a vendor problem. I am also reaching out to Fiamma, but beforehand want to see if others have had similar problems. I'm not a metals engineer, but the part that connects to the AS seems substandard for this job - pictures attached.



And to warn others to check this rack regularly - it's very dangerous, particularly to those traveling behind you....

Linda and I have just returned from a trip thru Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida. While in Henderson, La. I noticed the same arm failure as yours. I was able to place a pin thru the remaining arm and secured it with what else but "DUCK" tape (don't leave home without it). There was a lot of road construction and some very bumpy southwest Louisiana roads. I'm certain that was the cause. I have a 2017 AS27ft Serenity with dealer installed hitch. Less than 4000 miles traveled. Have you found a replacement, If so from whom?

[Dlat]

Just saw the link posted for replacement, guess I will be getting in touch with them as well.

[Silvertwinkie]

Good info, but looking at your profile, you have a Tundra, and in the pic, you have a cover on. Any reason you simply don't put them in the pickup bed, particularly if you know you are going to be on some rough roads?


In my case, with a Suburban, it has a roof rack and although it's a major PITA to get the bikes up and down, I have an Yakima roof mount for 4 bikes because I wasn't really thrilled looking at the Fiamma and this thread really validates my decision, because I do travel sometimes on not the smoothest of roads.

[ejami5]

Thanks for the heads up. I carry 1 bike but it's an ebike and is quite heavy (45#s). Looks like it's the only bike I'll be carrying on the Fiamma bike rack without worrying/wandering how the arm is holding up.

[DR M]

We had ours break in the same spot in december when we left LA to go back to Phoenix. We got on I10 off the I710 and when you go up the hill after I15 it gets real bumpy. It's not washboard but close to it. Didn't notice the break until we got to Phoenix. I called Fiamma and told them about it and gave them the part numbers I needed to fixit and they sent them to my at no cost. Of course we this was only the second time with bikes on it and we installed it in September last year.

[redhat200]

Thank you for sharing failure of the bike rack. I have wanted one but my husband not so much. He does not like the way the bike rack looks on the airstream. I have a townie also. Would love to be able to take my bike with us. I do have a question for everyone. I have seen a platform that was designed by an engineer that goes inside their 19FT airstream that secures their two bikes. May have to consider building this instead of an outside rack .Please share how they’re able to resolve this defect .It definitely would be a concern. Look forward to hearing how the problem is resolved. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

[afk314]

I also have the Fiamma bike rack, installed by the factory. We travel many miles on bumpy roads with bikes, so I am assuming failure is imminent!



From the pictures, I can't tell what parts I should buy ahead of time? Just the arm (#98656-780) or more than that?


Thanks,
Adam

[Overstreet]

This is the most secure rack I've ever used. Those strut braces to the back of the unit are barely necessary if you are traveling roads. If you travel "trails" then disregard . The Fiamma bike rack on my trailer has six through bolted connections to the frame. It is the most secure rack I've ever used. Of course I installed it and put a stress relieved connection on those braces. Either way a broken rack pot metal bracket is better than a hole in the skin.

I've been hauling bikes off the back of a vehicle since the 90s. This particular rack has 10,000 miles on it.

[wcrockett]

If your rig is long enough for it to bounce on rough roads then that bracket will fail. Fiamma knows this and has known it for sometime. I am guessing they would rather the bracket fail than have it rip out of the Airstream wall that it is screwed into. Regardless, it is a poor design and they charge $50 to replace the bracket and the arm. They could at least sell us the just bracket at cost plus shipping but no.... they are not concerned about customer dissatisfaction so they force you to buy the arm and the bracket.