Bike carriers

[Hibby]

Originally Posted by Steamy1

Receiver is a CURT; bike rack is a Thule.

Do you like it? What shortcomings have you dealt with?

[Steamy1]

Originally Posted by Hibby

Do you like it? What shortcomings have you dealt with?

It does make the front end feel a little heavy, and the bikes definitly collect a lot of bugs. I will convert to the Airstream Fiamma rack this month. I like the fact that the bikes will be in the back.

When we were camped, if we wanted to tour around in the truck, I would take the bikes off of the rack, then take the rack off of the truck. It was a hassle, but with the rack on the trailer, we can just leave them in place.

The front hitch worked, but it was not ideal. I think the rack on the rear of the trailer will work much better for us.

We will keep the Thule for when we want to transport the bikes without the trailer, but use the receiver on the back.

[Hibby]

Steamy,

Thanks! That's what I needed to know and very helpful. I will do the Fiamma too.

[asianmack]

We finally used our Fiamma bike carrier this past weekend at Apple River Canyon State Park in Illinois (near Galena).

In the past we stored our bikes inside the trailer. It was nice to pull into the campsite without having to worry about unloading the bikes from the inside.

[Luckyducks]

asianmack (and any others who want to comment), nice bike rack and rig BTW. I've been thinking of installing the bike rack on my trailer. My question is lack of visibility of the license plate. You really can't see it because the bikes are in front of it. Any concerns? Russ

[asianmack]

Russ, that is true about the lack of license plate visibility. We drove ~ 6 hours on the road with it—passing a few state troopers. We didn't catch any flack.

The bikes are incredibly secure on the Fiamma rack. It comes with a red strap that you string around the bikes and the rack. Instead we used a standard bike U-Lock to secure both bikes to the rack.

We'll be going on the road for another 6 hours this Memorial Day weekend. Please let me know if you have any more questions. I'd be happy to tell you about my experience with the Fiamma rack thus far.

[Wazbro]

Originally Posted by nwprtbch

Does anyone know how far beyond the rear bumper the bike rack would extend from a Flying Cloud 27FB (2010)? I have mine parked in a garage and I have a maximum additional length of about 6 inches. If the rack extends more than 6 inches beyond the rear bumper, I may have to pass even though this is exactly what I have been waiting for. Appreciate advice/counsel. Thank you.

I don't have first hand experience but it looks like the rack is setup to be easily removed in a couple minutes and the remaining brackets would not stick out past the bumper at all.

[nvestysly]

Originally Posted by Luckyducks

My question is lack of visibility of the license plate. You really can't see it because the bikes are in front of it. Any concerns?

I really like the design of the Fiamma Carrybike but I am not willing to partially block the turn/brake lights. The same rationale applies to my unwillingness to put bikes on the front of the tow vehicle. If I decide to install the Fiamma rack I'll definitely do something to add temporary lights that are clearly visible with the bikes installed - particularly since I want to have the bikes in a protective tarp/bag. Consequently, I'm leaning toward the rack that mounts on the A-frame above the LP tanks.

The Fiamma rack certainly has lots of good features. If there was a straightforward, bolt-on solution for the lights and the license tag (secondary importantance relative to the lights IMO) I'd place my order today and buy the equipment from Airstream of Mississippi.

Lucius

[Steamy1]

Having just returned from Moab, and seeing all of the bike carriers on the back of cars, I am not at all concerned. A bike rack on the back of a car is really no different than on the back of a trailer. The car racks obscure the license plate and thee taillights to some extent. At lease on the trailer, there are also the running lights that aid in visibility, but the taillights are still visible as well.

[KerriO]

I just wanted to report back with an unintentional bonus of the Fiamma bike rack: The red knobs attract hummingbirds. We're camped in the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and for two days now, we've been visited about every half hour by a hummingbird trying to get nectar out of the hole of our bike rack knob. When that produces no results, it moves on the the bike handles. We thought it was just one poor misguided hummingbird, but just now I saw one trying the same thing that was smaller had a distinctly different chest color than the first.

Now if Fiamma can only develop a little sugar water reservoir within the knob so the hummingbirds won't be disappointed!

[Bluto]

Originally Posted by Bluto

w7ts,
It's my pleasure. Here it is: https://store.airstream.com/index.php?cPath=42s:

I did not order it as I don't like the way the mounting plate looks. I guess it's possible to purchase it then trim that plate, but I don't think I should have to fix it, it's new.
See my other post #183 above, where I asked Adam about it, and have not received a response.

Just a follow up about the Classic's bike rack.
I never received a response from Adam @ Fiama, so today I called Airstream Service to let them know what I think about the way the base plate looks when on the streams bumper.
I spoke to Tim Maxwell and he was helpful and interested, and looked at the pix on their web site, then said he will pass the info to the right people for discussion. No promises made, but I felt it will be looked into from their side.

[Fiammausa]

Bluto,

My apologizes, I guess I don't check into this forum as often as most. I recently seen photos of these brackets and this is not an image that Fiamma promotes and will address this to my engineers as soon as possible. I will be in contact with Airstream as well. I agree with you that it is not just modifying something that is new but just doesn't look like it fits with the image we are going for. Anyone that has installed these on the Classics will you please forward your pics to sales@fiammausa.com and let's see if we can come up with a better solution.

Regards,

Adam Farnum
Fiamma Inc.
Sales@fiammausa.com

[Bluto]

Adam,
I'm glad you are back on the Forum and that you are take steps to find an answer.
Thanks,
Bluto

[KJRitchie]

Originally Posted by Fiammausa

Bluto,

Anyone that has installed these on the Classics will you please forward your pics to sales@fiammausa.com and let's see if we can come up with a better solution.

Regards,

Adam Farnum
Fiamma Inc.
Sales@fiammausa.com

Please post the photos here too.

I have a Classic and the only thing holding me back from purchasing this bike rack is a better understanding of how the bumper brackets attach. Do they have to be mounted that far outboard of the bumper tray? Why not mount them along the two rivet lines on top of the bumper just to the left and right of the tray? In the AS video the technician states for the FC/Intl rack there are three sizes 59", 61 1/2" or 67 1/8". What is the width used for the Classic?

Why is the Classic version $40 more than the FC/Intl version.

Thanks

Kelvin

[Bluto]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

Please post the photos here too.

I have a Classic and the only thing holding me back from purchasing this bike rack is a better understanding of how the bumper brackets attach. Do they have to be mounted that far outboard of the bumper tray? Why not mount them along the two rivet lines on top of the bumper just to the left and right of the tray? In the AS video the technician states for the FC/Intl rack there are three sizes 59", 61 1/2" or 67 1/8". What is the width used for the Classic?

Why is the Classic version $40 more than the FC/Intl version.

Thanks

Kelvin

Kelvin,
It's been a year and I never heard again from Airstream or the company that makes the rack.
I think that they are not addressing it because Airstream stopped using the the gray fiberglass bumper on the new classics. So it looks like there is a limited number of the classics with the fiberglass bumper and it's not worth the time for them to come up with a solution. My problem was how bad the bumper plate looks when installed.
There has been no follow up from the manufacture of the bike rack or Airstream on this issue, at least, to me.
I did not want to spend a lot of money on an item that I would have to modify in order for it to look good.
I know this doesn't answer your questions but maybe it will give you some backround on what happened in the past when asking these 2 companies to address something and answer some questions concerning the rack.
Because of both companies lack of follow up toward this solution, I chose to spend my money on a couple of folding bikes instead.
Good luck, and if you get one of those racks, please post some pix to show how you addressed the issues. Even though I don't need a rack now, I am interested to see how others have made this rack work with the classic model trailer bumper.

[KJRitchie]

We've decided against folding bikes and I've already purchased a conventional hybrid bike. Even though I have a 6 1/2 ft bed on my Tundra, it fills up fast thanks to the reclining folding chairs. I only have a bed cover not a campershell and I have to lay them flat on bed. Folding bikes would have to be laid on their side too. Other than Montague it seems 20" or less are the standard for folding bikes not to mention the cost. I didn't buy a cheapo bike from Walmart/Target either.

I could probably live with the bumper brackets for the Fiamma but I still would like to know more details about mounting them on the Classic bumper.

I may look into the Canadian company Arvika. It looks like it would be an easy install.

Images gallery

Thanks for the reply

Kelvin

[cptfish]

We bought the Arvika from the Canadian company. They shipped it promptly and we love it. Installation took about 20 minutes to assemble. It keeps the bikes above our propane tanks where we can see them while traveling and they are above the road dust. Once at our destination the top frame comes easily off. We leave the support posts on all the time even when we are not carrying bikes. It also has a built in lock for the bikes. We prefer this to the bumper rack which friends have and their fell off on the highway. The AS dealer had not installed it properly!

[KJRitchie]

I've been communicating with Arvika via email with my questions and even sent them photos of the bikes we have and they have promptly replied with answers. I'm thinking of also getting the 7000-H2 hitch bracket which allows the use of the 2 bike (7002-26A) rack to be used on the tow vehicle via the receiver hitch. I can then put the bikes on the tow vehicle, drive to storage then transfer the bikes and rack onto the base stand (7000-AF AR and BR AR Telescoping support) on the Airstream hitch. The only downside is the heavy Equalizer head which I normally keep at home in the garage. I'll have to put it in the back of the Tundra while driving to storage. I may end up keeping it in storage with the trailer all the time rather than bringing it home and storing it in the garage during the summer season. The rear of the covered storage has a wall and behind the AS its out of site. I can put it on an old oil drip pan so I can slide it in and out from under the AS rear bumper. The price of the Arvika is only about $68 more than the Fiamma AS rack for the Classic. With the Fiamma I'd have to buy a separate tow vehicle receiver rack too to carry the bikes to storage. I wouldn't be able to cover the bikes on the rear Fiamma rack because the covered bikes would obscure the tail lights. I've found photos showing bikes on the Fiamma and covered wheels obscure the tail lights.

The only disadvantage with Arvika is the weight addition on the hitch. The 3 parts, 3 support brackets and 2 bike carrier, weigh about 50 to 60lbs the two bikes weigh about 65lbs. I may have to have my Equalizer head adjusted. It has 4 washers now, a 5th may be necessary to level it up a bit.

I'll probably place my order on Monday.

Kelvin

[cptfish]

You will not be disappointed. Bike are safe and secure and you arrive with clean bikes too. Your note about the extra washer is what we have done too. They shipped the Arvika and it arrived within a week.
We have had other Airstreamers stop and ask us about our rack when we are in parks.

We store it with the top half of the rack in our garage and leave the bottom half always attached.

[PharmGeek]

Read through entire thread - arkiva looks nice (for me) - doing more looking - how much for that rack? Will it work with propride hitch below ?