Bicycle rack conundrum... Continued.

[RT.SS]

DIY is a good option and that is what I did. The swing-away bike rack was overly built, some of the critical load bearing weld joints are also fastened with grade-8 bolts. The bike rack is only few inches away from the rear door and when loaded with bikes, the center weight load of the bikes is a lot closer to the rear axle than any commercially available swing away options (clears the spare tire carrier) thus minimizing the “bouncing” effect. Although heavier gauge steel was used, it weighs a lot lighter than my Thule T2 bike rack due its design and minimal use of materials. Sorry, post is picture heavy.










My DIY cargo carrier using the same swing-away arm for the bike rack. Complete built here.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by Roadtrek Adventuous RS1

Starting at $64,000... that's just the price of the cargo van..


My question is... where are you really intending to take this OFF ROAD..
once it's converted to an RV??

The question veers off the thread subject so I'll keep it short.

RT charges $8951 for 4WD reduced to around $7600 when it goes out the door. This is on their RS build profile. It's not a 3rd party conversion. It's done by Mercedes. BTW, don't you have an RS?

IMO, taking a vehicle with a 170" WB, in addition to it's typical approach and departure angles, is a little dicey for going off road. Also IMO, the inability of the Sprinter 4WD to engage and disengage on the fly even in 4WD-HI (like a Quigley conversion) detracts from its utility even on the pavement..

[mackcs]

I want to be clear, are we speaking to the Fiamma bike rack? And going onto the rear door on a Sprinter Van 2016.

I put one on and NO I can assure you it does not have to be drilled. It comes with 4 strong stainless clips that when on are covered by Aluminum colored plastic so that the clips which are the hold points (4 or them, two left,1 top and 1 bottom and two right top and bottom same) are hidden. I too did not want to drill into the door. I loved that rack and everything about it. I am not sure who you have talked to but it does not have to be drilled.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by mackcs

I want to be clear, are we speaking to the Fiamma bike rack? And going onto the rear door on a Sprinter Van 2016.

I put one on and NO I can assure you it does not have to be drilled. It comes with 4 strong stainless clips that when on are covered by Aluminum colored plastic so that the clips which are the hold points (4 or them, two left,1 top and 1 bottom and two right top and bottom same) are hidden. I too did not want to drill into the door. I loved that rack and everything about it. I am not sure who you have talked to but it does not have to be drilled.

My understanding is that the bike rack options offered on the Sprinter and the Travato have to be installed during production and can't be added subsequently. Can you confirm this one way or the other?

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by cruising7388

...
IMO, taking a vehicle with a 170" WB, in addition to it's typical approach and departure angles, is a little dicey for going off road. ..t..

Ditto, short.

Our 158 WB has historically had the most trouble with the breakover angle, followed by the departure angle (haven't yet encountered an approach angle problem - the front end is fairly comparable to other vehicles).

We haven't take it "off road" per se, but on many National Forest roads and commercial logging roads, the construction is sub-par. I always carry Valterra stackers just in case we need to change the effective configuration of some inconvenient feature that we're driving over, because it will bottom out amidships if I'm not careful.

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by mackcs

I want to be clear, are we speaking to the Fiamma bike rack? And going onto the rear door on a Sprinter Van 2016.

I put one on and NO I can assure you it does not have to be drilled. It comes with 4 strong stainless clips that when on are covered by Aluminum colored plastic so that the clips which are the hold points (4 or them, two left,1 top and 1 bottom and two right top and bottom same) are hidden. I too did not want to drill into the door. I loved that rack and everything about it. I am not sure who you have talked to but it does not have to be drilled.

From the Fiamma website.....

https://pantherrvproducts.com/fiamma...num-bike-rack/


Fiamma 02093-93 Mercedes Sprinter after 06 Aluminum Bike Rack
This is a high quality aluminum bike rack designed to fit the mercedes Sprinter made after 2006. It attaches to the rear door and allows the door to be opened without removing the bicycles. Designed for van conversions with double rear doors. For installation, drilling is necessary but only for the 4-security screws.

[rclemins]

Originally Posted by cruising7388

My understanding is that the bike rack options offered on the Sprinter and the Travato have to be installed during production and can't be added subsequently. Can you confirm this one way or the other?

Nope. Lots of good options are available. I chose the easy one and bought a swing away hitch carrier that fits in the 2” receiver.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by rclemins

Nope. Lots of good options are available. I chose the easy one and bought a swing away hitch carrier that fits in the 2” receiver.

Sorry, I didn't ask the question clearly. I'm referring to the OEM factory option for a bike rack that is fastened to the passenger rear door (like the Fiiamme). I think that this option has to be added during the original order and that you can't install it post production, but I'd like to get that determined one way or the other.

[eric1514]

You can buy the Fiamma rack, called the CarryBike, from Fiamma, USA and install it yourself. They offer several models for different vans and many accessories.

The current Travato rack made by Summit is only available from Winnebago and I think it's inferior to the Fiamma.

[rclemins]

Originally Posted by eric1514

You can buy the Fiamma rack, called the CarryBike, from Fiamma, USA and install it yourself. They offer several models for different vans and many accessories.

The current Travato rack made by Summit is only available from Winnebago and I think it's inferior to the Fiamma.

Agree. And it stresses the sheet metal. But neither works for 2 bikes over 33 lbf. each. I too like the fiamma design. Lots of happy customers. But it’s just not for ebikes...

[MiClassB17]

You may want to look at the Italian based Fiama for a door mount rack that allows the door to open even when loaded.

http://www.fiammastore.com/Fiamma-Carry-Bikes-For--Minivans/Fiamma-Carry-Bike-200-DJ

[broyston]

I combined a Stowaway II carrier and a diamondplate toolbox with a side opening. I mounted the toolbox to the swing away carrier and mounted Thule racks on top. I can carry two bikes and have a ton of storage.

Originally Posted by Roadtrek Adventuous RS1

My RS Adventurous is on the Mercedes Benz 3500 chassis, 1 ton, with a 170 inch wheelbase.... I was looking for a swing away bicycle rack..and discovered after a long conversation with Yakima that they don't recommend it due to the very long wheelbase on my van....

I've called Thule this morning and am waiting for an official reponse....the representative on the phone said something about a distance limitation.... BUT, she was going to discuss with their technical support team....

The reason I want the swing away is for easy access to the rear doors and the ability to move the bicycles to the side whenever we're sleeping in the van....

The rear doors are the "emergency exit"... I'm not going to block the rear doors... no matter what anyone says... they're there for a reason...

Yakima said..the distance between the front and rear of the vehicle and the geometry of the 170 inch wheelbase puts a too much pressure on the sleeve that goes into the 2 inch receiver on our vehicle...it would wind up bending the sleeve and metal fatigue..or we could easily lose the cycles if the straps sheared off under the strain of the vehicle dynamics... either situation seems very unappealing.....

I'll let you know what Thule says.... should be interesting.

Of course I see many people who purchased and installed bicycle racks on their RVs all the time...the person at Yakima said...they just don't know and it's a gray area... not too much is talked about.. with this .... however, they have had a number of cases where the rack failed and it's always on the 170 inch wheelbase.....

Please be careful and aware ......I won't risk my safety and others for the sake of taking my bicycles along.. might as well just rent some wherever we go.... much easier.....

[ponti33602]

Originally Posted by broyston

I combined a Stowaway II carrier and a diamondplate toolbox with a side opening. I mounted the toolbox to the swing away carrier and mounted Thule racks on top. I can carry two bikes and have a ton of storage.

Clever solution!

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by broyston

I combined a Stowaway II carrier and a diamondplate toolbox with a side opening. I mounted the toolbox to the swing away carrier and mounted Thule racks on top. I can carry two bikes and have a ton of storage.

OK...the bikes are mounted on top of the box? How's your view out the back?
And, tell me does the additional weight of the box affect the driving of the vehicle... how?

[Roadtrek Adventuous RS1]

Originally Posted by ponti33602

Clever solution!

Hi Bob..sent you a PM..the other day...

[Mfm]

Originally Posted by Roadtrek Adventuous RS1

you wrote;

[I don't really understand what the hitch has to do with wheelbase length.


I'm not an engineer... but, the Yakima folks said... it's a physics thing...

Hey, their in the business of selling product... you bet I was surprised when they talked me out of it. Turning down a $500 plus sale is not something I would expect ...unless they had a very compelling reason.


I'll post something if I find out...

Have Mercedes Agile (144 wheelbase) and travel sometimes with bike rack on back and sometimes with storage pod on back and bike rack on front....Question....I have had an issue with the bike rack on the front a couple times....I had the front brakes come on when braking gently, then they came on forcefully even though I turned off the automatic front collision system with the button on the inside dash panel....any ideas?

[wpshivers]

The solution to your "conundrum" seems fairly simply, buy another brand rack...

I have gone with a Hollywood rack for my two E-Bikes, very sturdy as they are made for the extra weight associated with Electric Bicycles.

I too found I wanted easy access to the rear doors of my 2016 CS Adventurous, so I've added a RakAttack to my 170" Sprinter, works very well...

http://rakattach.com/

[IMG]20170815_135638 by William Shivers, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]20171025_103903 by William Shivers, on Flickr[/IMG]

[rclemins]

Originally Posted by broyston

I combined a Stowaway II carrier and a diamondplate toolbox with a side opening. I mounted the toolbox to the swing away carrier and mounted Thule racks on top. I can carry two bikes and have a ton of storage.

Nice! You must be pretty close to the tongue weight limit?

[rockymtnb]

Originally Posted by wpshivers

I too found I wanted easy access to the rear doors of my 2016 CS Adventurous, so I've added a RakAttack to my 170" Sprinter, works very well...

Nice solution. BTW, which size RakAttach did you need to clear the Sprinter doors?

[Thegengy]

We bought an EZRack from Quebec, it’s amazing came with sport rack and swings away easily and you can have doors fully open with both bikes on. It was also pretty well priced , the both units came in just under $500 cdn or $390 US.

It also came with locks for hitch pin and bike rack.

It takes about 5 second to swing away.