Thule, fiamma, or VW??

[JenJ]

Got a 21 plate beach camper and want a bike rack for up to 4 bikes. No tow bar.
Anyone recommend one brand/type over another with reason? Thanks for thinking about it! Quite expensive so don’t want the wrong one.

 

[calikev]

VW rack if you want 4 bikes the thule one only comes as a 2 bike rack you can buy the extra rails but it works out the same cost as the VW Rack that is made by thule anyway. The fiamma is not in the same league as far as quality.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Some interesting views on YouTube channels such as CaliforniaTime and ABusAndBeyond. Choice depends to a degree if you have a tow bar fitted. These things often are up for sale as lightly-used on this forum, Facebook Marketplace etc., and you can save £100-£200 by doing this.

We have the VW 4-bike type, and we’ve taken off 2 channels as we only carry 2 bikes, and it’s handy to improve the rear window vision (and rear dash cam view). It’s relatively easy to remove, which is what we do in the winter if not using bikes.

 

[Beeechke1]

Agree with everything said so far. We used a Fiamma two bike rack for two years and it was already showing signs of corrosion on some parts. Switched to a tow bar mounted rack and have used that for two years also. Note we already had tow bar fitted and that would be a significant additional cost for you. We experienced two big disadvantages with tail gate rack: 1) takes your height over 2m as the bikes sit higher than the van excludes you from many car parks. 2) Once you have raised the roof you cant open the tail gate fully as the bikes interfere with the back of the roof (true for an SE/Ocean dont know about a Beach) This turned out to be a complete pain for us especially as we like to tour and change sites every couple of days or so, hence the change to the tow bar rack that has neither of these to problems. Hope this is of some help, as you say its an expensive decision either way,

Kelvin

 

[Ch1pbutty]

We experienced two big disadvantages with tail gate rack: 1) takes your height over 2m as the bikes sit higher than the van excludes you from many car parks. 2) Once you have raised the roof you cant open the tail gate fully as the bikes interfere with the back of the roof (true for an SE/Ocean dont know about a Beach)

Kelvin

You can just spin the handle bars to stop them touching the open roof, takes about 10 seconds with an allen key.

 

[Beeechke1]

You can just spin the handle bars to stop them touching the open roof, takes about 10 seconds with an allen key.

I didn't get round to trying that but your probably right, guess I'm just looking for the minimalist solution, even moving the stems on two bikes twice every time we take them off to ride sounds like to much faffing for me . But you make an important point the OP should consider and balance against my comments.

 

[kurienp]

You can just spin the handle bars to stop them touching the open roof, takes about 10 seconds with an allen key.

but disturbing the bike setup each time you have to ride and loosening and tightening a critical bolt multiple times is something that is best avoided?

 

[Ch1pbutty]

I didn't get round to trying that but your probably right, guess I'm just looking for the minimalist solution, even moving the stems on two bikes twice every time we take them off to ride sounds like to much faffing for me . But you make an important point the OP should consider and balance against my comments.

We have both types of rack. Would recommend the VW tailgate rack for the OP as its very solid and built specifically for a Cali. Found tailgate rack more convienient for us, especially in a busy car park as it will sit over the bonnet of a car when reversing, so allowed a tighter turning circle & full access to the boot when full of kit without needing to step over the bikes.

Found the allen key approach far quicker than fitting a tailgate rack each time we wanted to use the bikes. ie - opening the garage, lifting the towbar rack off the wall & fitting the towbar, plugging electrics rack onto the towbar, then removing again when we got home. Plus my wife struggled with the weight of the Altera bike rack thay we had on our last van if she was on her own, so would end up not fitting the rack and just putting a dirty bike in the van.