Approach 520SE & Bike racks... (1 Viewer)

[DigglyDog]

I'm new to all this having just retired and bought our first motorhome, a rather nice 620SE, 2013 registered with very low mileage. Just the thing to mount the bikes on they said...so off I go to get an Fiamma CL bike rack and Ultra Box for all those little goodies.

Now everyone said to me, oh look it's got the mounting bars already there, that'll be a doddle...

Now I know I'm being thick, but I can't see how the one fits to the other - come to that I can't seem to get the grey plastic cover off to examine underneath.

Fiamma site is useless - any suggestions as to how it all goes together ?

 

[BobtheBass]

There's a Bailey specific Fiamma bike rack. Is it possible the one you have might not fit?

 

[DigglyDog]

Hi Bob, that's more than likely.... Fiammastore reckoned that this was the one and to be fair, holding it up to the back of the vehicle, the mounting bars seem to be in the right place..
I just can't figure out the standard bars that are fitted to the van
There seems to be 4 plastics covers in the right sort of place, but I can't persuade then to come off to see what's behind. `i'm reluctant to resort to too much force but I susppose that may be my only way forward.

Thanks for the thought

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[rb62]

IF your mounting rail on your van look like this,remove grey end caps then you will see a torx drive screw which holds a small clamp over the end of the long horizontal pin,when you pull the pin out the covers will come out.

 

[DigglyDog]

Thanks RB62, I'll have a look when play resumes tomorrow....

 

[DigglyDog]

Update...Thanks RB62, the end caps came off easily enough and I can now see how the top fitting goes on.
Working on the bottom fitting which looks more tricky...

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[Big Nick]

Hi there,

I've just fitted the same rack to my Bailey 625

Unfortunately it wasn't a straight fit for me in that I had to cut the Fiamma bars down slightly so they would go narrow enough to fit the Bailey rails

Then it's just a case of drilling a couple of holes in the Fiamma bars for the bolt that locks them together

I bought the Bailey specific (blue) one but it still wasn't a direct fit although other owners report theirs fit without cutting?

 

[LaMB]

Didn't the rack come with instructions?

 

[DigglyDog]

The rack came with instructions as far as it goes - confusing drawings with only warnings actually in writing.
The most helpful thing is the Fiamma catalogue which has many more pictures to peruse...
I've come to the conclusion I have a couple of options - remove the lower bar on the van and use the fittings provided, not a goer as far as I'm concerned.
I've concluded that the best way is to Ebay the rack, and get the Blue Bailey specific item which looks identical apart from the lower bars and addition of a small clip.
This is on order and I'll post again when I've got it out of the box to compare with the CL that I currently have.
Just hope after all this tht the Ultra 320 box fits...

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[LaMB]

I fitted the Fiamma rack on our Bailer 760 when we had it, and removed it when we sold it. There are fitting instructions on line from Fiamma as well, which may give more information than you have.

The Fiamma rack was fitted as standard to some Baileys as an 'enhancement', so it should fit easily.

I did find that taking it off was more difficult than putting it on, as the 'screws' were a little seized.

There was no cutting or altering required when fitting it simple hooked on the top and dropped into the lower bracket.

Martin

 

[Bluemooner]

When i fitted one when we had the Bailey i had to cut the bars

 

[Big Nick]

The rack came with instructions as far as it goes - confusing drawings with only warnings actually in writing.
The most helpful thing is the Fiamma catalogue which has many more pictures to peruse...
I've come to the conclusion I have a couple of options - remove the lower bar on the van and use the fittings provided, not a goer as far as I'm concerned.
I've concluded that the best way is to Ebay the rack, and get the Blue Bailey specific item which looks identical apart from the lower bars and addition of a small clip.
This is on order and I'll post again when I've got it out of the box to compare with the CL that I currently have.
Just hope after all this tht the Ultra 320 box fits...

As stated I did the same and exchanged for the blue one and it still didn't fit without cutting it down.....just a word of warning

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[LaMB]

There are some Fiamma special edition racks. I guess one is for the Bailey. I know ours had a large window at the rear, so needed a more squat rack. Perhaps a call or email to Fiamma would confirm the correct model.

Martin

 

[DigglyDog]

Update on thee bike rack... The blue pro rack arrived and went on quite easily. the only issue was the length of the top pipes which needed a bit of trimming but done easily enough.

On to the Ultra 360 back box...fitted OK but would not lock as the lid fouls the back bike carrier.
Removed the bike runners and it fits OK now now and actualy locks.

Can't help think a bit of joined up design wouldn't go amiss though
Thanks to all posters for your help

 

[Noggin]

On our 540 I had to move the outer bike runner in and also chop the tube down to fit the rack and our Ultra 360
Not difficult but takes a bit of mechanical know how
Def worth it as good storage!!
(Will be removing it to fit it to our Burstner in May!! ;-) )

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[Ingwe]

Welcome DigglyDog-glad there's at least on other Approach 620 owner on here although yours is year yonger than ours. We too are very new to all this but have had lots of help on this forum already. There is a lot to learn!

I was going to suggest that I post some photos of our Fiamma bike rack that the original owner (a Funster) had alrady fitted to our van. But fortunately it seems you got it sorted. Our van is being stored about 5 miles away so it would have had to wait till next weekend in any event.

Anyway, would love your views of the 620. We love ours but so far have been a bit disappointed by some of the niggling poor finish points, such as the battery cover lock dropping off on the journey home from collecting it, trouble with the habitation door lock and now the lock of the central glove box which has just stopped working. But so far the main things have worked well and we look forward to testing it on longer trips than the three owne nighters to date.

 

[DigglyDog]

Hi Ingwe - yep we're the same. Love the van but some small things let it down. We haven't lost the battery cover lock although the barrel has dropped out when we open it. The gas cabinet door is a challenge as well and locks when it feels like it. I'm in the middle of fitting a Gasit twin 6 kg system at the moment so hopefully this won't be an issue as we won't really need to keep opening it ! Very nervous about drilling the big holes though...I've also fitted a couple of bike water carriers to the dash as lack of drinks holders is a real issue.
Next thing I think will be an aircon unit as we intend to travel in Southern Europe with our dog. We've just bitten the bullet and booked tunnel tickets with a month between going and returning so we'll either come back really fired up or divorced..
Let us know how you get on with the lock situation..

 

[Ingwe]

Know what you mean about the gas locker door. Have spent 20 mins trying to lock it before finally getting it right. I have to say that the experience with both the battery locker cover and the gas locker cover have not instilled much confidence in these locks. It is such a simple thing, one wonders why Bailey fitted such unreliable locks.
The central glove box lock failing means that the glove box, which is quite heavy now just hangs open and gets in the way. We have closed it using duct tape as a short term measure. The catch is inaccessible and fixing it will involve removing the whole assembly, I guess, and I'll leave it to the dealer and the warranty.
Judging by some posters, we have been relatively lucky!
Good luck on your travels; I retire after 10 working days and then I and the wife are off to France.

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[DigglyDog]

Excellent - good luck with the retirement, you'll wonder how you ever managed to find time to work after a couple of weeks.
See you in France maybe...we're off at the end of May..

 

[Ingwe]

Thanks Digglydog. You never know, we may well see you in France. I am looking forward to retirement but it will feel very strange.