Bike Carrier Top Brackets Slightly Loose: Fiamma Pro 2 Bike Carrier 60Kg Max Load

[deleted79651]

Cleaning Brunhilde this afternoon and noticed that the 2 top brackets which slide into an aluminium channel, are quite loose. Each Side Rail can move 2 or 3mm if shaken. The brackets themselves have each have 2 bolt holes pre drilled, but there has never been any bolts inserted. The whole of the top of the frame merely hangs from the aluminium channel, but the 2 bottom brackets have been bolted through the rear m/home wall and are perfectly firm.

Main question: Has the rack been fitted correctly or should the top brackets have been bolted through the m/home rear wall? OR, do the 2 top brackets 'float in the channel to absorb the shaking caused by potholed roads and the loading of the bikes [37.9kg for the pair] takes up the 'slack' by pulling the top arms taut against the channel? Has anyone got one of these racks fitted and can tell me if it's OK or whether I need to take remedial action?

Photos attached of the top brackets which are just pop riveted onto the main frame, so there is no adjustment, unless the brackets themselves are bolted through the m/home rear wall. I have a couple more photos of the top bracket at normal size and of the Bike Rack Label if needed.

TIA [again!]

Steve

 

[MITHRANDIR]

Looks right to me, top bracket is loose to enable you to undo the fasteners at the bottom and take off the rack, it hinges out from the bottom, unhooking from the channel at the top, take it off and you will see how it works, my previous A class was the same, poor design though IMV.
My top channel was bolted through the rear wall, but the rack itself floats as you say at the top.

 

[deleted79651]

Looks right to me, top bracket is loose to enable you to undo the fasteners at the bottom and take off the rack, it hinges out from the bottom, unhooking from the channel at the top, take it off and you will see how it works, my previous A class was the same, poor design though IMV.
My top channel was bolted through the rear wall, but the rack itself floats as you say at the top.

Thank you so much. I found the Fiamma installation instructions online for a non-A Line m/home and it showed the top fixings screwed into the back wall, so was concerned that I could lose Rack + Bikes as well as featuring in the local news traffic carnage updates ... Loose fittings and what appears to be 4 missing screws/bolts is not reassuring!

Enjoy France, mon ami!

Steve

 

[MITHRANDIR]

Thanks, i will try, we are not there yet! hoping that nothing changes between now and next friday, funny you say that about losing things, i saw in france years ago a motorhome come past us near clermont ferrand on the motorway, with the bike rack dragging on the floor with what appeared to be 3 bikes still on it, there was loads of furious horn blowing and flashing lights from me and everyone else, it looked like it was only held on with one point at the bottom, the driver was oblivious, and just carried on, everyone was giving him a wide berth, he must have been doing near 70 when he came past, scared the bejesus out of us, caused a huge tailback, on Italian plates if i remember.
moral to the story, make sure your rack is well fastened to the rear of the van!, and the bikes too!

 

[deleted79651]

Thanks, i will try, we are not there yet! hoping that nothing changes between now and next friday, funny you say that about losing things, i saw in france years ago a motorhome come past us near clermont ferrand on the motorway, with the bike rack dragging on the floor with what appeared to be 3 bikes still on it, there was loads of furious horn blowing and flashing lights from me and everyone else, it looked like it was only held on with one point at the bottom, the driver was oblivious, and just carried on, everyone was giving him a wide berth, he must have been doing near 70 when he came past, scared the bejesus out of us, caused a huge tailback, on Italian plates if i remember.
moral to the story, make sure your rack is well fastened to the rear of the van!, and the bikes too!

Thanks, Mithrandir. This is precisely the event that I am anxious to avoid! About 1990 we made the mistake of returning from the Pyrenees on the final Saturday of the 3 weeks French national holiday and found ourselves in a continual stream of [mainly] ancient Pug 504 Estates, load well beyond the gunnels with mattresses, bedding, furniture and way too many occupants for the number of seatbelts, mostly of N. African origin, returning to Paris at breakneck speed. Saw 1 overloaded vehicle fail to negotiate a bend and launch into flight into the adjoining field without stopping the rest of the traffic ... And another [Pug 504 Estate again!] that had stuff and people crammed in everywhere, but still couldn't accommodate the double bed mattress, so he'd attached it to the tailgate, folded double and secured with net curtain wire [lots f it to be fair ...].

'Keep to the inside lane, hold the line, and be prepared to take evasive action' was the mantra for that journey ... Not an experience I'd care to repeat!

Safe travels when you do head to France! If you're passing the Vendee,our back lawn needs cutting/harvesting, but be careful; there's a trailer tent underneath the vegetation, just in front of the Pump House ... Last seen in February 2020!

Steve

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[MITHRANDIR]

airborne ancient pugs, i will keep a cautious eye out for them
I used to have a farm, for beef cattle, i know a thing or two about mowing grass, we used to make 6 odd thousand small bales yearly plus 250 odd large round bales
We don't get to the Vendee that often, but do spend quite a lot of time around Perigord Noir, so not that far away, but this year we plan to tour a bit more so you never know!!