Help! New bike and Fiamma rack

[DangerMousy]

Less than 6 weeks till our next trip and we decided to try the new bikes on the bike rack....they don't fit!

Hubby's bike is fine - if we put his on the outside rail we can use the existing bent arm block to attach it, but my step-through bike is more problematic. Without a crossbar obviously I need to either clamp to the seat tube or get a frame adapter to make a crossbar (I'd prefer using the seat tube). Seems there are load of different Fiamma arms/blocks - which one do I need? It'll be going on the inside rail (the one nearest the van).

Anyone have any experience of putting a step through bike on a Fiamma rack?

 

[EuroTrotters]

Usually quite simple?

Do you have a photo?.

Put many a step through bike on, no problems.

 

[Popeye]

I have a clip on adjustable crossbar for my wife's step through.
I have this one.........

Strong, quick to clip on, attatch the 'Fiamma' arm straight to it.

 

[WillH]

The Fiamma racks are very adjustable, we need a pic to help.

 

[Howard H]

We had th same problem the company called Thule make an adjustable removable cross bar . You may find you have to turn the handle bars on the bike nearest to the van as well on my bike the handle bars where to close the rear of my motorhome for my liking .

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[Euphony]

Just back from a break with the bikes and my wife has a step-through,
Hers goes on first, the short arm lowers and the head rotates to lock on to the top diagonal step through bar. Mine goes outside with the long arm holding the crossbar. Our is a Fiamma too.

 

[DangerMousy]

Usually quite simple?

Yeah that's what thought....until we tried it LOL

I have a clip on adjustable crossbar for my wife's step through.

I thought about one of those, I'd prefer not to use one if we can get away with it though because due to the shape of the bike frame it'd have to attach to the seat post rather than the seat tube.

You may find you have to turn the handle bars on the bike nearest to the van as well on my bike the handle bars where to close the rear of my motorhome for my liking .

Yes we had that problem with the old bikes too. The inner rail on the bike rack is just a tad too close to the body.

Just back from a break with the bikes and my wife has a step-through,
Hers goes on first, the short arm lowers and the head rotates to lock on to the top diagonal step through bar. Mine goes outside with the long arm holding the crossbar. Our is a Fiamma too.

That was kind of our plan....except I was aiming for the seat tube rather than the down tube (coz the downtube is very fat). But then we found the short arm won't rotate - didn't want to force it in case it wasn't meant to. Maybe its just stuck and we need to have another go at it.

Here's a pic:

Having spent a while looking through the Fiamma catalogue, I think the Bike Block Pro D1 might be what I need.

 

[Trixie]

Mine is also a step through but attaches by the bar at the bottom. It’s a fiamma bike rack.

 

[Trixie]

You could attach it with a ratchet strap or 2.

 

[dalspa]

The head of the clamp should rotate. Squirt some silicone spray into it and then try it again. The head on the short clamp looks smaller than the one on the longer clamp, so I would look to put it onto the seat post/tube. You may find that you will need to slide the track (into which the wheels go) along to allow the bike to move over for the clamp to align with the seat tube. Slacken the two bolts on the track and move it to fit. Doesn’t matter if the tracks don’t all align together. I have moved mine so that I can fit two bikes without the handle bars clashing. I also re drilled the holes so that the bike nearest the back of a the van better fitted the short clamp, and this allows me to also put some pipe lagging onto the rack frame to put a strap around the bike also. Belt and braces.

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[DangerMousy]

The head of the clamp should rotate. Squirt some silicone spray into it and then try it again. The head on the short clamp looks smaller than the one on the longer clamp, so I would look to put it onto the seat post/tube. You may find that you will need to slide the track (into which the wheels go) along to allow the bike to move over for the clamp to align with the seat tube.

The clamps are actually the same size - its just the perspective on the photo that makes them look different, though the downtube is definitely too big for the clamp anyway. Will have a go at the shorter clamp to see if we can get it loosened up.
We need to replace the rails anyway with the longer e-bike ones so its no problem to offset them if needed to line up the seat tube with the clamp

 

[Trixie]

My fiamma clamps don’t rotate but I think the modern ones do

 

[Minxy]

You could move the short arm to the side of the upper bar rather than having it on the top of it, it should then line up with the seat post.

 

[DangerMousy]

Thanks for all the suggestions
We've managed to get the smaller clamp to rotate - its still really stiff, but knowing that it should move means we're willing to force it.
Will see about exactly where to position the bike when the new rails arrive....if we can use the existing short clamp then great, but I've ordered one of the Pro D1 arms just in case (can always return it if not needed).

 

[Ridgeway]

You could attach it with a ratchet strap or 2.

Even with the wheel straps and the clamps on I always add 2 ratchet straps, to be sure to be sure.

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[Mikeco]

The bike rack for a panel van is normally only held in position by the tension on the side fixings so being a belt and braces person I bolted mine on straight through the van door. In doing so I fixed in a cargo holder plate that I took out of the back of the van when I converted it. This means that I can put a ratchet strap through the top and bottom ones to make sure that the bikes don’t move. I suppose the door could fall off though.