Fiamma VW T4 bike rack for Berlingo

[timb]

Hello,

Been a lurker, but have just fitted a Fiamma VW T4 Carry Bike rack to my Berlingo and thought I'd share what I had to do here - in case anyone else is thinking of the same thing. The end result is a very sturdy rack. Thanks to PCH who shared the idea first - back in 2011 I think!

[Image: Fiamma-Berlingo-Bike-Rack.jpg]

The process involves:

• Drilling two new holes lower down the two top supporting arms (A Berlingo is not as tall as a VW T4)
  
• Trimming off the excess rack that goes beyond the top brackets. If you don’t do this, you’ll damage the roof of your car when you open the boot
  

So, in order to help those out there who may be considering the same thing – here’s what I had to do.
Once you’ve assembled the rack, slide the two black brackets onto the top of the boot lid. On the Berlingo Mk 3 (Note – this Fiamma Rack will only work on the Mk3) there are two indentations in the boot lid, use these to slide the brackets on.

[Image: Fiamma-Berlingo-Roof-brackets.jpg]

Once the brackets are roughly in place, unscrew the feet at the bottom of the rack to about 4.5 cm. The reason is that the whole bike rack is held in place by tension from the bottom brackets pulling the rack downwards. By extending the feet you can ensure that there will be enough slack to tension up (not too much though!).You can rest the rack on the feet when measuring up. Also, just use two of the rubber feet for the bottom. Leave out the middle one – otherwise you will really struggle to fit everything.  Then carefully mark with a pen the position of the holes at the top of the rack – using the holes in the top bracket as a guide.


At this point, you can fit the bottom brackets and make sure you can still see the pen marks for the holes at the top. Depends on how careful you want to be! I measured 13.5cm from the top of the rack to the marks I made for the new hole positions.

Then, take the whole rack off and carefully drill with a 6mm bit the new holes you marked out for the top brackets. This is not as easy as it sounds. I took the option to drill from both sides, rather than go all the way through. Ideally, you’d want to disassemble the rack and use a bench drill to get the hole spot on.

Once you’ve drilled your new holes, put the rack back on the car and centre it, then put the bolts through the top bracket. Don’t put the nuts on at this point as you’ll need to take it off again in a minute!

If you’re happy with everything, take the rack off again as you’ll need to trim off the excess rack that goes beyond the top brackets. If you don’t, you will mark or dent the roof of your car as they will dig into it when the boot is fully opened! Take out the red stoppers (a flat head screwdriver will do this). Then mark off where you want to trim the excess. On mine it worked out as 4.5cm from the centres of the new top bracket holes I had just drilled. Cutting is the easiest part of the whole process – just use a hacksaw. Once done, file off the burrs and put the red stoppers back in.

[Image: Fiamma-Berlingo-2.jpg]

Put the rack back on the car, put the bolts through the top brackets, then open the boot lid (you’ll need to support it) and hook the bottom brackets over the bottom of the boot lid and put a bolt through each one and through the hole on the bottom of the rack. Put the washer and nut on and tighten both up. This will have the effect of pulling the whole rack downwards, tensioning it all up so it won’t move.

[Image: Fiamma-Berlingo-4.jpg]

Then, put the nuts on the top bracket bolts, tighten up, check all the other nuts and you’re good to go.

You may or may not need a lighting board. Depends on your bikes!

[48pop]

excellent write up

I have a Fiamma rack on my big van and was wondering how to get something similar on my new Berlingo

Thanks !!

[48pop]

Incidentally, do you know that long and short "crossbar" supports are available? means you can have the inner bike with the same quick attachment as the outside bike.

[timb]

Incidentally, do you know that long and short "crossbar" supports are available? means you can have the inner bike with the same quick attachment as the outside bike.

Ah ok thanks, I have two attachments that came with the rack - are you talking about something else?

[48pop]

OK ignore my post .....looking again I see you have the short bracket on the seat tube .....I need better glasses !

[Stevez]

Thanks Timb, extremely helpful. This is something I've been considering and your post has given me the confidence to carry out this Fiamma mod. I think I'd be happier with a lighting board, I just need to work out my preferred electrics option and find out how much that would cost.

[timb]

Hi Stevez

Glad it helped!

I think the key part of the whole process is getting the drilling of the new holes spot on. Everything else is easy. If you have a bench drill, use this. Make sure there is enough give (ie the holes are not too high) so that when you tighten the bottom brackets, it can pull the rack downwards and tension it up.

Also, I costed up getting lighting done. Having a socket installed in the boot (just close the boot on the wire to the lighting board) was costed up at around £70 by a local chap who fits tow bars for a living. I know from looking on here that it's possible to fit it yourself, but can be fiddly!

As a bike rack, I think it's a great solution as it seems pretty sturdy, but it's always on the car, so there is more incentive to use it! It's also super easy to fit the bikes on.

Tim

[Dr.Jekyll]

I have done this exactly as described as above - it works fine.... BUT and its a big BUT.... the rear lights (only the indicators) are obscured when the bikes are loaded on the rack. You can get away with this but its not legal.

You further need to make one more modification: the way the "swing down rack" the bikes sits on needs to go up around 10cm - very easy just drill 2 sets of holes higher up and away you go...

[timb]

I have done this exactly as described as above - it works fine.... BUT and its a big BUT.... the rear lights (only the indicators) are obscured when the bikes are loaded on the rack. You can get away with this but its not legal.

You further need to make one more modification: the way the "swing down rack" the bikes sits on needs to go up around 10cm - very easy just drill 2 sets of holes higher up and away you go...

Hello,

Yes, that's a good point. I'm in two minds whether to do this or to shell out for an electric socket in the boot to attach my trailer board to.

The only drawback I would have with moving the bike mounts upwards is that it further puts the bikes in the slipstream over the back of the car.

Cheers

Tim

[pikey76]

Hi All,

Has anyone tried to do similar for a Berlingo 2 panel van with rear barn doors? I guess I would need to modify the Fiamma T5D?

Any help appreciated.