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  • Tell me about your Mazda Bongo bike carrying solutions
  • PimpmasterJazz
    Free Member

    Myself and the better looking half have recently joined the Bongo fold and are trying to work out which bike carrying method to go for.

    We’re planning to go round euroland this summer with bikes, and respective kit, and clothes, and camping kit, and… You get the idea – it’s got to be an external carrier.

    Options we’ve had quoted for are getting a towbar fitted or getting a Fiamma rack installed, both for about £220.

    I have a hinged/pivoting Thule towbar rack already – so no costs there – but has anyone got experience using one on a Bongo? Can you still get the back door open with bikes attached? Do they get in the way otherwise?

    The Fiamma rack will involve some spoiler hacksaw artistry which will be done as part of the deal. But how are they to use? Are they easy to convert from a 2 to 4 bike carrier? And will I need to carry round a support to hold the back door open once it’s attached?

    Ta!

    binners
    Full Member

    geoffj
    Full Member

    I used to use a tow bar mounted carrier on my old Ducato. Whilst it was OK, loading it was a faff and there wasn’t really enough clearance for the bars in their normal position, so I had to release the stem and twist the bars through 90 degrees. This is less of an issue on a car, because the back usually slopes away.
    I always wish I’d gone for the fiamma type rack, but never got around to it. They sit higher, are more out of the way and are easier to load than the thule models I used.

    BUT, I didn’t need to use the rear doors, so access wasn’t an issue. If you can get away with just using the side door or only occasionally using the rear door, then go for the Fiamma.

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    PimpmasterJazz
    Free Member

    Cheers Geoff – the handlebars wasn’t something I’d considered. The only other reason for getting a towbar was the ability to carry extra storage, but that’s not a biggie…

    Binners – that says it all! 😀

    supersessions9-2
    Free Member

    On my old Nissan C20 van I had a special support for ther rear door. lived just inside the lid. It was hand carved from New Zealand timber and worked very well… and was much cheaper than new gas struts. 😀

    MasterOfNone
    Free Member

    I’ve got a bongo and use a thule Back Pac to carry the bikes. It didn’t require and cutting of the spoiler but they don’t make a proper kit to fit the bongo so took a bit of modification. If you check out the Bongo Fury forum there is a thread about it (but the 02 fitting kit they suggest is no longer available).

    It works pretty well, drop handlebars do cause a clearance issue with the spoiler attached, not so much the MTBs. The rear door needs a prop now too(i haven’t got around to upgrading the gas struts) and can’t be opened with bikes mounted. But that said the rear can be accessed from inside so not really a problem.

    Feels pretty solid and bought off ebay for £40 so can’t complain. email in profile if you want any specific advice or photos of my van (don’t know how to post pictures on this forum, sorry)

    phiiiiil
    Full Member

    We’ve got a Fiamma rack for two bikes; they are easy to convert for more, you just need to get some new rails and the over-the-top clamps for the top-tube. How easy it is to actually put four bikes on may be another matter; two is fine, occasionally it requires seat raising or dropping to clear the other’s handlebars, but four might be a bit of a pain.

    Our boot door will stay open with the rack on; some people have the problem of the door not staying open at all, which requires regassing the struts to fix.

    With a bike on you can still get into the boot without too much bother, it’s heavier to lift up but because of the fairly high centre of gravity once it’s up it’s easy to hold. My trick however is to forget about the bike and just let the boot lid drop most of the way under gravity, which it does considerably faster with a bike on – ouch!

    We’ve got an awning that is basically a curtain that hangs beneath the open boot lid; it came with two support poles which we use very occasionally to hold it open if there is a bike on.

    If the roof is up and you’ve got a bike on the boot won’t open all the way because the bike bars hit the roof unless they’re really short (ie. road bike).

    Our fiamma rack is great, although the metal parts of the rachets corrode and get very stiff. I believe newer ones are made of plastic to avoid this problem.

    </braindump>

    PimpmasterJazz
    Free Member

    Brilliant – thanks guys for all your responses.

    MoN – I’ll ping you a line now.

    Cheers!

    ianv
    Free Member

    Same issue here, I am currently thinking that the towbar would be the best/most secure option. The fiamma rack looks pretty easy to remove if someone wanted to nick the bikes (could be wrong though).

    Simon
    Full Member

    I’ve used two different towbar mounted racks on my Bongo. A Thule 9403 (3 bikes) and a Buzzrack Quattro (4 bikes) both have a tilt function but neither allow you to open the tailgate 🙁

    Another problem I found with the Buzzrack plus 4 bikes and the van fully loaded was that the rear suspension occasionally bottomed out coming off speed humps and on sudden dips in the road but this could be just be tired dampers.

    Buzzrack has locking clamps for each bike and I loop a cable lock though the frames and forks but I still don’t like leaving the van out of sight with bikes on for long!

    I’d be very wary of leaving the tailgate propped open with a tailgate mounted rack especially with kids around. My van came with a ladder on the rear door and the gas struts wouldn’t hold it open.

    thegeneralist
    Free Member

    I’ve got a Fiamma rack for my T5 and I think it is mince.
    All the straps have corroded so they don’t stay shut.
    The feet fell off it and one of the rubber stops that hit the verticals as you fold it down also fell off.

    cheap rubbish, wish I’d paid £450 for the VW one.

    PimpmasterJazz
    Free Member

    Thanks again guys. All advice much appreciated.

    john_l
    Free Member

    Had a Fiammia 4 bike rack on our Bongo for about 5 years – the straps have corroded but it still works fine (& they’re easily replaceable). Getting 2 bikes on is easy, 4 takes a bit of careful organisation & ideally someone a couple of inches taller than me ;o)

    I love my Bongo :mrgreen:

    PimpmasterJazz
    Free Member

    There does seem to be a lot of Bongo-love in general. The better half is very, very excited by it. 😀

    woffle
    Free Member

    There does seem to be a lot of Bongo-love in general. The better half is very, very excited by it.

    We got ours about a month ago. We all love it, the kids especially…

    PimpmasterJazz
    Free Member

    Had ours two weeks. First camping trip will be to the Dyfi enduro. But we have been down to the coast and made tea at the top of a cliff. 😀

    ormondroyd
    Free Member

    We’ve got the Thule backbak and a fitting kit as discussed on the BongoFury site (ref above) but I’ve not got round to fitting it yet.

    Bongos are bloody great things. Really nice to drive, comfy, easy to camp in even unconverted. And the diesels will happily run with a generous helping of veg oil mixed into the diesel. Sunflower oil is £1 a litre at Tescos in 10L batches. Every little helps (although the exhaust smells slightly like a chip shop)

    woffle
    Free Member

    We’ve the V6 petrol automatic – lovely to drive and lots of power. Decided against the diesel after hearing too many horror stories from our local Bongo specialists (they’ve 40+ Bongos on their servicing books). It’s actually not as thirsty as I feared.

    Ours is unconverted – when we started looking the family were all up for getting a conversion or having one done on a suitable donor vehicle. However, for a family of four things get really tight as it is without losing space to cupboards / stoves etc. Had a decent leisure battery system fitted and with the Kyham tent it’s fantastic for camping and gives us more than enough room.

    We cook out of the boot when on the hoof. Got a decent fridge which makes a difference too.

    Got all sorts of plans for the summer…

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Bikes in van, sleep in caravan. Sorted 🙂

    simonm
    Free Member

    Fiamma here. The “NEW” straps are made of plastic so dont corrode.

    phiiiiil
    Full Member

    Our maiden camping voyage was the Dyfi Enduro three years ago; we’ve been all over the place since then. Our best holiday in it was probably to the Outer Hebrides; campervan is by far the best way to see the place.

    We got ours unconverted, thinking that we could work out what conversion we wanted, but we quite like it just as it is now – it’s fine to camp in and will still transport loads of people or be a decent sized van if you take the seats out which is sometimes handy.

    PimpmasterJazz
    Free Member

    Cheers all. Picking up a Thule 973 this evening and fitting kit is on order.

    Looked at uncoverted Bongos, but have gone the conversion route. The folding seats are removable though (not rock and roll), so it still semi-passes for van duties. However it is a pig getting bikes in the back because of the conversion and sort of defeats the object of getting a converted camper. 🙂

    Phiiiii: Plan is to head through Europe with it. Just a little bit excited.

    Ormondroyd: any noticeable difference using cooking oil mixed with diesel?

    ormondroyd
    Free Member

    Once you get above about 40% oil, starting can be slightly rougher on a coolish summer day. Make sure you let the glow plugs warm up. In winter I’ll probably go right down to 10/20%

    Woody
    Free Member

    Quite like the look of these but is the fuel consumption figures I’ve seen (25-32 mpg) about right, with little difference between engines?

    What are you guys getting ?

    ormondroyd
    Free Member

    About 28-29mpg on a 2.5L turbo diesel.

    ormondroyd
    Free Member

    Excellent cars, but yes, thirsty. The fact that they’ve got the aerodynamics of a breeze block doesn’t help i guess.

    ormondroyd
    Free Member

    Best economy I’ve managed is 32mpg, thrash it on the motorway and you’d be in the 25mpg region, so yes, what you’ve heard is spot on.

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