Genuine T5 Volkswagen bike rack

Just a quick post to save you time if you decide to buy the Genuine VW bike rack to fit to a T5 Trident I purchased one yesterday as I liked the look of it although it was nearly double the price of the Fiamma at 463 pounds, I fitted it this morning and all was fine until I gently opened the tail gate and found it fouled the roof and I could only get the tail gate open about a foot.
VW were quite decent about it and gave me a full refund so it looks like I will have to get the Fiamma rack, does this have any clearance problems ??

Paul wrote:it looks like I will have to get the Fiamma rack, does this have any clearance problems ??

Stevomar has a bike rack on his T4 Trident (not sure if it's a Fiamma or not?) so he may be able to offer some advice

CruizingComet wrote:

Paul wrote:it looks like I will have to get the Fiamma rack, does this have any clearance problems ??

Stevomar has a bike rack on his T4 Trident (not sure if it's a Fiamma or not?) so he may be able to offer some advice

The Fiamma bike rack on my T4 Trident works a treat
My mate has a factory fitted VW rack on his T5 California and that's OK- mind you it's a pop top.
Maybe Autosleeper has done something to the design on the rear end of the T5 Trident- I'd be interested to know what exactly was stopping the tailgate lifting fully.
Cheers
Stevo

Hello Stevo,
It was the bike restraining bars fitted on the top bar that hit first and would have been followed by the top bar of the rack, anyway as the van has a tow bar I rethought the whole thing and after trawling the net again have ended up with a "Thule Express" from Amazon at a 10th of the price of the VW rack at 49.99 OK 50 quid, but would recommend it to anyone, 20 seconds see's it on and off, and one padlock locks it to the van and it is such a neat little piece of equipment it folds and fits in the rear storage area under the seat hardly taking up any room. I will have to get a small light board but thats not a problem.

Best Regards
Paul.

Stevo,
I forgot to say the VW storeman did say when I took it back he knew you cant fit the VW rack to vans fitted with the airfoil on the tailgate.

Regards,
Paul

This is an old thread so maybe everybody sorted now, but we have just been through and solved this with our 2005 T5 Topaz. On the T4 Topaz, A/S moulded twin recesses in the back of the Hi-top moulding to make room for the bike rack bars when the tailgate is lifted. On the T5 Topaz, for reasons best known etc, they eliminated the recesses and so emerged the problem. However, the nice guys at A/S have thought of this and can supply stainless steel adapter brackets that enable the T4 Fiamma bike rack to be fitted to the T5. Brackets move top of rack out a little so no longer fouls the Hi-Top.

Don't forget you will need an illuminated number plate board - although the vehicle NP is visible when the rack is folded up not in use, once bikes are onboard it is obscured. Hope this helps!

Interesting.

On my 2007 T5 Trident the recesses are there. I use the fiamma T5 bike rack.

AS must have learned from earlier problems

Hi everyone

I'm very new here! We are on the cusp of buying a 2005 Trident however a key use for us is bikes! We need to get 4 bikes on the back and the one we are looking to purchase does not have the cut outs to accommodate a Fiamma bike rack. It does have a tow bar but it looks fitted too close to the bumper to accommodate bikes and we'd have to take the whole lot off to get to the boot as I don't think the tilting racks will tilt enough to get the tailgate open. I would love to hear from you if you have a tilting bike rack, does it work.

Can you tell me more about the adapters you mentioned? Was that direct from AS in Worcester?

Thanks

Zoe

save any damage to rear doors and putting strain on parts not designed to carry bikes etc !!!
my solution....works fantastically well.
1) fit a detatchable towbar......
2) but THULE 2 or 3 bike carrier which fastens onto the 50mm towball (clamp) just as per caravan.you can use the bike carrier on any vehicle with a tow bar...see THULE web site.
also when bikes are on you can fold them down to access the rear door.
no drilling...safe...legal....dont forget reflective trailer board on your bikes if visiting spain or italy
regards geoff

Thank you for all the advice on this thread and the other one. Especially to graynerwest for all the photos sent. We have finally bought a 1999 Trident (long story behind the change of plan) but so far (we've only had her less than 24 hours very pleased). I will post a picture soon and I am sure we'll have a few more questions. I hope that as we get to grips with her we can eventually help answer some other peoples questions as well. A huge thumbs up to this forum it's been a god send for us. Keep up the good work everyone.