Not happy with Micro Lite

[dalford]

This is the fix to the problem. This rack works great. They can be bought at racksforcars.com. They are in Canada. I bought one from them a couple of years ago and it worked flawlessly. I now have a fifth wheel and I gave it to my buddy and he mounted it on his Apex.

2,3 or 4 bike options. Look here... Arvika 2 Bike Attachment - 7000 Series - Black - www.racksforcars.com

[Rockwoodjoe]

You may consider adding this $7.00 option to the bumper. Three screws into the bumper and two into the frame. My bumper actually sits and is welded to the top of the frame and the end of the frames. This is a 2015 model and it appears that they thought it through.




Everbilt 5 in. x 5 in. Zinc Plated T-Plate-15068 - The Home Depot
2015 Rockwood 2703ws
2013 Ford f-150

[RETCHIEF]

A forum like this one shouldn't tell people what they did wrong, but give suggestions on how to fix a problem or help in some way. I have been trailer camping for about a year and have seen bikes on ladders, bumpers, and on racks that cost more than the bikes. After learning that my spare was the only thing allowed on the rear bumper I ended up putting them inside wrapped in a tarp. It works great.

[gashog]

Agree 10000%...

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[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by RETCHIEF

A forum like this one shouldn't tell people what they did wrong, but give suggestions on how to fix a problem or help in some way. I have been trailer camping for about a year and have seen bikes on ladders, bumpers, and on racks that cost more than the bikes. After learning that my spare was the only thing allowed on the rear bumper I ended up putting them inside wrapped in a tarp. It works great.

Retired AF to the rescue, this OP has been beat up enough, bought time for the Moderators to close this thread IMO. I agree 100% CHIEF.....

[gashog]

You got my vote. ....

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[Loraura]

Flip your dinette seat boards over and mount fork mounts to the under side of the dinette. When traveling with bikes, remove the cushions (store on beds or in the bathroom), flip the dinette seats over and mount your bikes to the fork mounts. This works very well for us, and our dinette seats have enough room to mount 4 fork mounts (2 road bikes, 2 MTB). We also don't have to worry about theft or weather.

Total cost: <100.00 including 2 20mm Thule through axle adapters for the MTBs.

[gashog]

Now this is how this THREAD should be. Posters giving suggestion, ideas and what works for them... the OP was steered wrong by dealer. Could of happened to any of us on our first TT.

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[mike.t]

As some of my posts have stated Evereddi it is the dealers fault if they in fact suggested the rack and installed it. Not the OPs. Some people blame the OP for not doing his research. What is he suppose to do "Say hold on let me get out my laptop and do some research on this.Sheez

[Loraura]

Originally Posted by mike.t

As some of my posts have stated Evereddi it is the dealers fault if they in fact suggested the rack and installed it. Not the OPs. Some people blame the OP for not doing his research. What is he suppose to do "Say hold on let me get out my laptop and do some research on this.Sheez

Actually, that isn't a big stretch. We are responsible for our units. We need to take the time to research if a modification is safe and reasonable for our particular RV.

I actually bought one of those bolt on hitch receivers, but after dong the research opted to return it and did not install it.

i understand that new RV owners may not realize that not every item marketed for RV's is safe and reasonable for every RV on the market. That does not excuse us from doing the homework before altering our RVs.

[itat]

In the OP's post, he blamed everything on the dealer except for the quality of the owner's manual and the gauge of the bumper tube which he attributed to FR. IMO, both those comments are reasonable. If he was accurate about the dealer's response, that was ridiculous.

However, I stand by my earlier post that the owner shares some of the responsibility in these circumstances because, while the dealer did recommended the attachment, the owner has the final say on whether or not it should be purchased and used.

[Evereddie]

Originally Posted by mike.t

As some of my posts have stated Evereddi it is the dealers fault if they in fact suggested the rack and installed it. Not the OPs. Some people blame the OP for not doing his research. What is he suppose to do "Say hold on let me get out my laptop and do some research on this.Sheez

As I said in the last line of my post I do not think it is the OP's fault. Would have been a good idea to research it but not his fault for the decision. Big difference between should have researched it and fault for the decision to mount it. I agree with you there. Dealers are too often the weak point in the system and in this case it is way too obvious.

[Evereddie]

Originally Posted by mike.t

Ever. Went over your head by about 3' "it is the dealers fault if they in fact suggested the rack and installed it. Not the OPs. Why not just buy Your TT and TV online if you can't trust what the dealer say's!..

Did you read my post? I said this, "The dealer and not Forest River or the original poster were clearly to blame.". What went over my head? I am confused by your response to me.

[Papa GLS]

OP is not the only one doing a bit of ranting. Maybe if the rest of us were a little more understanding & compassionate, we would not be on the verge of civil war. Good thing a lot of us are seperated by distance or this thing might really get ugly. I know what I'm talking about having been guilty of being a "little" over zealous my self. Lesson learned here.

[mtcyclist]

Wow. I post something and because I have something better to do than hanging out staring at a computer screen for several days, like going backpacking, I get called a troll and some [moderator's edit] even sends me an insulting email. To those who posted helpful information, thanks. To the rest, I'm done here. To clear up a couple of things, there were no stickers anywhere not putting anything on the bumper. The dealer turns out to be completely unhelpful and assumes no responsibility for his employee selling and installing the $20 receiver. Lesson learned. The bumper will be repaired and reinforced and I will have a Curt receiver welded to the frame. The warranty has expired anyway.
So long and thanks for all the fish.

[accumack]

Originally Posted by mtcyclist

Wow. I post something and because I have something better to do than hanging out staring at a computer screen for several days, like going backpacking, I get called a troll and some [moderator's edit] even sends me an insulting email. To those who posted helpful information, thanks. To the rest, I'm done here. To clear up a couple of things, there were no stickers anywhere not putting anything on the bumper. The dealer turns out to be completely unhelpful and assumes no responsibility for his employee selling and installing the $20 receiver. Lesson learned. The bumper will be repaired and reinforced and I will have a Curt receiver welded to the frame. The warranty has expired anyway.
So long and thanks for all the fish.

I would think twice about having a mount welded to the frame. You may end up cracking it. I would look at some of the other suggestions for mounting bikes. It is a microlite designed for light weight tow vehicles so the frame is not substantial. Also I would have the trailer weighed to make sure it is not overloaded.
just my $.02

[HikerBob]

Originally Posted by mtcyclist

My wife and I bought a new Micro Lite 23FB last year. She broke her ankle in two place this spring so we couldn't use it much after her surgery. I am a cyclist, own one road bike and two mountain bikes. When we bought the trailer the dealer sold me a bolt-on receiver for my bike rack, and they bolted it onto the bumper. On our third trip this year on Labor Day weekend, we pulled into our NFS campsite and found that the welds joining the bumper to the frame were both fractured and on the bike rack side, the absurdly thin tubing wall had torn. I took the single mountain bike and the bike rack off as well as the spare tire. The dealer's reaction? "You should never have had the bike rack on there in the first place." Is that in the useless owner's manual? No. Why did you sell me the bolt-on receiver? "Stop trying to blame us for what you did." Their recommendation is to have some friend of his fabricate a receiver and weld it to the frame, for $650. I told him no thanks. So, we get to pay to have the cheap cheesy bumper repaired. And it was all of one month out of warranty.

The quality of materials used is just absurd. Forest River could double the thickness of the tube only add 20-25 pounds to the total weight. And 15 minutes of searching on the internet revealed multiple options to the $650 receiver by good manufacturers for less than 1/3 that price. Yes, I will have to pay someone to weld it on, but that won't cost anywhere near $450.

I had a receiver welded to the spare tire mount with an extension that went under the frame to reduce the pivoting on the stinky slinky bumper. It's okay for one bike on the squirrel-tail bike rack, but two bikes is too much. So I mounted two fork mounts on a 2x6 that fits snugly between the cabinets in the TT and we now put the bikes in the TT when on the road. We use the bike rack for storage when we're out kayaking or hiking, or otherwise away from the TT in a campground. Works great and keeps the bikes cleaner and out of the rain and road grime when we travel.
--HikerBob

[Vern]

I think the OP had valid points and I, for one, did not read his post as unfairly negative or whining. That he had not researched FRF before paying his Forest River dealer good money to install a bumper hitch on his new TT, one that the selling Forest River dealer recommended, is hardly an unforgivable error. I get it...everyone is smarter than the OP on here. However, his was an honest post which deserved better than he got. And what he got was attacked on a forum which is normally a lot better than that, which is regrettable. JMO

[lesptr]

Originally Posted by Vern

I think the OP had valid points and I, for one, did not read his post as unfairly negative or whining. That he had not researched FRF before paying his Forest River dealer good money to install a bumper hitch on his new TT, one that the selling Forest River dealer recommended, is hardly an unforgivable error. I get it...everyone is smarter than the OP on here. However, his was an honest post which deserved better than he got. And what he got was attacked on a forum which is normally a lot better than that, which is regrettable. JMO

X2

[Terier]

This tread is closed. This thread required a big clean up to bring it back to the OP topic. If your post is not listed it's possible that it got caught up in the clean up or that it no longer related due to another post that was removed.

Let's get back to helping fellow RVers.