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R57 Bike Rack - "I'm sorry how much?"

25K views 26 replies 13 participants last post by  shinyf1 
#1 ·
Traded my Clubman in for something a little bigger and my wife decided we couldn't be without a MINI so traded her Z4 for an R57 Cooper and very nice it is too. The showrooms we visited all had bike racks on their display cars so being a bloke, liking gadgets and cycling a lot this looked like it ticked all the boxes.

Our three local dealers have sold one rack between them in the past year and even the Parts manager laughed when he read out the price and time to code it to the car. £319 + VAT (£374.80) plus up to two hours to do the initial fit and code it to the car. Sorry, did you say the bike rack would be nearly £600? I could buy another car to drive my bikes around in for less! Now I know it's nicely engineered and all but surely, to claw back the design expense, they must want to sell some?

The three dealers must have sold well over 200 cars between them since launch so if we imagine a 1 in 200 ratio globally then it's going to be a very rare sight indeed. Great for the fun-factor of the car in showrooms like the Openometer but laughably BMW priced sadly. I'm waiting for a dealer to get bored with the one they have on show and offer me some discount. I may be waiting a while...

R57 is great to drive, much better than an early R57 demo we drove last year and really puts a smile on your face every time the sun is out and the roof is down.
 
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#3 ·
Although the cars are prepared for a rack the car needs to be coded to the individual rack so that it knows when the rack is fitted and turns off the PDC and makes the lights/foglights work. Or so they tell me....And every dealer has the same line so there must be some truth in it ;)

We had an R55 and an R56 with roof bars and bikes racks and from memory the bars were £100 and the Thule bike carriers about £65 each and you could fit it yourself. A far cry from this epic engineering feat!
 
#4 ·
It's a bit of a problem on the MINI, i'm still putting my bike inside the car but it only just fits (large frame) and I have to be really careful not to scratch the interior or damage the headliner.

These are an option i'm considering now, look quite good

Roof bars and roof racks for the new Mini

I've already got a nice Thule bike carrier for roof bars so might buy some of these later today.

Never did like carrying bikes on the back of my car either.
 
#5 ·
Bike rack

Hello everyone,
newbie here, basically I've just took delivery of a new cooper convertible and bought a bike rack at the same time, when i opened the box the instructions are, remove rear bumper, wheel arches and wheels, drill bodywork and fit metal brackets etc, the dealer told me no drilling or wiring was required, the rack just bolts to the car through the two removable plastic inserts in the rear bumper. The salesman actually told me he fitted the one in the showroom to the car and it was easy to do no wiring etc. Now they say BMW recommend fitting the brackets if your going on a long journey.

Can anyone shed any light on this. :puzzled:

Thanks.
 
#6 ·
Wow! From what I understand, the dealer does the initial fit (somewhere between 1 and 2 hours depending on who you ask) and this attaches it correctly (and installs brackets maybe??) and codes it to the car. Then its a 10 minute job to put it on and off yourself but it must be pre-fitted by the dealer first.

Andy
 
#7 ·
bike rack

I spoke to another dealership yesterday, after 4 hours they rang me back and said BMW had told them rear mounted bike rack should not be fitted to a convertible. I said to him all the showroons i visited had a convertible in with a bike rack on, i think i'm goinimg to return it and get a refund not pleased at all.
 
#13 ·
I spoke to another dealership yesterday, after 4 hours they rang me back and said BMW had told them rear mounted bike rack should not be fitted to a convertible. I said to him all the showroons i visited had a convertible in with a bike rack on, i think i'm goinimg to return it and get a refund not pleased at all.
Why is it when people get told two conflicting things, they automatically assume the one that allows them to 'kick off' is always the correct one??? Not having a go at you YCY, as someone in sales it just interests me!
 
#8 ·
That's rubbish! The bike rack is specifically designed for the R57. What they are talking about is the rear mounted rack that fits on a towbar or to the rear tailgate of a 3 door car. You can't fit either of these to a Clubman either. I think you've spoken to the wrong person which reinforces my earlier comment about the lack of sales/experience. If they priced it lower they's sell some and every dealer would know how it fits. Call another dealer as yours sound like complete muppets....
 
#9 ·
I've arranged for racks to be fitted to at least 3 R57 convs now. £340 for the Rack, £69.95 for the lighting module and it MUST be fitted first time by the dealer......this is a warranty claim though as there additional brackets that need to be glued/fitted behind the rear bumper. I've not had to have coding done to any of the cars either.
 
#14 ·
bike / luggage rack for R57 MCS Convertible

Hi all
At the risk of repeating earlier posts / Q's, im after a bike rack-come-luggage rack for me 2009 Cooper S converitible and have heard the horror stories about the cost of the OEM rack and fitting charges...
can someone please enlighten me on what the score is? and especially point me in the direction of a dealer anywhere in the uk that will do it for a decent cost or if there are third party racks available.
thanks in advance
Rob
 
#16 ·
Sadly there is no easy route. As the car has rear PDC it requires revision to the electronics to disable when the rack is fitted which is a) why there is a first-fit charge and b) why there are non Non-OEM options for the racks in the car. You can't fit a non OEM without disabling the PDC (and probably invalidating the warranty and maybe the insurance if you had a rear-end or reversing collision.

I was really keen to get the rack when we first had the car and called a lot of local dealers to see if any were selling their ex-demo racks but they all then wanted 1-2 hours labour to fit it which is included if you buy new at full price. So even if you do find a used/ex-demo one they get their money from the £150+ labour charge to fit it! We go out in our BMW 4x4 when we're taking the bikes now and MINI has lost another potential rack sale.
 
#17 ·
Bump!

Any updates about this? My dealer told me that getting a bike rack is a two step/parts/components process. First you need a "cargo carrier" and then you need the bike rack. The cargo carrier needs to be mounted by a workshop and should in theory be possible to combine with other accessories such ski racks and similar. I still haven't got a price quote but if the description of the setup I got is correct, shouldn't that open up for third party racks and other accessories?
 
#19 ·
$200.00 option

I just bought a receiver type hitch on Amazon for my R57..I was a Clark brand ..My car doesn't have the real lamp. just a dummy cover..just popped it out and the hitch receiver is right there. When i have some time, i am going to scribe the dummy plate to match the hitch position, and put the plate back on. I also bought a 2 bike rack on Amazon made by Allen Sports .It all works perfect you dont need the wiring unless you are going to tow with it. The hitch part number is 11602 and the bike rack is 522rr Take a look at them and see what you think!
 
#20 ·
I just bought a Mini carrier on eBay for our R57 - great bit of kit and a lot cheaper than new. We have the S3ARA factory option on our car which includes the brackets, pop out covers on the bumper and power supply socket.

All good so far and the rack fits securely as intended, but no power getting to it. I made a lot of enquiries before finding this thread because I couldn't understand why there would be a factory option with a power supply that had no power!

I took the car to a local Mini dealer to ask - their tech hadn't seen the rack before let alone fitted one, and we established that although I had the S3ARA 'preparation' kit [that wording is important], it EXCLUDES actual power to it, and you need the extra control module.

It's more confusing than that because apparently this quirk only applies to early R57s - the later models include the control unit with the option. A very knowledgeable parts guy there showed me the info they have on the system that explains it. Good thing is that they think fitting the module is a DIY job - I've ordered one for £80 today and will see what happens when it turns up! The dealership were great - we even tested my carrier on a newer car to check it wasn't a dud as part of the elimination process.

Fingers crossed
 

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#21 ·
I have the same option on my 2009 R57 but have not fitted the rack. I have a feeling that it will need coded even when the module is installed. You could do that yourself using one of the home methods ISAP for example but I would get the dealer to do it.
 
#26 ·
Hi, new member and found this thread after having bought a 2009/59 R57 MCS in Pepper White. I also bought the bike rack off ebay and whilst it fits and I can plug it in, there's no power.

So, did anyone get this sorted and what do I need to buy? I have NCS Expert and so on, so could code it in myself, but have a good local BMW/Mini independent.

Thanks in advance!
 
#27 ·
I bought a control unit and had to take it into the Mini dealership workshop in the end to get it fitted and working. Overall cost about £300 in the end + what I paid for the rack.

Not cheap, but up and running it is a great solution.


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