Fabbri Gringo Ski and Bike Rack Review

[LJGreg]

I was looking for a Bike and Ski rack for my Jeep that didn't require me to put on a trailer hitch. I wanted something that I could easily mount to my spare tire and take off when not in use. I considered both the Yakima and Thule options but didn't like the way it the ski carriers looked. After some research I came across the Fabbri Gringo Ski & Bici. Being made in Italy with no North American retailers I wasn't able to find many in depth pictures or reviews, so i thought I would write it up here.

The Gringo is a welded aluminum frame that sits on top of the spare tire and uses plastic covered cables to loop around the tire and cinch tight using their quick lever locking assembly. I have my spare tire very tight against my morryde but i was still able to snake the extension cables through. Once it was cinched, the frame sits very tight agains the tire.

Fabbri referred me to https://www.autoricambisanmauro.it and confirmed they would ship to Canada. The ski rack cost me 331.69€, the bike attachment was 137.25€ and shipping and VAT was a whopping 129€. All in this was close to $1000 CAD. The Yakima solution would have cost $710 - and so far the Fabbri looks and feels far better.

I ordered on January 27 and received the packages from DHL on February 1st. That is insanely fast seeing as it was shipped from Italy and went via Germany, Iceland and Cincinnati!

Here is the backside. The square tube extensions sit on top of the spare tire and the cables run down the back side.

Here is the cinching mechanism.

The cables included with the rack were not long enough for my 35" tire so I had to purchase their 40cm extensions and weave them together following their instructions.

The ski rack can hold four pairs of skis. The top door swings open and there are four plastic and rubber tensioners that hold them tight. On the bottom are simple bungee straps. I found once I had the skis in, they didn't move at all.

More to come as I still need to install the bike rack.

 

[mojay]

Did you have success with it and would you recomend it?

 

[LJGreg]

The ski rack is awesome and i definately recommened it. I'm not too impressed with the bike rack however so haven't really been using it. It is a little to flimsy and I don't trust how how it is put together with rivets.

 

[mojay]

Thank you. I thought of going with the frame mounted roof rack system. I'm just not sure I want that to be on there all the time. And every other option is too expensive between getting a hitch installed the hitch rack and then the ski carrier

 

[phoebs610]

Hey there, I just bought this and realized you don't have a camera on the back of your tire... do you think the rack will still fit with the camera? I know that it will block the view and that's ok but I don't want to have to dismantle the camera.

 

[LJGreg]

I sometimes put it on my Jeep JL as well. I need to remove the camera cover and put shims to push it out an inch. I've done pretty long road trips that way and it doesn't move an inch.

 

[GoldenGorilla]

I have an old OR Fab swing out tire carrier. It holds 2 jerry cans between the tire carrier and body. I've been trying to figure out or make a good solution to make or buy a carrier for skis to fit inside the space where the jerry cans go. This has good potential. Would you happen to have the depth of the rack from the back of the frame where it touches the tire to the front of the frame where it says Gringo?

I rarely use this for ski trips. Both our cars are much better on snow than the TJ in any situation where the interstate isn't closed, but it would be nice to have the option of 2 people with the skis out back.

 

[phoebs610]

I sometimes put it on my Jeep JL as well. I need to remove the camera cover and put shims to push it out an inch. I've done pretty long road trips that way and it doesn't move an inch.

Would you be open to taking a photo of what you mean so I understand where the shims go / how big they are, etc? It literally arrived today and right now it's laying on the plastic covering of the camera instead of flat against the tire (and the cables are too short to cross behind the tire). Ugh! Do you have extension cables? If so, where did you get them?

 

[LJGreg]

Would you happen to have the depth of the rack from the back of the frame where it touches the tire to the front of the frame where it says Gringo?

It is 10" from the back to the front.

 

[LJGreg]

Would you be open to taking a photo of what you mean so I understand where the shims go / how big they are, etc? It literally arrived today and right now it's laying on the plastic covering of the camera instead of flat against the tire (and the cables are too short to cross behind the tire). Ugh! Do you have extension cables? If so, where did you get them?

Yes I had to use the extension cables. The ones for the 35" tires are almost too long for the JL so you need to play around with crossing them. I bought them from the same retailer at the time I bought the rack. You could easily make some up with basic cable and crimps.



These are the exact shims that I am using.

https://www.rockler.com/bench-cookie-plus-work-grippers-4pack#tab-label-description

As i mentioned, you first need to take off the plastic camera cover.



I then shim all four corners where it touches the tire.



It then gives me good clearance from the camera to the back.