Rear bumper

[scottz]

Anyone else with the legacy edition have concerns about not having a rear bumper? There is absolutely no protection on the rear of this thing. A little bump by someone in a Honda will cause thousands of dollars in fiberglass damage.

I know the typical RV rear bumper is not much, but at least it might help if you back into a pole or some other minor bump.

[Butch & Kathy]

I have a legacy also and hate the little flimsy 1 1/4” hitch they put on it. Can’t reliably carry bikes back there. I saw someone on the forum had a real hitch made and installed. What I would like to do is have a bumper and bike carrier platform like they put on the HC.

[1retired06]

Have never had a rear bumper on any of our Montana units. Always a molded back cap. Never been an issue for us, nobody has rear ended us, and we have not backed into anything. Hopefully that continues.

[Eagleback]

We have the 2014 331RLT mountaineer and its a flat back with a bumper, We love it, because we have been bumped by a motorcycle on the road and glad we had it.

[jeffba]

They did away with the platform on the HC also
Not too worried about a Honda hitting me-- they will go right underneath me.

Would have preferred to have the bumper and platform.

[dieselguy]

3 Montanas ... all 3 molded rear cap with no sewer tube bumper ... no damage in 14 years. If you were concerned, why did you go with the Legacy Package?

[DQDick]

Having backed into a pole with the truck and having seen the bumper on our 2017 I can tell you that the Montana bumper will only contribute to the damage not even slow anything down.

[scottz]

Originally Posted by dieselguy

3 Montanas ... all 3 molded rear cap with no sewer tube bumper ... no damage in 14 years. If you were concerned, why did you go with the Legacy Package?

Not a deal killer, just got me thinking. I guess I didn't know that all the Montana's have a fiberglass rear cap and no bumper.

Thanks for the info.

[rmthelen]

Originally Posted by scottz

Not a deal killer, just got me thinking. I guess I didn't know that all the Montana's have a fiberglass rear cap and no bumper.

Thanks for the info.

I believe that it was just in the past 2 years Montana started building without the rear cap and started building with a flat surface and a bumper on a Montana line. To get the fiberglass cap on current models, you need to upgrade to the Legacy package.

[Recumbent]

The only reason for the rear fiberglass cap is to make the Montana look more like the back of some motorhomes, can we say marketing. When it comes to function, the flat back is just as good. We have had the Mountaineer with flat back and Montana with molded fiberglass back, and there is no difference in function, just a sales feature that attracts some buyers.

[Recumbent]

Now for the rear bumper, we had a Mountaineer and it came with a rear bumper, and we liked it. It was a square tube for holding sewer hose with end caps. When we bought our 2013 Montana it came with no bumper, but we added one with a 2 inch receiver hitch. Kurt hitch and welding totaled $500. Now we carry two recumbent trikes attached to the bumper on a trike rack, similar to bike rack only bigger. We hear assertions of liability issues, but never in 7 years have we ever met a person that has had one and we have attended several Rallies both regional and nationals so we should know. If you need a bumper then add one, and enjoy the extra feature.

[bigred715]

We have a 2010 3000RK with molded cap and the 1 1/4 hitch which we put a Swagman 2 bike carrier on. Never have had a problem with the bikes being back there on some very rough roads across the U.S. and 5 trips to Arizona from Oregon.