Lets talk roof racks

[porsche4life]

What say you guys? I'm wanting a rack to haul my Mtb on my 2007 Corolla. I see quite a few options and am really not sure what to go with. Is it worth paying the extra $$ for the whisper bar? And also do I go for trays with for clamps, or trays that I leave the wheel on the bike?

Bike is a Trek Marlin 29er.

http://www.rackattack.com/roof-rack-fit-guide/roof-rack-fit-guide-results.asp

[Racerbvd]

I have a few of these, they are great..

[porsche4life]

Really liking the Yakima Whisperbar system with either a frontloader or forklift rack. I just can't decide on the wheel on v. wheel off.

[Laneco]

Personally, I prefer the wheel-off. It unnerves me to watch the wheel-on version go down the road wobbling a bit. They stay on fine, but they do wobble - alot of people will bungee the handlebars together which seems to stabilize.

I'm not a real fan of any clamp system to the downtube of my bike, that's my biggest hang up with the wheels-on system. I have to admit the advantage is to have the wheels (dirty after an MTB race) on the outside of the car.

For the fork mounts, I've used the wheel carrier on top. I wound up gettin rid of the roof mounted wheel carriers because when there is no bike on, they would make a weird tuning fork noise going down the road.

I've had all Yakima racks, so that may be a feature they've improved as my newest Yak-rack is 7 years old.

angela

[jwasbury]

I prefer fork mounts...same reason as Angela. They are rock solid.

This is about as much crap as you can load on a MINI:

[look 171]

One word for you. Yakima, and be done with it. you can drive with the bike on top like if you stole both. My Yakima is just like Byrons. It was on my Mr2 for years back when I was racing road bikes. Get the wind deflector shield. If not the wind noise will drive you nuts.

Oh, mount the fork to the rack. it is the most secure IMO.

[ODDJOB UNO]

ya know i just did this in july aug this year on my leer shell. leer supplies shells with thule racks. they are lockable/removeable. i got their catalog and then scammed a yakima from rei.


after looking at what thule and yakima had to offer. i went yakima all the way. much more versatile.


these are becoming a "HOT" item to steal as it obvious some bucks are involved. so buy some locks.


i got the ginormous load warrior rack. and all the goodies. takes 2 guys about 2 minutes to put on and LOCK. and about 1 minute to remove.


if ya have a pick em up, think about buying a STEP that goes over rear wheel to stand up on to move stuff and tie down stuff. about $40 bucks more and worth it.

[vash]

ok odd..you have me HELLA jealous,. those lamps are great. i have the same yakima and you have inspired me to light it up some. did you drill a hole in the topper to run the wires?

sid, i like front wheel off. very secure feeling. i also have a bad shoulder, the extra front wheel makes it a tad more unwieldy. the more i wrestle with it, the shoulder feels it.

[ODDJOB UNO]

Originally Posted by vash

ok odd..you have me HELLA jealous,. those lamps are great. i have the same yakima and you have inspired me to light it up some. did you drill a hole in the topper to run the wires?

sid, i like front wheel off. very secure feeling. i also have a bad shoulder, the extra front wheel makes it a tad more unwieldy. the more i wrestle with it, the shoulder feels it.

thats why i said go with yakima. they offer super brain dead easy light mounts, axe/shovel mounts/spare tire mounts/gas can mounts blah blah.


rei usually carries most of the items. if they dont then order it under "yakima rack parts accessories."


we have some other racks over the years for baja rigs. either home fabbed or purchased. both really heavy and permanent.


the thing about these how ya load them. i started our quest journey with a bunch of crap in a waterproof box. well after needing the crap camping and watching gas mileage suffer. i reconfigured all the crap and stuffed the box inside the shell as we needed crap daily for camping. after getting rid of the "brick" my gas mileage went back up to normal.


so its all how ya pack 'em.



leave crap up there ya might need. the only crap i left up there was crap if stolen wasnt going to break the bank and camp chairs which were easy on and off. water jugs camp chairs grill.............ya know CRAP!



it adds a hell of alot of room to either a bed or a shell for CRAP! and wez gotta a LOT OF CRAP when we go on a roadtrip/hunting/fishing/baja etc.



whats great is how LIGHT they are. 2 guys on and off in minutes like i said. right now i yanked the rack and the crossbars off so i can go thru the car wash.............TOO SIMPLE HUH?

[scottmandue]

Don't want to hijack but anyone using the hanging off the trunk type? (I drive a sedan)

[ODDJOB UNO]

p.s. after our 4000 mile epic quest thru the western rockies, i yanked the hellas from the position you see in pic. and welded tabs to front sides and mounted lights same HEIGHT as wind deflector to CLEARANCE low tree branches and ..............MY GLUE LAM IN MY CARPORT!


those lil rally 4000's are wayyyyyy KOOL ripping down some dark dusty dirt road at night. as we just did this past weekend in the "happy hunting " grounds up in williams az. scouting deer-skis.



and the best part......................wez aint ILLEGAL SPOTLIGHTING with them on. if ya get caught with a hand held spotlight and a FIREARM loaded or unloaded, azgfd considers it "ILLEGAL SPOTLIGHTING" and thats a really really REALLY BAD JU JU THING to get caught for.



everybody and i mean EVERYBODY on PPOT, OVERDRIVES THEIR LIGHTS all the time. by ADDING LUMENS you no longer OVERDRIVE YER LIGHTS unless of course yer racing in baja.



worth every damn penny and then some as far as the safety aspect is concerned.



just imagine buzzing along at 35-50 mph on a windy dirt road in the middle of BFE and suddenly you spy lil green eyes along side of road......................OMFG! MOO COWS or ELK or DEER or BURROS or HORSEYS and ya grab some brakes and life is good...............instead of slamming into them(as they usually spook and jump out at ya).


ask me how i know this

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Don't want to hijack but anyone using the hanging off the trunk type? (I drive a sedan)

I had a grabber rack (think I still have it) that worked on my 944, but I'm not really a fan of trunk mount racks.. A shop I worked in had brackets welded up that mounted to the rear bumper so you could use a trailer hitch mount.

[Tim Hancock]

When I was in college I simply built my own ski/bike/kayak racks. In later years I bought generic cheap cargo bars and simply built mount clips to fit my various cars (still have them). Most recently I bought a clearance sale Barcrafter ski rack that I then made mount clips for my old Audi A6 and later my wife's current 330.

These things are not rocket science in their simplest functional forms although I do think some of the fancy modern rack systems are cool.... I just am too cheap to buy something fancy that I could easily make myself.

[teenerted1]

been using Yakima racks for 25+yrs in fact most of my various mounts are around 20-25yrs old and still working fine. only have bent one crossbar driving a bike into the garage 20yrs ago. the bike mounts never budged. have replaced a few of the fork skewers over the years. the old boxy ski mount still works fine and the lock is still funtioning so long as you lube the slot a couple times a season.

the newest item in my yakima quiver are some adaptors to mount accesories to my factory cross bars on the subbie.

i also bought longer cross bars so that i could cram more stuff up on the roof. have made multiple 1500+mile trips with a kayak 6pairs of skis and 2 bikes 4 spare wheels and never lost a thing up there.

hint: if you have more than two bikes up top, mount them back to front and the h-bars will stay out of eachother's way and you can cram more up there.

[cantdrv55]

You can buy used Yakima crossbars, landing gear and bike trays with core locks so cheap on craigslist. So versatile and durable. You can't go wrong unless you don't do your homework on proper sizing. Go to yakima.com, look up your car, write down the model names and numbers of the rack and accessories then do your shopping on craigslist. I think I outfitted my Ford Escape with crossbars, two bike trays with locks for less than $150.

[porsche4life]

Looked at a used rack saturday. Rack was several years old, seriously sunfaded, and the skewers didn't move freely. Best he would do was 210, and it didn't have the right clips for my car...

[Scooter]

I have always been a fan of Yakima racks, but Thule is perfectly fine as well. I also prefer the fork mount over the upright position. It just seems very unstable looking with the full bike upright.

Can't tell you why I have this pic, but I like it:

[steve911]

Originally Posted by NotaBRG

Of what I have/have used, I like this the best:

+1 on this setup.

Been using 4 of these on my Volvo wagon(s) for years to haul our bikes from SF to Sunriver (central OR) - 465 miles. Nary a problem. Alternate front/back and off we go. Rock solid at 80 miles an hour up I5.

[porsche4life]

YAKIMA ROOF MOUNT BIKE RACK

What do you guys think of this setup? I would need new clips.

How much should I offer?

[85eurocarrera]

Do you use a garage? If so....it will happen.

Mine is similar to racerbvd's. I even extended the rear posts to level off the trays like his. I have since removed them.

My next rack will be a nice hitch mount.