sup FF members,

well my birthday is coming up this sunday and my girlfriend said shes going to buy me a bike rack for my car ...but i have no clue what each part is called and what brand to get...i want either a yakima or thule, but which one.

i want 2 bars going across my car and 2 going back...so what are each pieces called and someone told me something about locks ?

if someone could echumacate (educate lol) me on this i would be very thankful.

 

if no one chimes in, go to REI or sport chalet...they should know for roof rack setup.

where abouts in the desert do you live? I'm out in henderson semi-often.

 

Go to Yakima.com and "outfit my car". It'll give you a listing of every part you'll need.

I've had both Yakima & Thule and liked them both. Personally, i'm not sure which one I'm going to try and adapt to the fit (I have both racks still) but I may try the thule as the howling of the bars were pretty annoying when driving on the Yakima.

~SB

 

Yep skip the rear bumper rack. Bumper skin to weak to support weight,and if you have a Sport, the spoiler will break off with the weight of bikes with top straps.I put mine inside with the seats down,works great,better security locked inside. Have top rack for canoes and accessories,but just quicker and easier to put bike inside. There was a picture on this site of a bracket someone made that allowed 2 bikes upright ,facing rearward with forks attached to the bracket. Very inventive,and the route I would go if I needed to carry 2 bikes.Roof is way to go if carrying 2-3 bikes,but be prepared to spend some money for risers, clips,rails,and bike attachments.

PaFitter

 

Yakima and thule are both very good...i've got yakima and have had yakima on and off all my cars for the last 20 years or so. i've got so much spare parts that all i had to do for the fit was to get new clips and that was it. the beauty of the yakima system for the fit is that once you get the thing put together and on the car.....on and off for the whole thing takes about 1 minute. when i go to the dealer for their el cheapo car wash (they won't let me run through wth the rack on) i can whip off the complete system and sit it up against a wall, run car through wash, re-install the rack adn off i go.

for yakima you will need:
-4 q towers
-4 q99 clips
-2 48" crossbars

you can find the q towers and clips on ebay fairly cheap and also go to campmor for the q towers, usually very cheap. the crossbars...look on craigslist or just go to a bike shop, they are big adn would be a pain to ship. if you have any questions, feel free to pm me. i currently carry two bikes, kayaks, ski's, and a skybox 16 from yakima is due in this wk.

 

I have used Thule racks for the past 14 years and never had an issue with them.

I would suggest going with a bar at least 52 inches long. Reason being is that if you ever need to buy a sheet (or more) of plywood, you can't strap that 48 inch wide wood down on a 48 inch long bar (or even on a 50 inch bar, as I found out the hard way).

The standard sizes for Thule cross bars are 50inch, 58in and 65in. I bought 58inch bars for my Fit. Good news is that you can pop off the end caps and cut them down to a custom size if you want to ( I am going to cut mine back to 55inch.) This will give you what you need to carry home the supplies needed for the occasional home project.

If you have a family, the longer bars also give you room to put both a car topper and bike on top of your car. Need to be careful not to overload it, but a wife and kid in the car makes for a tight fit going on vacation, and a roof rack makes life WAY easier.

You are still in GF mode, so may not apply. But I have ad a roof rack on every car I have owned, and would not own a car that did not have one these days.

Zach

 

You can strap down a 48" piece of plywood onto a shorter bar, you just need to put the tie-down straps or ropes starting underneath, on the vertical part not the crossbar, then go out and around and up. Hard to describe but it's not complicated to do.

That said, I'd go with the longest bar that doesn't stick out farther than the width of the car- if it does, somebody's gonna crash into it or hit his head walking.

 

I was thinking of going with a Thule one. What are the parts called if I want 2 bars going across and 2 going back from the front and I also want that front frame that says Thule.

 

Me and 2 other fits live on the southwest side.

 

its called a Fairing for the front frame and you should get a basket

 

of note, the Fairing will decrease your fuel economy by 2-4mpg, especially as you get up to higher speeds. The smaller the engine, the more impact. I ran a fairing for about 1 year on my 93 integra, and for 2 years on my 00 integra GS-R and the economy dropped on both by the same amount. (one was a thule rack, one was a Yakima). I then ran without a fairing but added "wind-jammers" to the yakima to cut down on noise (what the fairing is useful for) and my economy went back up to what it was without the roof rack. even on the car. I got better mileage with 2 bikes on the roof(no fairing) than with just the fairing alone (no bikes).

also of note, the Fairing does look great on the car though.

~SB

 

op i hope you have bikes and not getting a rack just to be hip

 

Yeah haha

 

yes i do have a bike =] dont ride it to often though cause right now too cold.

 

I gotta ask... how cold is it in Las Vegas right now.

Todays' forcast... Sunny, with a high of 18F expected.

it's balmy here.

Reminds me though... I need to get the clips for my rack so I can throw it on the fit and take the atomics(skis), or the Jekyll(Cannondale) out.

~SB

 

lets go biking at red rock


your driving

 

your such a fag dude hahaha...im not gettin my bike rack til like the end of this month....and no yo u can drive cause your car is way cleaner than mines =]

 

uhh its about like 50s right now during day and afternoon....when night comes its like 40 with some wind...something like that haha.