what is the best option for a bike rack

for the 2005 sedan? yakima/ thule etc.?

I've got a Thule and like it a lot. I don't recall the exact model but they're all very similar...a bar, the tray for the bike, a wheel holder, snowboard rack, the aero feet and a fit kit for the LGT. I got most of it on ebay for really cheap and then just bought the fit kit direct from a Thule dealer.

Chris

i have a yakima ski kit for the roof. Really can't go wrong with either Thule or Yakima. The biggest difference will be the type of bar. Yakima is round, the Thule is more square/rectangle. They both make good products and enough attachments to put anything you want on it.

 

I ended up with yakima because the cross bars, ski rack, etc all came from my girlfriend's car. I got lucky that it was all the same size. All i needed to do was buy the feet kit.

I use a Saris roof rack with two bike trays. For the money I would rather have bought a Thule or Yakima. It seemed nice when I bought it but it fell apart.

 

The only complaints I have heard is the thule has a ton of wind noise. Other than that they are pretty nice.

What are the differences between the rack that holds the entire bike vs. the one where the front wheel is held separately? Unless I am missing something, the former seems like a better choice. I've only had trunk-mounted racks before, but I'm going to need some roof-mounted ones for the wagon.

I think that just depends on user preference. I prefer to remove the front wheel because the bike is secured by the front fork. It's a snug fit and you can lock it with a key for theft reasons.

 

The wagons have an advantage because you already have the factory roof mounts. All you need to buy is the adapters for the load bars and bike trays. This saves you money and does less damage to the paint on your roof.

I did not want a roof rack like I had on my previous car so I went with a 1.25 hitch. I bought a thule 4 bike hitch rack and then a snowboard/ski attachment that attaches to the bike rack. It all locks up and I can take the hitch off when I am not transporting anything.

Which hitch is this and how easy is it to take off?

I prefer to remove the front wheel because the bike is secured by the front fork. It's a snug fit and you can lock it with a key for theft reasons.

Yhatzee! It has been my experience that the SRL mounts (Yakima anyway) are a better option. They are a sturdier mounting system, easier to lock down, and also decrease wind noise and vertical clearance.

 

The mounts that attach to the frame of the bike leaving both wheels on are for people who don't want to or can't remove their front wheel. It also makes the bike harder to put on/take off the roof because it sits fully upright.

Love my Yami.......Of course its not on this car anymore, it's moved over to the SpecB but I don't have any pics of that yet.

 

 

More pics: http://www.pimpmyauto.com/pic_bikeracks.htm

scans-how long did you keep the rack on at a time? and did anything get damaged?

The hitch rack I bought was this: (I cannot remove the hitch just the rack itself hope there was no confusion from my previous post)

 

http://www.orsracksdirect.com/thule-995xt-expressway-hitch-bike-rack.html

 

 

and the snowboard attachment / ski

 

http://www.orsracksdirect.com/thule-987xt-hitch-ski-rack.html

 

The bottom bolts on to the hitch so you can then keep the wrench in the car and take it off in 5 minutes easily. I have been putting it on the day I leave to go snowboarding and then I take if off when I get home since I need the room in the garage in front of the car.

I never like Thule racks and I've used to work at bike shops that sold both Thule and Yakima. Thule does have proprietary racks for certain cars which fits really nicely, but it's all one unit and you can't use it anywhere else. Thule's rack for the LGT wagon is that way, you can't even reuse the crossbars if you change cars. Round bars are also better in that the roofline of a car is not flat. With rectangular bars, it puts more stress on the roof and rack since you are trying to attach flat accessories onto two surfaces that are not colinear.

 

Yakima bike racks are much better built than the Thule. I won't go into details, but if you look at a Yakima Steelhead vs. Thule Velo Vice, you'll see the difference.

 

Fork mount is generally prefered unless you can't remove the front wheel like on certain DH bikes. Yakima used to have one that anchors the two wheels and the crank arm, but it's not on their webpage anymore. They do have another one that secures the bike by the front wheel. The standard racks that hold onto the downtube have many disadvantages. They don't work well with dual suspension mountain bikes because the downtube isn't always there. They don't work well with odd shape tubing and you definitely don't want to clamp onto really thin wall tubing or composite tubing.

 

Hitch mounted bike racks also have their disadvantages. Most of them hole the bikes by the top tube. Often it will wear through the paint on the top tubes which is why most people will put a towel there. Dual suspension bikes have top tubes in funny places which makes it more difficult to place on the rack. There are attachments you can buy to make a virtual top tube. They also pack the bikes very tightly together which makes it more difficult to get it just right so everything fits on the rack. Unless you put towels between each bike, odds are you will scratch the paint somewhere on each bike. Plus they can sway a little which doesn't help with the scratching.

scans-how long did you keep the rack on at a time? and did anything get damaged?

 

Actually, never very long, it's so easy to pop on and off. I just put some hangers in my garage and hang the rack up. Usually, I'd put it on, go for the ride, come home clean the bikes pop the rack off and hang it up. The longest I left it on was prob a week. Def no damage.

 

If you are worried some members came up with a great idea. Get a few pieces of the clear bra stuff, cut them to the size of the feet of the rack, that way nothing will ever happen.......although as long as the feet are clean I don't see anything ever happening.....

I never like Thule racks and I've used to work at bike shops that sold both Thule and Yakima.

Yakima bike racks are much better built than the Thule. I won't go into details, but if you look at a Yakima Steelhead vs. Thule Velo Vice, you'll see the difference.

 

Totally disagree. I've had nothing but bad experiences with Yakima. Thule's products are far superior.

 

Thule is slightly more expensive than Yakima, but it lasts twice as long. I've had Thule gear on two cars now, and have never had a problem.

 

As far as your claim about the difference between the Steelhead and the Velo Vice, I'd love to hear your explanation.

 

I wholeheartedly recommend Thule, and simply woudn't trust my bikes or skiis/snowboard on Yakima gear.

I've never used the Yakima rack on my wfie's wago for a bike but it does well for Snowboards. I have the Thule Velo Vice on the LGT and have had no problems with it. My bike always seems very securely held in place.

 

Chris

I have the Thule 450 to adapt to my OBXT's rack but they have fitments for the flush rack on the LGT Wagons as well. The Thule V2 is by far the best rack bike mount I've owned and their wheelfork with the slotted quick release is pure genius!

Worked at many a bike shops and a few REI's over the years. Usually, bike guys like Yakima, ski/board guys like Thule. I like Yakima products better. But, that is mostly based on having had good luck with them in the past, and I think they look better. Thule is a fine product, but who likes the Swedish anyways? (Ok, maybe the blonde ones...) Only damage I have encountered with the roof rack on a sedan is the rain gutter/door jam area the towers attach to. Mine are slightly bent now, and have small scratches on them. I never left it on more then a week on two, and did not tighten them down NEARLY as much as the instructions tell you to, just tight enough to be solid. Why the hell Subaru doesn't have a rack intergration system on their cars like BMW and Porsche is beyond me.

Velo Vice is mostly plastic, though they do offer one now that has mostly metal parts. The clamping method sucks. One of the guys I used to work with has 4 of those on his Outback and they will pop loose unless you have the lock cores to secure it. If you want to move the trays around, you will need a allen wrench to loosen the bolt at the front. Thule doesn't offer a lock core to secure the wing nuts on the back. I'm also not fond of all that plastic oxidizing and turning white over time, or the silver paint.

 

Steelhead is mostly steel and aluminum. There is one part in the head unit that is plastic. I've never had any problems my Yakima stuff. I even trust my life with the Steelhead. Back in my crazier days, I have ridden on my Steelhead on a moving car. I've also had bikes on the roof while doing over 100 mph. In general Yakima accessories are better thought out and better made. BTW, Subaru rack accessories are made by Yakima. The one thing that you shouldn't get is the front wheel carriers which tend to rotate due to the round cross bars. That's the only disadvantage of round cross bars. If you have ever seen the aftermath of someone driving into a garage with bikes on top, you will know why round bars are better than rectangular.

 

If you had a Volkswagen, then I can see why you had problems with Yakima. In my experience, Volkswagen works with Thule to design the car to be incompaitable with Yakima. That's what I have always told customers, if they drive a Volkswagen, get Thule. In the past Thule had designed some special racks for Volkswagen that fit into a groove that only Thule racks can use. There are certain cars that Thule does fit better than Yakima.

The thule I priced out today was $320

 

thats $30 less than my 05 mojave I just bought.

WAAAAAAAAAAY to expensive.

Im gonna have to though when I get my Kayak this summer though.

The thule I priced out today was $320

 

thats $30 less than my 05 mojave I just bought.

 

WAAAAAAAAAAY to expensive.

 

Im gonna have to though when I get my Kayak this summer though.

 

My bike fits inside of my wagon.

Nice new BTW

My bike fits inside of my wagon.

Nice new BTW

thanks!

 

If I take the front wheel off it will fit in the back of my car. thats not practical though.

 

I will eventually get a roof rack.

For a hitch mount, I have a sportworks rack that is great. No removing wheels, doesn't matter how the frame is shaped, no scratches or dents to the bikes, and takes about 15 seconds to put a bike in it or remove it. It's now sold by Thule:

 

http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/images/products/916.jpg

 

The downside, $360 to hold 2 bikes.

 

I have Yakima racks for both my cars- they're well made and quite strong. You can mount Yakima stuff to Thule racks, but you can't mount Thule stuff to Yakima racks. (with the exception of cargo boxes)

 

I think Thule makes a good product too- just no experience with them on the LGT.

 

tom

how much for the hitch?

I use a hitch rack b/c it doesn't touch the paint anywhere. I made a removable hitch like so...

http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17503