Roof rack idea...

[Dallas4u]

Ok, I know many of you have asked around with dealers, manufacturers, and retail shops, coming to the conclusion that no other towers will work with the OEM rails except for the ones designed for the VX by Yakima.

My nextdoor neighbor (a good friend of mine) is the service manager over skiing, snowboarding, and mountain bikiing for GI Joes in Oregon. He had a spare Yakima 1A raingutter tower that we decided to test on the rail to see how it sat... low and behold it fit just fine! Now, we only tried one and didn't get a chance to set up two with the crossbar, so I'm not sure if the entire setup will work.

Anyway, I'm trying to get a whole rack to test-fit to see if I can get this setup to fit properly. If so, this may be a much more widely available, much cheaper option to consider. I will keep everyone posted.

[Maverick]

now that would be great!! Ive been considering picking up a rack, but for the limited amount id use it, it doesnt seem very "cost effective." looking forward to seeing your test results...;Dy;

[Dallas4u]

Alright... all the research I did was just order a complete rack, throw it on, and see what the hell would happen.

Guess what???



http://home.comcast.net/~adam.briner/Rack1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~adam.briner/Rack2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~adam.briner/Rack3.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~adam.briner/Rack4.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~adam.briner/Rack5.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~adam.briner/Rack6.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~adam.briner/Rack7.jpg



Ehhh... $45, brand new off of Ebay. Looks pretty good if you ask me! I need to buy the locks, but for that price, I AIN'T COMPLAINING!!!

Anyway, this is the Thule 324 complete rack w/50" bars. Yakima 1A raingutter towers work as well, but this was a steal of a deal. The cheapest I could find for the Yakima complete raingutter rack online from a retailer was $166.

[powered by isuzu]

SWEET :thumbup:

[NC_VX]

It looks tall, is it tall? I appreciate you making the effort to get that to work. I have bought a lot of Yakima accessories so I think I will try that fit. How much taller is it then the stock bars?

Thanks for the work.

[Dallas4u]

Thule states 5" of clearance from raingutter to bar, so I would assume that's about right... I'll try and remember to measure tonight when I get home.

[NC_VX]

thanks, I'll measure mine too and compare...

[crager34]

Not sure where your going with that, but if it happens to be a fork mount bike rack, I have the answer WITH the VX cross bars. My gallery has some pics.

[NC_VX]

I think I will go with that design, I just wanted the fork mounted bike rack!!! Sweet!

[Dallas4u]

Actually, I'm thinking either a snowboard rack, or a basket, or possibly both. I think a bike rack ontop of the VX is too tall for easy on and off... well, at least for my 50lb. downhill'er. My neighbor has a hitch-mounted swing away bike carrier that would be perfect.

That is the way I would go, but that is my opinion...

[NC_VX]

Dallas..

I've got the basket now with the snowboard and biking stuff... I ride a p2 hucking bike, so I know what you mean, using the BOA works for me, but I enjoy having the basket off, so I actually want to have both options, rack for when I take trips and the quick fork mount for local... the thing is, if i have my trunk box out and my seats folded up, the p2 (I ride a small even though I am 5'11" so I can fly further and I do a little trials crap too) fits perffectly! But what about when I got a buddy who wants to ride too? I don't know!

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=2337&papass=&sort=4

[Dallas4u]

True. I know the bike carrier my neighbor has is a 4 biker. We've put my BigHit DH and two other beefy bikes on there with no problem. You just can't go wrong with a bike carrier, and the swing away version can swing either left or right (right for our left swinging tailgate).

There is no WAY I would be able to fit the BigHit in the back with the seat folded up, but I did put my Giant XTC NRS1 back there when I had it.

[VCAMILO]

I have the same setup with the Yakima raingutter towers. The only reason I used them its because it was FREE. They came out of a 1989 Ford Ranger that I used to own. ;Db; But I dont used them all the time...

[Daver]

Cool deal. It'd be nice if they were lower, but I bet they give you better clearance for a spoiler sunroof than the stock wingbars/towers do. I notice my missing headroof from my slide-in roof every time I get in the truck. Only got the slide-in because of the rack, too... :(

As far as I know, http://www.rackwarehouse.com still has wingbars available, but I don't know if they're as cheap as they used to be. I got my 58" wingbars from them for about $50 I think.

In my case I sometimes carry a spare and two bicycles on the roof, and I can definitely feel the weight in corners, so the lower the better, IMHO. Not sure an inch really makes that much difference, but I also have issues getting the bicycles off my roof already anyway... :)

It's cool to be seeing different solutions to old problems.

-Daver