I need a roof rack for snowboards... does anyone have any recommendations outside of Thule or Yakima? Thanks in advance.

 

marblekit,
i love the idea of having a roof rack for snowboards, but wouldn't that reduce the aerodynamic leading to lower mpg?

fellow snowboarder

 

I know Saris makes one. But, it is along the lines of Thule and Yakima. What are you thinking about? Hitch mounted? I know the makes ones that go on the side of your door or something like that, but for skiies...
http://www.prolineracks.com/barrecra...ski-racks.html

 

Actually, I would want one I could remove. I only want one for the snowboarding trips... I know it hurts FE. Any recommendations (pics too) would be appreciated!

 

Yakima and Thule are probably the best choices, but they are both on the expensive side. You might try Ebay for used towers since they will work on most cars. We had a Yakima on the old car and bought new clips for the HCH--only to find out we need a wider bar than the old car used so I don't have any pictures. I think we're going to wait until our next road trip to buy wider bars...

The Yakima will take you 30 minutes or so to set up initially, but once it's done, you should be able to take it on and off in under 5 minutes (assuming you leave the snowboard mounts on the bars). I would guess that the Thule system would be about the same. Plan on getting the fairing since apparently wind noise is a bit of an issue in HCHs with racks on.

 

I would like to be able to transport a single pair of skis and am trying to determine if a roof rack is the best choice. Does the five minute removal time refer to removing the bars FROM the towers, or the bars AND the towers? How ofter would it be practical to remove the towers? (ie once per week, once per season). And finally, do I have to worry about the towers damaging the car body and/or paint? Thanks.

 

The towers have a cam connected to a clip that locks the rack to your roof. It would be the fastest to pull the whole thing off your car since pulling just the ski mounts would take about as long as removing the whole rack. Pulling the towers/bars/ski mount off would involve:
* opening all four doors
* unlocking the (optional) key locks that lock the rack to the roof (x4)
* undoing the cam levers on the front two and pulling the tower/bar/ski mount off
* undoing the cam levers on the rear two and pulling the tower/bar/ski mount off

Putting it back on would be the same in reverse. You would have to know about where the feet go in relation to the door openings but once you have done it a few times, that should be easy. It would be feasable to remove your rack after every use if you are just using it for skis and had an easy place to store it. If you use bike trays that go between the two bars, it would involve more time. The only time I've ever removed a rack is when I've sold a car, but I use it all year round with bikes and skis.

Every time you do remove/re-attach the rack, you run a little risk of dropping the rack on the roof and scratching it a little, but that shouldn't be a big deal if you're careful. Otherwise, the rack shouldn't do any damage--it sits on little rubber feet and locks on with clips specifically designed for your car.

 

I'd say to look for a trunk-mounted one to lessen the FE impact. The snowboard may give a spoiler effect as well.

 

Interesting.... I thought about using one of those trunk-mounted bike racks and just attach my boards to that.... any danger in doing something like this? As long as it is safe why not? Anyone else tried this?