sometimes Craigslist is just great :)

I've been watching Craigslist for a roof rack for bikes recently and been waiting for the right deal to pop up... looking for a THULE or Yakima with a few mounts for bikes... it's for my volvo wagon so It has rain gutters which makes it even easier to find... being in Houston deals pop up all the time but often times those deals are over 1 1/2 hrs away... so last week one finally popped up that was only about 30 min drive...

ran to pick it up and scored it for $55 with two normal tray mounts and an older tandem mount. I also picked up an old style short tray mount off ebay that came with a few rear wheel straps and an extra short tray that I can use to make the tandem work with my MTB...

total case outlay less than a low/mid level trunk rack for a system that bought today would cost over $900

need to toss on the other rack for my daughters bike... and the sons 20" bike will still fit nicely in the trunk...

just thought I'd show off :)... always loved wagons with roof racks

Awesome! Internet high five. Good deals to be had for sure. Nice moosemobile too!

Since we're bragging, I outfitted my IS with yakima racks (used) qclips (new) inno/bvg snowboard attachment (new) thule cargo carrier (used) for ~$140 outlay including new replacement keys from manufacturer. Then I sold the kayak stuff that came with the racks for ~$100 after fees and shipping on ebay.

great buy... I could have done better had I waited it out a bit... and i'm happy so thats whats important :) lol

those rooftop cargo carriers have intrigued me... few weeks back when driving to FL i noticed a lot of smaller cars running them... we were in a rental kia soul, not bad for an appliance but a bit limited on cargo space for the 4 of us...add a cargo box and that changes all that, from what I understand the new ones aren't to bad for MPG either...

growing up our family had a Plymouth horizon and we used a cartop carrier for road trips, made owning a sub compact doable... I think we may go that route with our next car... keeping my eyes open on CL for a good deal

Per. Fect.

Awesome! Those things are big bucks new...

My sister's family swears by a cargo box on their Highlander. With 4 people (granted, 2 are kids) and 2 dogs plus skis/snowboards/etc I'm pretty sure it's the only way they can fit everything anyway.

Great deal I have been looking at that stuff, way more than I thought it would be.

Why are the roof style like that more preferred over the style that mounts to the back of the car? Or the other roof style that keeps the front wheel on?

Yeah, I did the same. I've used the same Thule rack on my E30 and now my Trooper; it works great! Heck, I sleep on the darn thing.

I want a rack for the mx6 so bad.

Tom Suddard wrote: Yeah, I did the same. I've used the same Thule rack on my E30 and now my Trooper; it works great! Heck, I sleep on the darn thing.

funny thing about thule... I had one about 10 years ago... great system... but I just last week discovered i'd been pronouncing it wrong all these years... apparently its Too-Lee

jere wrote: Great deal I have been looking at that stuff, way more than I thought it would be. Why are the roof style like that more preferred over the style that mounts to the back of the car? Or the other roof style that keeps the front wheel on?

I Prefer the clamp type for the wheel as they are cheaper ;-)...

I've noticed many riders have moved away from the roof racks though because with SUV's it just puts them so high up, also most SUV's come with 2" hitches which is required for the good hitch mounts... the hitch mounts also are better for MPG as the bikes tuck behind the car and don't cause all the drag that they do up on top of the car... but you can carry plenty of bikes up top

I suppose up top is less problematic about dealing with the tail gate/trunk

one thing that certainly is a concern with roof mounts is a garage or low overhangs (this pic makes me wince)

Nice snag. I have two roof racks at present one Yakima for gutters on my Van and one for gutterless cars that is a thule copy-cat best I can tell. Both sourced from thrift stores for pennies on the dollar.

I still have those parts on Mongo, will you be at the Mitty this year?

nope... but I think it's a good time to look into transport lol... thanks for the reminder

thanks aussi

Nice. I love the way roof racks look on a lot of vehicles, but I find my hitch mount rack much more convenient, mostly b/c I usually only carry 1 bike and I can leave the front wheel on. I did build a mount for the cargo bay on my Exploder with three fork traps mounted to a 2'x4' piece of MDF that was triple-sealed in spar varnish. Works great, only down side is that I have to remove the saddle & post on my bikes to get them in.

A full-on safari basket with custom bike mount points is on my to-fab list for the old Exploder. I figure with two bikes up top with all the gear in the basket, I can put three bikes in the back and two more on the hitch rack....Effectively carrying 7 bikes with gear and two people (incl driver.)

Yep, sounds about perfect

I know a few people that have built mounts similar to that for pick ups and SUV's... had a friend that did it with a U bolt and an old front hub even lol... I have a yakima superjoe 3 rack that I bought super cheap, but it needs new rubber bands and straps... It's a good rack and carried bikes many miles but it was a pita to mount every time I wanted to use it and then I couldn't get into the trunk

I miss my astro van... I had a hitch rack which made it nice for going home after the bike was all muddy but it was plenty big that I could stash it inside if needed

your cargo basket idea sounds pretty sweet...

had a friend that bought a suburban with roof and hitch racks so he could take the entire team and all the gear to races... was neat to see it loaded up...