Show me your roof rack!

Originally Posted by EUROGUN

fork mount FTL

BIG MOUTH mount FTW.


just playing. ride looks great with toys up top.. i gotta get some shots with mine

Subscribing for current and future reference. After taking a rented bicycle across the golden gate bridge, I'm looking to buy a bike and will need a rack...

Excellent pictures thus far!

damn. I was just thinking I didn't want to mess up my new baby by putting a bike rack on her and I go and see this thread..........


I have a hitch rack on my old mazda and had pretty much determined I wasn't moving it over to the e46............went for a bike ride last night for the first time since getting the car and I must say it was a pain having to remove both wheels and lay the back seat down

now I've got to come up with another 300 bux...............damn you all!

its not that bad.. thule ran 130$ for the rack and about 70$ for a big mouth bike tray

if i had a reason to get a roof rack, i would

^ x2, I'm going to focus on picking a bike first, then worry about the rack. There is an older lexus and a 4Runner in the household so one or the other can do the deed until I decide on a rack. I'd love to have on on the ZHP though so I can hit the trails on the way home after work, not have to go home and switch vehicles first...

Can't wait to pick up a roof rack for my snowboard/bike.

Originally Posted by T-MC-G

Here is mine.

What's the model number of your box?

Ok, so is it me or is it difficult to understand what all I would need for an aftermarket roof rack? I've found an OEM unit on ebay for just under $150 shipped, but I'm not sure that I would like the silver cross-bars on my ZHP, the wheels are silver, but other than that, no chrome or silver on the car, its kind of a black and red theme, so I guess I'll do some more research on the aftermarkets...

We need more pics!

Here you go.

^ NICE!

Question:

When I spec-out a Yakima rack, it shows I should order a 44" fairing. When I spec-out a Thule rack at orsracksdirect.com it shows a 44" for sale, but the "automated fit guide" says to order a 38 for my car.

Which is which? That site has a good deal going on for their Thule racks, basically the same price as I found above for the OEM unit on ebay. The code "thule10" takes a 10% off their current sale price. Looks like I can get the rack and the fairing shipped for about $210. But I dunno which fairing to order, I don't want it to be too short...

I haven't picked up a bike yet, so I was going to just get the rack to start, it will help motivate me to find a bike. Then I'll decide on a carrier for the bike...

Thanks!

Look at the Racks on those ladies.....

This road bike attachment was the last one available and I got it!

Click to enlarge:

Originally Posted by Ausfahrt

Here you go.

what is your suspension setup and the offset of yours wheels and size of your tires? lol i really love how your car sits and fits the wheels.

Originally Posted by Imola.ZHP

^ NICE!

Question:

When I spec-out a Yakima rack, it shows I should order a 44" fairing. When I spec-out a Thule rack at orsracksdirect.com it shows a 44" for sale, but the "automated fit guide" says to order a 38 for my car.

Which is which? That site has a good deal going on for their Thule racks, basically the same price as I found above for the OEM unit on ebay. The code "thule10" takes a 10% off their current sale price. Looks like I can get the rack and the fairing shipped for about $210. But I dunno which fairing to order, I don't want it to be too short...

I haven't picked up a bike yet, so I was going to just get the rack to start, it will help motivate me to find a bike. Then I'll decide on a carrier for the bike...

Thanks!

Well I dont know about sedans but with my touring the yakima 38" fairing was the fairing recommended by the manufacturer, but it was short on both sides, so I purchased the next size up. But I have had to modify the fairing mounting brackets to fit it properly, the larger fairing has 4 mounting posts vs the shorter with 3 posts. This makes a difference for spacing of bike racks and to fit two bikes on my roof I needed the racks spaced out as far as they could go to avoid the handle bars hitting each other, this interfered with the placement of two outer two fairing posts, so I had to modify them to fit everything. But I prefer the look of the fairing that fits tight between my roof rails.

This is all relative and my experience may be different from yours if you buy a different rack setup, or aren't intending to carry bikes. If you are going to carry bikes and have two bike racks for the roof make sure you have two bikes when mounting everything up so you can confirm spacing is correct, you dont want to run into an issue of the handlebars hitting when you need to carry two bikes.



Ausfahrt ---> taking a slammed touring down a dirt road
as someone else asked whats your suspension setup. Nice MTech 2 front, mine is on the way, looks like you might also have CS splitters on it - Yes? this is the setup I will be getting and I am wondering how low it will be compared to what I have now (too low -- stock front with Rieger lip)

i had a thule fairing but took it off because dirt got between it and the roof and scratched my roof.. i deal with the whistle now.

^ good to know...

Next question, I've been told a roof rack will compromise my MPG. Is this true? I could see this being the case on LONG trips, but I would most likely take it off if I were not taking a bike along. I commute about 22 miles one-way, lets just say 50 miles total per day, not all highway, but most. I would think a fairing would help if it is true that the rack compromises fuel economy...

First hand-experiences?

Originally Posted by Imola.ZHP

^ good to know...

Next question, I've been told a roof rack will compromise my MPG. Is this true? I could see this being the case on LONG trips, but I would most likely take it off if I were not taking a bike along. I commute about 22 miles one-way, lets just say 50 miles total per day, not all highway, but most. I would think a fairing would help if it is true that the rack compromises fuel economy...

First hand-experiences?

I have the OEM BMW roof rack on my ZHP sedan 6 spd and I do mixed hwy/city driving and I get around 21-22 mpg. Its been a couple of months since I've taken it off, but I think the car used to get 22-23 mpg.

it only takes 3 minutes to un bolt it from the car. also mpg does go down as drag coeffiecent goes up. always take it off when not in use..

empty roof rack FTL

heyi need your opinion guys, next weekend we have a local tuning show in my country and i will participate there, i'm thinking to put roof rack with bikes on, do it or not to do?