Rack questions

On 2005-06-29, Wes Gray penned:

Quoted message said:

I'm about to go from an SUV that I put my bike inside to a 2004
Corolla. I want to get good roof racks, but I don't know much about
them. The car has no gutters.

Are the Thule/Yakima roof racks easy to take on and off as you need
them, or do you pretty much have to put them on and leave them on?

I removed my Yakima rack over the winter -- very easy. If you wanted
to just remove the bike attachements, but leave the rack on (for skis
or whatever), it might be slightly more tricky, but still not a huge
deal. It helps to have two people just to eyeball angles.

I would not want to have to mount the rack every time I rode, though.

Quoted message said:

If I do have to leave them on, will they affect my gas mileage
noticably?

If you actually collect receipts and do math, yes. If you don't, you
probably won't notice it too much.

I believe I lose 2-3mpg when the rack's on, even if the bike's not on
it.

Quoted message said:

Would there be a problem with having a moonroof on the car?

I don't imagine so, but you might get dirt in your hair from your
bike!

Quoted message said:

Do the racks have a built in ability to lock the bike to the rack,
or do you have to add a cable lock?

Mine does. You buy Yakima "lock cores" that fit into the rack. From
there you lock down the rack, and the bike within the rack. Mind you,
a determined thief *will* find a way to steal your bike. Pretty much
everyone agrees on that point. I use the locks mostly as extra
insurance that the fork mount is on snugly (the lock prevents it from
opening at all).

--
monique

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live."
-- Mark Twain

Wes Gray said:

I'm about to go from an SUV that I put my bike inside to
a 2004 Corolla. I want to get good roof racks, but I don't
know much about them. The car has no gutters.

Are the Thule/Yakima roof racks easy to take on and off
as you need them, or do you pretty much have to put them
on and leave them on?

I have a Thule rack on my Corolla. It's not a trivial install: you
have to line up all the angles just right, then walk around the car
a few times tightening the clamps so they're even. I've not removed
the rack but once in the 6 years I've had my car. During this past
rainy winter, I decided to leave the racks on during the dry season
and then take them off for the wet. (I live in California, so this
is a predictable weather pattern.) We'll see if I end up doing so.

Quoted message said:

If I do have to leave them on, will they affect my gas
mileage noticably?

Yes; even with the fairing you will lose at least 3 MPG.

Quoted message said:

Would there be a problem with having a moonroof on the car?

No problem.

Quoted message said:

Do the racks have a built in ability to lock the bike to
the rack, or do you have to add a cable lock?

For a little more money than the default, you can get "lock cores"
to put in all the places the rack attaches to your car and your
bikes. This is an excellent idea for the reasons Monique stated: it
guarantees that the fork clamp stays closed and provides much better
than the complete lack of security the unlocked racks give.

In addition, a cable lock (and maybe a U-lock near the BB and
around the rack tray) helps as a visible deterrent to those too
stupid to realize that the rack itself locks. Added benefit of
cabling/U-locking the bike is that even if the thieves get your bike
off the car, they won't be able to ride it since the wheel won't
turn.

Keeping the front wheel in the trunk or backseat is also a decent
deterrent to the casual thief. If there's no room for that, cable
it down. Make sure none of the locks can touch your car roof at
any time; it wouldn't take long for them to really mess it up.

For short trips or frequent installation/removal of the bike carrier,
you should consider a trunk rack. Saris, Thule and many others make
good ones. It's much harder to secure your bikes with a trunk rack,
though, so you basically can't leave them unattended unless you live
in Bucolia.

G
--
Gregory S. Sutter "How do I read this file?"
[email hidden] "You uudecode it."
http://zer0.org/~gsutter/ "I I I decode it?"

Quoted message said:

Yes; even with the fairing you will lose at least 3 MPG.

At 15k miles per year, that rack costs over $300 a year to just sit on the
roof ($2.25 / gal).

It seems a receiver hitch would pay for itself in about 6 months.

After rebooting Windows said:

Quoted message said:

Yes; even with the fairing you will lose at least 3 MPG.

At 15k miles per year, that rack costs over $300 a year to just sit on the
roof ($2.25 / gal).

I did just drink a beer before doing the math, but I get closer to $100/year.
Still it adds up over time.

Quoted message said:

Are the Thule/Yakima roof racks easy to take on and off
as you need them, or do you pretty much have to put them
on and leave them on?

Don´t know about the Yakima, have Thule, they are fairly easy to take off
and put on, approximately 5 minutes ones you got the knack of it. That is
referring to the bike rack, not the railings that it is fastened to and
which is part of the car.

Roof racks affects mileage and also produce quite a bit of noice from the
wind. Also the fork stanchions tends to get smeared with smashed bugs, not
really good for the bushings, better have protective cover for the fork and
saddle.

We have Thule roof racks but only use them for short transports for longer
journeys it is far better to have the bikes inside the car.

Per

http://lowdin.nu

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Yes; even with the fairing you will lose at least 3 MPG.

At 15k miles per year, that rack costs over $300 a year to just sit
on the roof ($2.25 / gal).

I did just drink a beer before doing the math, but I get closer to
$100/year. Still it adds up over time.

My calculation was based on mileage reduction from 20 mpg avg to 17 mpg.

15k mi / 20 mpg = 750 gal / yr

15k mi / 17 mpg = 882.3 gal / yr

difference = 132.3 gal

* 2.25 = $297

(ok, so it's not *over*, but close)

If it reduces from 30 mpg to 27 mpg, it costs $125 to have the rack mounted.