Re: Roof Rack?
Jim Nelson said:
Thanks for the replies. The racks and kits of which you speak.....are they bolt-on or clamp-on. In other words, how easy are they to add and remove?
My racks are all clamp-on (no holes to drill in the vehicle), and can be mounted/demounted in about 5 minutes. I think they're very convenient and easy to use.
The Thule roof rack was tricky the first time I did it, but once I figured it out, it was simple. You just line up the clamps with these little depressions in the molding of the door frame, turn the crank 3-4 times around, and lock it down. Do this for each of the four feet, and the rack is secure. The cargo box takes another 5 minutes to mount onto the rack, but it is similarly easy. Just slide a bracket under the rack's bar, tighten two wing nuts from inside the cargo box, and repeat for the other three brackets.
The Rhode Gear rear-mounted bike rack uses a pad-and-strap system. You set one set of foam pads on the trunk deck (forward of the spoiler) and the other set on the license plate. Then one pair of straps hooks onto the forward lip of the trunk lid, another pair hooks to the sides of the trunk lid, and the third pair hooks to the bottom of the trunk lid. Tighten all the straps, and it's secure. It's convenient that it is wholly strapped to the trunk lid, because it means you can still open the trunk with the rack mounted. Of course, you can't open it far, because the bikes make it heavy!
If you buy one of these racks and have trouble using it, send me a private message, and I'll email you some step-by-step pictures of me mounting mine.
By the way, I considered a roof rack to be an essential part of the Prius purchase, because it is our only vehicle for a family of four, and you just can't get enough lumber or camping gear in that trunk. I joke that I bought a second trunk, because the '02 Prius trunk has something like 12.5 ft^3, and I bought an 11 ft^3 cargo box!
Douglas (2002 Silver, Wisconsin)