My Yakima Purchase
Last summer after some very serious consideration, I bought a set of the
four Q-Towers with the related hardware kit, two cross bars, two Copperhead
bicycle carriers, a set of six identically keyed locks and a set of four
canoe gunwale brackets to use with my 1997 Pontiac Bonneville.
My Requirements
My primary need was to be able to carry my 18 foot Kevlar canoe and two
Mountain bikes with me as I vacation during the summer. I also wanted to be
able to put items I purchased from a store on the roof of my car in lieu of
bringing my trailer when the size and weight made it possible. In addition,
I didn't want it to be an inconvenience to put the racks on or take them
off.
Why I Bought Yakima
Well it certainly wasn't for the price. This system is very expensive. My
purchase totalled approximately US$560 (CDN$825). The quality of the system
is outstanding. The construction is extremely robust. My particular set-up
is very easy to put on and take off requiring minutes. It look good and it
locks down tight. The next closest contender quality wise was "Thule". I
decided to go with Yakima for two reasons over Thule. I felt The Yakima
system was more stylish and with the round cross bars I could swing the
gunwales kit out of the way with out taking them off when I didn't need
them. (The Thule has square bars that did not allow this.)
Construction
In my opinion you will not find a better designed and made rack system
anywhere for any price. Each system has a special fit kit for each
different type of car or truck, no half fitting universal junk. All of the
materials are the finest quality available and the construction is extremely
robust through out. The towers have a super easy-to-use extremely strong
latch and lock mechanism with soft rubber foot pads which ensures that the
roof paint doesn't get scratched. The holding clips are very thin so they
don't deform the rubber seals around the doors and are also incredibly
strong. Both the pads and the clips are specially designed for each
different body style of car. Everything is designed so that you can't even
steel parts of the rack when it's locked down. The rated maximum load for
the system on my car is 140lbs (63 Kg). the Copperhead bicycle carriers use
the fork to firmly attach and lock the bikes to the rack. The back of the
Copperhead carrier has quick release ratcheting plastic tie-down for the rear
wheel.
Assembly
The assembly instructions are detail and easy to understand but you do have
to pay attention. The hardest part of the whole experience was trying to get
the proper spacing between the two Q-Towers on the same bar. (Here's a tip
for you, if you follow the instructions exactly as written, instead of
trying it your own way like I did, it a lot easier.) The spacing between
front and back is also critical for proper fit of the holding clips. The
lock kit was unbelievably easy to install. Just put the master key in the
lock insert it into the housing with the correct orientation hold the lock
and pull out the key. That's it!
System Fit
When I first looked onto these systems, I had absolutely no faith in any of
them being held firmly to the car period. I figured that with those tiny
little non-conspicuous clips the whole thing would be somewhat flimsy. I'm
happy to report that my assumption was incorrect and that would never have
guessed that these rack would feel so secure. Before I put my stuff on the
racks I push and pull on them to see if I can shake them loose. I've never
been able to yet. In fact the whole car sways under my test. The latch and
lock mechanisms never need adjustment after the first time and make quick
word out of the installation and removal procedure. I have heard
previously of some concerns about front shocks not fitting into the
Copperhead locking mechanism but I don't have this problem with my Judy XC
shock so perhaps the problem was rectified. The Copperhead also has a
gorgeous black anodized aluminum trough (with plastic end caps too!) which
cradles your mountain bike rear tire and holds the rear of the bike firmly
in place. The quick release ratcheting tie-down straps is very easy to use
as well
What I don't like
The excessively high price. I know "you get what you pay for" but US$560 is
a little much for roof racks.
The racks are very noisy over 25mph (40Km/hr) without the optional (and
over priced) deflector shield. I think the shield should be included in the
price. It does have a huge Yakima logo on it after all.
I managed to slightly bung up one of the plastic ratcheting straps on one
Copperhead bicycle carrier by forcing it too hard when the strap was misfed.
It still works properly though.
Notes
There are a couple of things that you should consider about my system
configuration. According to the instructions, with the length of the
crossbar I'm using (52" I believe) I can not have the two copperhead bicycle
carriers and the canoe gunwales on the system at the same time. I believe
that this is because to do so you must mount the copperheads on the outside
of the Q-Towers instead of inside. That means that someone can steel the
copperheads and bikes if they wanted to (and had a hammer). With my
Mountain Bikes being so light, I couldn't see mounting the copperheads on
the outside of the Q-Towers compromising the strength of the system. They
are still very firmly attached to the system so the won't slide off going
around a corner or anything so I tried it and have had no problems. I leave
my Copperheads attached to the system all of the time, this eliminates the
need to measure the distance between the front and the back racks every time
I put them on the car. You may also be interested to know that I've carried
a picnic table and recently purchase 157 lb. 32" Panasonic Tau TV on the
the rack system without a problem.
Amount Paid (US$): 560
