Trunk bike rack or roof bike rack? Lets see your setup
 

Any advantages/disadvantages one system has over the other? I know there are a few options out there (Thule, Yakima) but has anyone used the OEM setup? For a roof rack setup, I will need a roof rack attached to 4 points on the roof and the bike carrier will be secured to this roof rack, correct?
Any help is appreciated.

I've got the OEM roof racks and they are brilliant. Much better than the Thule ones I trialled. The Thule ones are a 2 stage process to attach and there is a rubber pad sitting on paintwork. The OEM ones attach much quicker and do not touch any paintwork. I don't have the bike rack option, I use it for a stand up paddle board. I would thoroughly recommend that when you are comparing them that you get the salesperson to show you how you put them on and off and how they actually sit on the car.

FYI...the OEM racks are made by Thule :y

Go with the OEM roof rack (and yes, IIRC it is also made by Thule). The trunk ones have these "sponges" that sit against the trunk lid and scratch the paint.

Sorry, yes the OEM ones are made by Thule but they are a different design that attaches without damaging paintwork.

Thanks for the input everyone! surprised to hear that OEM rack is made by Thule but it will be good quality nonetheless

love the oem roof rack! Attachment 392107

Looks great too!
Just placed an order at a dealer. $305 for a basic roof rack and $175 for each bike carrier. sounds right?

One of my all time favorite pics of the five nine BS:


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...27afc6930a.jpg

^^^ Droool

Thanks for the suggestions, guys! Got my roof rack installed. pleased with how it looks. But I noticed there's a lot more wind noise even without the bikes on top
she sits like this as of now.

Attachment 391645

What wheels are these?

You can get a fairing from Thule or Yakima to decrease the wind noise.

Little Late to the game since it appears you already got the roof racks.

The OEM ones are little on the tall side. I prefer the Yakima Whispbar with 2 Yakima Frontloader racks (only 1 on the car right now)

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...35082ba991.jpg

Thanks for the reply.
yes, I feel the OEM's are a bit on the taller side. hows do you like the performance? any wind noise? can you let me know what model you have?

I don't notice any performance loss or wind noise and that is with leaving the Yakima Frontloader rack permanently on the rails.

As for the rack itself. It is the Yakima Whispbar Flush mount (they also have a model with the rails that go through the towers).

My biggest concern overall has little to do with the roof racks, more to do with the bike rack. There is some lateral movement at high speeds (40+ mph). This is a problem with almost all of the roof mount racks.

Maybe I need a bike.

I do not like the cannondale.. BS is nice though.

And yeah, go get a bike... or 5 :) It is a slippery slope.... Starts with one.. next thing you know you have more money in bikes then in cars...

Hey guys, a question regarding long distance commute with the bike mounted on the roof. I am going camping this weekend and plan to take my mountain bike, Giant Talon, along for some biking. It is a 4 hour drive with quite a few twisties and I am worried about having the rather heavy bike on the roof. Has anyone else done this? I would rather keep the bike at home if RV's are gonna beat me.

That's a loaded question (pun intended). If you drive at sane - i.e. mostly legal - speeds, there shouldn't be issues with having the bike on the roof, but it WILL flop around a bit in turns like jvanbrecht said on the MB rack as well, so you do have to drive it more like a Rolls-Royce than a C63 (and yes, there is wind noise at highway speeds even with an unloaded MB rack). With a heavier bike up there I would probably think twice about it too as you won't be going any faster than an RV if you don't want to risk ripping out the roof rails. If you have room in the car, take the front wheel and seat off the bike and use nylon straps to secure it down - that should help a bit.

It all depends on the bike rack itself. The roof racks/mounts are fine. There are issues with each type of bike.

For me and my road bike, the issue is less the rack, and more the bike flexing laterally in the turns (carbon wheels). This is specific to my rack which I do not have to remove the front wheel. It would be a little better if you had the fork mount with the QR. Either way, road bikes can flex and you may damage the bike.

For mountain bikes (I have a Niner RIP9 running a DUC32 up front). The bike is more rigid obviously, so lateral movement is likely to potentially damage the bike rack, possible breaking off and going flying at speed (but most likely not, that is a worst case scenario).

Either way, if you throw a bike up there for any distance, get a bike cover, it protects the bike, but adds resistance. So no speeding.

As a side note, when I drove my bike from DC to Indianapolis, I through my bike inside the car and not on the rack, and just used the rack while driving around in town to wherever I was going to ride. (cars at home now, bikes stored at my office when not in use)

Going to bump an old thread here.

Any idea where I can get the OEM bike rack (online) for a decent price shipped to Canada?

Dealership quoted me ~$300CAD for the 2 mounting rails and $300CAD ea (:eek:) for the bike 'holders' (Thule Sidearm?).

Looks like you are getting a pretty good deal. I went with the Yakima Whispbar flush rack set, around $500, and then my existing two bike racks were around $250 each (at the time).

Ouch! This is a late reply, so don't know if you've pulled the plug already. I just got the OEM setup. Dealer gave me the bike mount for $175 and I got the basic roof carrier for $125 off kijjiji (there's quite a few out there, with little use). Dealer had quoted $300 for the carrier.

I am returning my lease in march, got oem roof rack and 2 thule bike holders if someone is interested. Offer me a price, I am in canada as well.
james

I found this thread interesting but having been brought up Catholic and with a deep respect for motor vehicles, especially sports cars, muscle cars, and motorcycles. I'm rather old school and can find nothing with 4 doors at all sporty. Likewise roof racks and bike racks on sports cars are a cardinal sin :) However, one should rejoice in the fact that if such additions allow you to get more use out of your vehicle then the more power to you :)