On 22/07/2015 1:06 PM, Bob wrote:
Hello,

Would appreciate any thoughts on.

Was about to get a Thule Rack for rear of my Outback.
But keep putting it off due my reluctance to drive with the major part,
if not all, of my rear visibility being blocked.

Re those roof mounted racks:

Any general thoughts on ?

*How popular are they ?

How hard, actually, to get the bikes on and off ?

Safe ?

Pros and cons ?

Thanks, appreciate the help,

Not sure how popular they are. I see them a lot.

How hard to get the bikes on and off? Depends. How heavy is your bike?
I have a Thule roof rack with fork mounts and I like it. I have
mounts and the two outside ones are simple to use. The center one is a
stretch. I have a short ladder that I bring if I have to carry 3 and
one of us isn't tall enough.

How safe?
The rack foot mounts have casing that is locked so you need a key to get
to the bolts to loosen it. The actual mounts for he bike are also
locked. I guess you could get them off if you had time. Then again you
could just steal the car.

I think pros and cons are a personal thing. I don't like the rear rack
since I've been bumped from behind a couple times at a stop and such.
And like you say, it blocks the visibility. If you can use a trunk
mounted one, the price is not bad. And one rack works on most cars.

On the roof you have to watch overhead clearance. With mine you have to
take off the wheel. I had some of the big mouth mounts and they worked
but I didn't like the clunking noise from the hardware.
The feet that mount the rack to the roof is specific for the model of
your car. So if you change cars you may have to replace the feet.

Roof racks aren't cheap. But if the rear rack is mounted to a hitch the
difference isn't that much.