03 Forester roof rack crossbars & bike carriers

[David]

What bike carriers go on the factory crossbars?

I've got a couple of Thule carriers, and a Rockymounts carrier,
and if I could adapt either, it would be nice.

The factory crossbars don't seem that strong, but probably
strong enough, and they're quiet. Quieter than Thule or Yak
bars. I did a Google Groups search, but the only way I found
people to mounting Thule carriers on the roof was by using
Thule crossbars. I'd rather carry the bikes inside or off a
hitch than have noisy crossbars on the roof all the time.

What mounts to the Subaru bars? What are they for?

Thanks,
David

 

[Le Bernadin]

Hey David,

I have an '03 Baja. I mounted my Thule parts onto the Subaru rack using the
front Thule bar and additional parts that amounted to maybe $20 from Thule.
I've had it on since March '03 and its been great. Subaru does offer their
own line of racks but i'm pretty sure their manufactured for Subaru by
Thule/Yakima anyways. I'd suggest plugging your vehicle's info into Thule's
site and looking at the schematics/parts requirements to take care of your
Scoobie. Just figure out what you need from that and order 'em up!

 

[Andrew Morris]

the other bars that are well worth a look at Rhino Racks...

www.rhinorack.com.au

 

[David]

Hey David,

I have an '03 Baja. I mounted my Thule parts onto the Subaru rack using the
front Thule bar and additional parts that amounted to maybe $20 from Thule.
I've had it on since March '03 and its been great. Subaru does offer their
own line of racks but i'm pretty sure their manufactured for Subaru by
Thule/Yakima anyways. I'd suggest plugging your vehicle's info into Thule's
site and looking at the schematics/parts requirements to take care of your
Scoobie. Just figure out what you need from that and order 'em up!

Thx for the info. All I found on the Thule site was a couple of $155 carriers
complete with an adapter kit to fit the Sube bars. I wouldn't spend $155/bike
to carry bikes on the roof (although I guess I've spent more in the past), and I
hope to not need to carry anything that requires Thule or Yak bars. I would spend
a little to buy adapters for my existing carriers. I'll see if REI or Sportsrack can
sell me the adaptor kit. If not, I'll probably build a 2-bike carrier for inside (two
fork-mounts + a board), and if I ever need to carry 3 people & bikes, I guess
I'd go to hitch-mount.

 

[Le Bernadin]

"Le Bernadin" <(e-mail address removed)> wrote in message

Thx for the info. All I found on the Thule site was a couple of $155
carriers complete with an adapter kit to fit the Sube bars. I
wouldn't spend $155/bike to carry bikes on the roof (although I guess
I've spent more in the past), and I hope to not need to carry
anything that requires Thule or Yak bars. I would spend a little to
buy adapters for my existing carriers. I'll see if REI or Sportsrack
can sell me the adaptor kit. If not, I'll probably build a 2-bike
carrier for inside (two fork-mounts + a board), and if I ever need to
carry 3 people & bikes, I guess I'd go to hitch-mount.

Oh, i thought you already had a Thule rack system to start with as i did.
If you already have the Velo Vise Fork Mounts and the Load Bar you can just
order the spare parts as i did. I just looked it up and the $155 is if you
were starting from scratch. Click on the product manual and spare parts
links on that same page.

 

[BBB]

My 03 Forester stock Subaru kayak carrier is actually made by Yakima.
Says so right on it. The mounts might be specific to Subaru, but maybe
they're also originally from Yakima.

Given that Subaru probably gets most of its rack stuff from the
established maufacturers, it would be worth comparison shopping name
brands vs. Subaru. Subaru prices are pretty reasonable at some of the
Web sites, but the name brands seem to want to keep their prices and
image up pretty high.

Forester crossbars are rated at 150 lb, vs the other models, which are
lower (75?).

 

[Brian Wasson]

I've had Yakima crossbars on my '01 and '03 OBWs for several years,
and they are pretty quiet. I did get the small, cheap Yakima "wind
wing" that snaps over the bars, and it did an amazing job of quieting
any residual noise. I was surprised that it worked so well!