Yes. But I unload bikes before entering garage. No biggie.
It is to the owners of the 5-10 broken frames we replace a year. Both
serious cyclists in my neighborhood have dents above garage doors from
seatposts.
My OEM yakima makes very little noise on my OBW. With bikes on there's
more but no annyance.
Take it off and see the difference. If it's OEM - Yakima, chances are
you didn't drive the car much without it. On my OBW, my roof rack cost
me about 2 MPG. When I sold the car, I sold the rack separately. I was
shocked at how much quieter the car was without the rack, as I had been
used to it after four years.
Since the OP has a WRX, he needs towers. Towers raise the rack system
higher into the airflow over the roof than rails attached to the Subaru
crossbars.
Downhilling is not riding. I consider it coasting. Not even to be
considered cycling.
If the OP rides downhill, freeride, BMX, or urban assault, why would he
care what you think of it?
the grease blown out of it by 70 MPH rain, while on a fork mount roof
rack? <<
Sealed headsets and regular maintenance make that no problem. I use
the uprigt mount. Makes it quicker to ride.
How does sealing a headset prevent brinnelling? How do you maintain a
sealed headset? <G>
Do you know what brinnelling is?
Hitch racks look unprofessional
'Nuff said! It's all about the uniform... <G> Although I'm not sure
what a "professional" rack is. I'm paid by a bike shop, and own both
types. Wouldn't that make both of my rack systems "professional"?
No reason to mention that I'm factory trained to configure, install, and
sell Yakima and Thule... We usually investigate the user's needs before
we pick or pan one style or the other. Note that I never said one was
better than the other in all applications.
The better hitch racks don't allow bikes to sway, Wal-Mart versions do.
Barry