Re: [Paddlewise] Square versus Round Rack Bars

On Wed, 22 Nov 2000, John Waddington wrote:

> Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 21:01:34 -0500
> From: John Waddington <waddinj_at_recorder.ca>
> To: PaddleWise_at_paddlewise.net
> Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Square versus Round Rack Bars
> 
> My car has a fair slope to the roof which would cause the racks to
> be mounted angled forward or backward if the bars were square. I
> like the round ones since they let me have the rollers and saddles
> straight up.
> 
> John

my old boss was a mechanical engineer, and owned a bicycle/ski shop, that
i managed for a while. due to cost, we could only carry one or the
other. he chose yak's for the very reason listed above. you can align the
rack with infinite variety with the round bars. canoe gunwales are usually
square side to side, but are curved in relation to front & back, and with
WW boats, the curve changes between each end, the yakima mounts will ajust
to it. in 100,000+ miles travelling w/boats of many kinds, never a shifted
load, etc.

someone mention bowed bars & raingutters, etc... when we bought our
subaru, it had no rain gutters, so we bought the yakima mounting plates,
went to a local body shop and asked them to mount them. i told them they
needed to be strongly attached. in the office, they nodded and agreed, but
i could tell they didn't _really_ know what _I_ meant. so we went out to
the car, so they could mark the approximate locations. we had our other
car, a honda accord, with raingutters, and the rack mounted. i winked at
my wife, and turned to the body shop guy and said "i want it this
strong" and jumped, pulled up, and then stood up on the rack on the honda
roof, one foot on each bar, and hopped up & down. at the time i weighed
210lbs [95Kg]!! so they pealed back the head liner, and mounted the
brackets at the strongest points of the roof... ~$200 for a very
proffessional job, no leaks, and the headliners didn't show the work done,
and then i could use the same racks on all cars still.

the only time a rack ever bent, was a double canoe rack on a '76 ford
extra cab truck, with me standing on one bar. there was so much spread
between the towers, it let the bar sag. i could stand on one bar on the
honda, as the towers were much closer. NOTE yakima only rates the bar at
100lbs [~45Kg] -- so my weight was more than double it's rating... i own
three yak racks. two "car sized" and one double canoe. paid full price for
them, as i bought them long after being out of the bike/ski biz. worth
every penny, especially with the "for sales" you see on this list. i
bought my saddles from another list member 2/3 of the way acroos the
country, with no problems, use them to this day!! [thanks steve!!]

my 2 cents.

mark

-- 
#------canoeist[at]dotzen[dot]org------------------------------------
#
mark zen                      o,    o__              o_/|   o_.
po box 474                   </     [\/              [\_|   [\_\
ft. lupton, co 80621-0474 (`-/-------/----')      (`----|-------\-')
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~~~~_at_~~~~~
http://www.dotzen.org/paddler  [index to club websites i administer]

The Colorado Paddlers' Resource; Rocky Mountain Sea Kayak Club
Rocky Mountain Canoe Club; Poudre Paddlers Canoe, Kayak & Social Club



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