Pulling the trigger for a Saris roof rack for bicycles

[jsanford]

I'd like to hear from anyone who has one of these, and what you chose for bicycle trays.

Stopped by the lone Saris dealer Saturday and he seems more nervous about it than I am, in particular the trays and the hatchback.

Saris is now owned by CycleOps a company I have NOT had great experiences with in the past, so I don't expect much advice there.

Did a search, but didn't find anything specific from an owner using one.

Saris' website has a fit guide, but you have to go to an online dealer to find it, as their own navigation doesn't take you to it (yay CycleOps).

Thanks in advance!

[ubi_wampum]

I would suggest the Bones model of the Saris. I use the one that goes on the rear hatch & it works well, but it really disturbs the aerodynamics of the Insight & recommend putting bike in car for long trips.

[jsanford]

Thanks, but I don't want to use a trunk rack--I've had one fail catastrophically ten years ago (Rhode Gear) and one can't lock a bike to the car.

So, noone has used a Saris roof rack?

[Richard]

Hi jsanford,

I have used a Saris roof rack, but not on my Insight! I used it on my Toyota Corolla . . . which need not concern us here. But it worked great on the Corolla!

Cyclops didn't buy Saris, Chris Fortune bought Cyclops from Jeff Nichols, many years ago. The name "Saris" is a combination of Sara (Chris's wife) and Chris. And yes, they have improved the Cyclops line significantly.

I had a 1-1/4" receiver installed on my Insight, and I use a Hollywood Sport Rider (2 bike rack modified for 1 bike use) most of the time. For really long drives (Los Angeles to Bishop, CA for the Eastern Sierra Double Century, for example) I take the rack off, take both wheels off the bike, and pack it inside.

62.3 MPG Los Angeles to Bishop, 70 MPG Bishop to Los Angeles.

Best Regs,
Rick / 2006 CVT

[slideways]

Draft Master has or used to have a rack called the SportFlite which might be just the thing for the thing Insight. Years ago a racing buddy and I frequently traveled with bikes on his Nissan Z which has a similar all glass hatch. The SportFlight worked well on that car. Like others I remove both wheels and my bikes fit well in the back. On one trip I managed to shoe horn both mine and my wife's bike in the back but both were road bikes and both are smaller frames.

Sorry to hear you've had issues with Cyclops. I deal with them on a regular basis and am treated well.

Good luck

[jsanford]

I promised a photo over a year ago of my Saris roof rack:




I equipped it with a standard Thule fork-lock bicycle tray and a ski rack.

The rear hatch clears the bicycle tray. It took some tweaking by myself and the installer; and we had to shim the tray so that it didn't pull the rack out of line. I've used it to carry a bicycle on a number of occassions.

[ikhoudvanu199]

two questions?

is the roof rack removable so as to not effect mileage when not in use?

and is there a dealer out east?