Sunday, February 17, 2013

$40 Roof Rack

I don't like the way most things are.  Especially roof racks.  So I made my own- the way I want it.


Harvested a Dodge Caravan rack at Pick-n-Pull.  Cut and reformed the runners to fit my Mazda's roofline.  Cut the cross bars to length.  Added some fork mounts and some 3" studs for the rear bike tires to lodge in.  Voila.


Low profile, light, and efficient.  Sexy.  Quiet.  Holds three bikes.  $40.  Yeah.  My 2008 Mazda had threaded studs in the roof under the black rain channels.  I just drilled the Caravan runners to line up and inserted #6 allens.

Nate and I drove out to Perry and rode 3/4 of a mile when we decided it was too wet.  So we packed up and rode Lawrence River Trail.  It was barely dry enough.  Had a couple of beers at the Brewery afterwards.  It was no epic, but a nice salvage.


You can see I'm using a Thule 15mm fork adapter.  It blows.  That'll be the next thing I engineer.