alternative options for roof rack

[etlsport]

I've been using yakima's lowrider mounts and crossbars for a couple of months now and my only complaints have been wind noise and the fact that the front mounts appear to be sitting on the roof.. which needless to say makes me uncomfortable. Added a coleman safari basket a couple weeks ago which solved the problem of wind noise.. and made me even more nervous about those front mounts on the roof...

.. after a week long camping trip involving about 700 miles on the road with 90% of a 5 person campsite stored on my roof (i would guess about 60-70 lbs).. ive gotta give that setup the good old 2 thumbs up it held up great, very little wind noise.. i checked the mounts and they didnt seem to put any pressure on the roof, only on the rails.. got a few doubletakes from other drivers/hikers and one old guy who told me i had "quite a fine campin' machine"

i would definitely recommend this stuff to anyone who cant get factory roof rack or doesnt want to spend an arm and a leg on a yakima or thule basket (the coleman you can get for 130 from costco's website) my complaint which really has nothing to do with the brand of stuff, but the amount is my VX felt a little unstable in tight turns due to the extra weight up high, and also felt much more easily pushed around by wind.. just something to be conscious of





-Eric

oh yea.. and for reasons unknown to me.. during the two longest legs of the trip.. i averaged 20.8 mpg and 25.0 mpg!!!!!! no idea how/why.. (driving habits were no different) all i know is i'm not doing ANYTHING that could disrupt the celestial alignment that brought on those great numbers