Photos of Prius with roof rack. Anyone?

I have not seen any pictures of a prius with a roof rack either, although I would suspect that a roof rack would create a significant drag and reduce MPG, and thus, the whole point of driving a prius would be negated....

 

I'm guessing that a Prius with a roof rack carrying bikes/kayaks/skis would still get better gas mileage than most other vehicles with a roof rack carrying the same cargo...so the whole point of driving a Prius would not be negated...fuel economy would still be better.

Oh yeah, and you'd still be living your life and having fun. I think that's worth a heck of a lot, too.

I used a trunk rack on my Honda, but I'm seriously considering the hitch mount bike rack for the Prius. I'm still investigating my options. The only reason I'm not crazy about the roof racks is that I'm short and it's a pain to get the stuff up there if I'm by myself.

 

I know darelldd has installed a Yakima rack to his Prius.

I believe that this link should get you a picture.

Yakima rack

 

Here 'ya go! The load bars and rack for the "normal" bike are from Saris, while the tandem is using an ATOC Tandem Topper. We haven't yet noticed a decrease in mileage, but so far have only used this setup for short trips around town. We're planning a trip to the Katy Trail sometime next month, which should give us a pretty good idea of the typical impact... it's a round trip of approximately 200 miles.

[Broken External Image]:http://home.kc.rr.com/snidely/prius_bikes1.jpg
[Broken External Image]:http://home.kc.rr.com/snidely/prius_bikes2.jpg
[Broken External Image]:http://home.kc.rr.com/snidely/prius_bikes3.jpg

 

For those with roof racks, do you keep them on all the time? I have a Yakima rack on the car I'm trading in and it was a real pain to put on balancing the tension, so I've never taken it off. It definitely has a negative impact on gas mileage, even with no bikes. So if I got one for my Prius to be, I would want it to be removable. Perhaps it would make more sense for me to just move to a trunk mounted one, but I am weary of those due to a bad experience on a bumpy highway where the rack fell off and I dragged the bikes for several yards until I could manage to pull over.

 

You want pictures of racks on a Prius? I've mounted three to mine.
http://evnut.com/prius_racks.htm

http://evnut.com/prius_racks.htm#saris

http://evnut.com/prius_rack_pads.htm

No, I certainly don't leave the racks on my car. Takes me about six seconds to install or remove the bars, so there's VERY little reason to leave them on.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jupitercrash @ Feb 19 2007, 03:55 PM) [snapback]392972[/snapback]</div>

Mine are only present when in use, but the Saris roof racks are exceptionally quick and easy to remove/install. Unfortunately. they're also no longer available.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Emma @ Mar 11 2006, 07:10 AM) [snapback]223532[/snapback]</div>

And I always like to comment on this when this (common) question comes up.

I don't give a damn if the Prius got 10mpg when I have the racks on with cargo. The other 350 days of the year, I get over 50mpg so it REALLY doesn't matter. My other option is to buy a car for the 1% of my needs, and waste that capacity the other 99% of my trips - you know... like MOST people.

The fact is, the worst I've ever done in the Prius is about 34mpg. And that was totally overloaded, with cargo box and kayak on the roof, heading to altitude. It isn't gonna keep me up at night. The racks come off when I don't need them, so my 34mpg SUV becomes my 50mpg sedan again. Something I can't do with an SUV. (well, maybe with a plasma torch, but still...)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bgdrewsif @ Mar 11 2006, 08:51 AM) [snapback]223527[/snapback]</div>

Let's not forget about the PZEV emission rating!

Of course, getting 37 MPG while on the highway with my two kayaks on top is certainly nothing to complain about. Many vehicles struggle to achieve that while not carrying anything at all. (Notice my avatar.)

These webpages provide photos... kayak 1 and kayak 2

And of course, there's details in the USER-GUIDE

 

One note on roof racks you keep on all the time- you can't go through an automated car wash with it. This took me three years to find out so apparently car exterior cleanliness isn't all that important to me (at least not with that car). But for those considering one of these systems it's another thing to keep in mind.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mr. Tuco @ Mar 10 2006, 10:35 PM) [snapback]223494[/snapback]</div>

Toyota United Bicycle Team http://www.toyota-united.com uses the Prius for support cars during professional bicycle races. At the Tour of California final race last weekend in Long Beach, Ca. they had a Prius fully loaded with driver, passenger, and two mechanics along with 3 spare bikes on Thule Roof racks. They use the support cars to follow their their riders around the course in case of a crash or breakdown. Their Prius didn't go around the 90 degree corners at 30mph as well as the bike racers but their red/white blue paint job looked much sharper than any of the other team cars. They used the Thule roof racks which fit more securely than any other roof rack because of the custom clip and pad for the Prius. [attachmentid=6718][attachmentid=6719][attachmentid=6720]

 

Not sure who makes the rack, cool picture, though.

(Sorry, I didn't see the previous post, same picture)

 

[attachmentid=6742]


This rack decreases mileage by about 3-4 MPG. It is a Thule. Still, on a trip to Tahoe from San Francisco I got 39 MPG. Not bad! This is a snow board and a pair of skis. Last trip, I took up 3 sets of skis a board and 2 sets of poles. It got the same MPG. The Thule racks have a knob under the rubber that sandwiches the skis that holds the ski rack to the bar. The knobs came loose and I almost lost all my gear. Thankfully, a nice fellow skier alerted me to rack problems on the freeway going 65. I pulled over found the missing knobs (they were still inside the rack) and put them back on and re tightened them all. When I got home they were loose again. H'mm, blue Locktite perhaps?
-Paul R. Haller-

 

I heard the same story from a local bike shop about Saris cancelling its roof rack line. Actually, I just ordered Saris racks two days ago. They arrived at another local bike shop today. Even the Saris site still has them available. Maybe Saris reversed its decision, or maybe they are getting rid of old inventory. In any case, I'll let you know how they work out with my Yakima cargo box.

Also, I tried Thule last week, and they would not fit without a sledge hammer. Even a Thule rep could not figure how to stretch the clips, which are about a half inch too short.


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(landstander @ Feb 19 2007, 07:40 PM) [snapback]393028[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priustales @ Mar 9 2007, 09:48 AM) [snapback]402786[/snapback]</div>

My guess would be the latter... the only mention of the roof rack I could find on their site was here, where they indicate that it's been discontinued. I'd be happy to be wrong in this instance, however.

 

I just bought a used 2005 Prius primarily because using the car share service I am a member of here in the Bay Area was just too complicated when it came to carrying my longboard around on the weekends.

Soft racks are such a tremendous pain since they take a while to get on and off, the board is so floppy on the freeway that I am always stressed about losing it and it seems like the drag would be worse because it is moving all the time. . . oh and if it rains when they are on the water comes pouring in on you through the straps, awesome. Thus, I really really want to install a hard rack that I can leave on most of the time (maybe take it off for long trips without my board or, god forbid, if I have a surf dry spell). Yes, I know the board fits in the car, but that doesn't really work unless you are solo.

However, buying a car came with a good dose of eco-guilt so I am really trying to find the best option for reducing the drag.

Here are the questions:

1. Fairing or no fairing? Seems like it would defeat some of the design benefits of the Prius shape, but maybe I just don't understand the physics.

2. If you install landing pads (See here: http://evnut.com/prius_rack_pads.htm) is it super quick to put the bar on such that you can take it on and off faster (because you don't have to worry about the alignment)? Would the pads be somewhat negligble on their own in terms of drag?

Love to hear your thoughts.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(skyisblue @ Apr 19 2007, 03:27 PM) [snapback]426409[/snapback]</div>

Fairing if you want the bars to be quiet.

Now who'd be crazy enough to do that?!

1. Yes it makes bar installation easier than buckling your seatbelt. Literally! You drop them on and snap up the locks. No alignment. Takes me 10 seconds to mount both bars perfectly. 9 seconds to remove. And it takes that much time only because you have to walk all the way around the car. Put these pads on once, or rest a pad on your paint every time you want to carry somthing. I can put the bars on when the car is FILTHY and the paint doesn't get scratched, ya know?

2. The pads are totally negligible for wind drag. Probably the antenna does more to slow you down.

 

Here's my suction cup rack from Castlecraft with my Snark sailboat on top. Sets up in about 1 minute, only put it on when I'm using it. It has extender bars that slide out from the rack that help me take the boat off without having it get too close to the car.