Saris Roof Rack System - "Pimping" out the Vibe!

[Geo]

Due to the generousity of Saris/Graber (http://www.sarisproducts.com) I was able to obtain a rack through friends for my vacation to North Carolina for a week of cycling training in the mountains this spring break! My problem heading into this was that I only owned a two-bike Saris Bones Rack, and I needed to fit more bikes on my car so that we could accommodate more people for the trip down. So this is what I used for the week:I used a load bar set for the front of the vehicle, as you can see in the picture. Part of it mounts to the car's roof, the other half is to the Vibe's own roof rack rails. http://www.sarisproducts.com/p...t.htmThe third bar in the rear is one half of a talon set. http://www.sarisproducts.com/p...t.htm You cannot use a full talon set for the roof rack because of the chunky bottom edge of the talon set, you would have to mount it way too far back to look good for the middle bar.I have three Saris bike trays (http://www.sarisproducts.com/products/l ... kmount.htm) and you can see how I have them mounted there in the pictures in the end of this. On the third (and most rear bar) I have available to me 7 wheel carriers, enough to hold the three wheels for the three bikes on the roof, as well as two full sets of spare wheels should it need be.The entire package is rounded off nicely with an Aero Fairing (http://www.sarisproducts.com/products/aerofairing.htm) and with a little bending of the mounting brackets it fit snugly on the roof and I experienced no problems with wind noise even at 100+ mph. (Purely for testing purposes, I swear!)The sytem is wholly solid, and I used it for my 2000 mile trip this week, I am going out to buy a very similar system this week. (Similar, because I don't actually need holders for 7 wheels, or an extra bar to hold all the wheels) But I will probbaly stick with the three bikes for the roof, but at least have enough room for two.I greatly recommend Saris over Yakima and Thule, or any other rack company for that matter. The company is a complete pleasure to work with, there is a lot of technology that goes into their products, and ... well I could go on and on, but go explore their website http://www.sarisproducts.com and look at the pics of a Vibe with 5 bikes on it ... oh yea, the car just got SO much sexier.On a side note, with heavy winds gas mileage will suffer ... I hit a new low with 16mpg for one of the tanks of gas! Go 4-banger go! I am also in NO way being paid for this, lol. Sounds like I'm running an informercial, but I know a lot of people have been asking about roof racks, and I thought this might help someone out. Might as well be thorough

[GT-X]

What only ONE Mt. Bike, what up with that????? I like the system you have set up, I have a Thule rack, but it only holds two bikes. It's nice to see more bikers on the site. Here's a pic of my thule, it actually uses the factory cross bars... if any one is interested

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[Geo]

Yep, only 1 MTB in that car ... I wasn't able to bring my Fuel because it's still in peices, and I wanted to concentrate strictly on power and distance ...Besides, it's no fun to ride a MTB up a 13 mile climb with like a 3000 foot elevation change - the gearing would make it last hours, instead of just hour

[GT-X]

I've thought about getting a road bike, but the few times I've ridden my mt. bike on the road going to a trail or just to ride during the spring thaw, I've almost been hit a half dozen times by dumba$$ people not paying attention, and have had stuff thrown at me from cars and school buses. Even on gravel roads I've had a$$holes fly by me then slow down to hit the gas again and spray gravel all over me. Maybe it's just where I live. So I'm waiting until I move out of state. Arizona has bike lanes everywhere including the freeway its awesome out there everybody is so much more concious of bikes.

[ShotInTheDark]

where in north carolina did you start? The cycling club I belong too did the trip from Ashland N.C to Skyline drive in VA 493 miles in 9 days. The first day we started we had that 13 mile climb too. It was a pretty trip. The bike store I work at part time is a saris dealer if you can't find what you need parts wise let me know I'll try and hook you up.

[Geo]

We were at the Nanthala Outdoor Center for the week, and would start riding from there and come back there at the ends of our rides.I only wanted to do 40 some miles that day, so we drove to a parking lot 10 miles from the climb and then climbed with the group that started from the cabin - as they were doing ~100 miles or so that day. I rode through Robbinsville a couple times (Stecoa Gap - fun little climb!) and the climbs on HWY 19 and 28 were good for some pain as well. Saris is based right here in Madison (I actually visited them today) and have great access to anything I need through my LBS - but thanks for the offer!