Thule roof box and bike roof rack

[matt_kluger]

Hi

I am planning on buying a Thule roof box to carry wet gear after being at the beach or a swim at the pool, carry fishing stuff and also just to carry bits and pieces that are dirty which i don't want in the car. Has anyone bought one of these boxes?? They are rather pricey, I will probably get one in any case but it would be good to get feedback from people.

I have attached the model i'm thinking of getting in the picture below - it's the Pacific 500 series. I have decided to go for a thinner one because i want to also fit the bike roof rack at the same time. I have attached a picture of the bike roof rack (also from Thule) which i am going to buy. The car doesn't have a towbar by the way, hence the bike roof rack.

And no i promise i don't work for Thule :D

Advice/comments appreciated.

Cheers

Matt

Thule_box.tiff

Bike_rack_roof.tiff

[Taka]

Re Bike rack. I much prefer the one that uses the folk to secure the front rather than front wheel. More secure. But I do like the arm going to lock the frame itself. I forgot what that part of the bike is called... is that a downtube?

[Yogi02]

I ended up getting the Rhino sports racks for mine.

I have not got the bike fitting just the kayak ones so far.

Rhino make the Toyota factory rack as well.

There have been a couple of sets of the factory roof racks on ebay recently

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/aero-roof-racks-toy...93%3A1|294%3A50

With the Tow Bar - I bought a toyota factory one and installed it myself - about 4 hours but I reckon it would be 1.5 hours next time.

Cost about $270 and another $45 for the wiring loom.

One big thing about the box is that they can slide laterally - but when you go away with kids, the boot space dries up pretty quick.

I have thought about them as well but found the price prohibitive for the amount of times it would be needed.

[Yogi02]

Matt - one other thing about the roof rack v tow bar.

How tall are you? I am 5'7" and I have to stretch to tie things down....hell, I even need a step ladder to clean it :P

I am guessing you could find it pretty hard to secure a bike with how tall they are.

Towbar wasn't too hard to install yourself

[matt_kluger]

Matt - one other thing about the roof rack v tow bar.

How tall are you? I am 5'7" and I have to stretch to tie things down....hell, I even need a step ladder to clean it :P

I am guessing you could find it pretty hard to secure a bike with how tall they are.

Towbar wasn't too hard to install yourself

Hey, yeah i'm about 6'0.

I ended up buying the Thule roof box and the thule bike roof rack - some things:

- absolutely no wind noise from the roof box and the Pacific 500 is long and rather skinny so it only takes up less than half the roof. I highly recommend it if you'll be carrying wet gear, or a dirty tarp from camping or fishing stuff etc

- the bike roof rack has some wind noise, to the point i can hear it very noticeably at about 60kms... i think the problem comes from the issue that i removed the plastic lining in the roof rack (you need to in order to fit the rack) so i suggest you cut it to fit which should reduce wind noise. I am going to cut mine and re-fit next weekend.

As for the height - you definatenly need to be tall to fit the bike easily or have a chair to stand on. It's also really easy for the front wheel to turn and hit the front A pillar. The best way to take it off is to grab the front fork and the part under the seat, pull it towards you then walk it well away from the car. It gets easier once you've had a few goes.

It's actually harder to remove the roof box - which is heavy and long.

Overall i recommend both, however note that with the roof box the cars about 2 metres tall. With the bike on it would be about 3 metres (just guessing with the last figure). So absolutely no shopping car parks or low hanging trees. With both, you get a little sticker you can write the height in metres and stick it on your sun visor.

Matt