Photos of roof? Location of braces?

I just put the Yakimas on my Prius and find them to be more than adequate. I am confused at what the problem is. I, like darelldd, am not going to let the factory specifications and aerodynamics change my lifestyle. I mean am I supposed to quit riding bikes since I chose a Prius over a F-350. The yakimas do sit at a little weird angle due to the shape of the Prius. However, unless you are carrying canoes, kayaks, large rocket boxes 24/7 it should not be a problem. For bikes and skis and the occasional boat they are fine. I installed them and they are strong. I put the Thule Box up there on the load bars and had my 105 lb friend get in the box. No problems even when i shook the bars laterally and front to back. I don't understand the advantages to drilling for a custom rack. But if you have time and want a challenge, and a unique Prius, more power to you darelldd. Let me know the results.

I will post photos of my rig tonight with the her big rack. I have driven 105 miles with the racks and a bike on top and gotten about 46.5 mpg. I drove it about 250 miles with just the racks and fairing (no bike) and got 48.8 mpg. Double my Outback with racks and bikes on top. I highly recommend the fairing, it helps to negate the adverse affects the rack has on aerodynamics. Finally I chose the roof racks over the hitch mount because I have always had racks on my cars. Any outdoor enthusiast has to have a way to carry their toys, and its hard to carry 4 pairs of skis and 4 bikes on a hitch mount. Also the roof racks are lockable and so much easier as opposed to the hitch mounts which require straps and little or no security. If you have carbon frames the hitch racks will rub the top tube sidewall really bad, yet another roof top advantage. I will keep everyone posted on gas mileage etc with racks.

 

There are a bunch of hitch racks out there that will carry bikes without touching the frame. They will only make contact with the tires/rims, and keep the bikes so they won't bang into each other.

The ones I've used are the:

http://www.1upusa.com/1upusarackhome.htm

and the older version 1 Sportworks version of the T2 (before Thule bought Sportworks retail line of products):

http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/product.as...pt_id=8&sku=916

Yakima also has the similar "Hookup" carrier,

And Saris has the "Cycle On" and "Cycle On Pro" carriers.

Wish I took a picture of our Prius from last summer's vacation where we had a Yakima roof rack w/ Thule box and two bicycles on the roof plus a 1upusa hitch bike carrier with 2 bikes on the rear. If I remember, that load plus full trunk and 4 passengers only got us about 38-40 mpg.

 

The front bar could be moved approximately 1 foot forward, and the rear could go about 6 inches back as well. Possibly further, but you'd need to unscrew the antenna in that case.

 

Well I've got concerens for any body with holes in the roof. 6 years in dealerships and I've put on lots of roof racks and such and done lots of repairs to sun roofs and such and then move on to the autowrecking side of the industry and then to the scrap car end of that and now on to the industrial truck business. Sun roofs as far as I'm concerened are a total waste of money as they invariable cause water intrusion problems. Put probably 50 roof racks on Subrubans when I was in the dealership and never found a way to really keep water out. There are some really good sealers nowadays, German ones are the best I'm told but like I said a hole in the roof is just the start of a water leak, be it from intrusion or a condensation drip point or what ever, but not for me.

 

Yo darelldd, if the biggest problem is the rocket box hitting the hatch, just drill some holes in the box so that you can mount the box more foreward than normal. I know I can do this with my Thule Carbon Box. I had the hatch hit the box on my Outback. I bought some foam tape and just lined the bottom of the box. I scratched the glass ever so slightly after 2 years of intense use, as my box was always on the Outback. If you want to make a SUV statement from your Prius, just buy the 78 inch load bars which will hang out far enough to mount to 16 cu foot rocket boxes on each side. Then you will be about as wide as a Hummer and still get 44 mpgs. Then technically, you can seat 9. Two in the front, three in the back, two in the hatch area, and two slender bold women riding in the two coffins on the load bars.

 

If its just a Prius, she may turn around....but one with 78 inch load bars she will climb in and not think twice about whether you have room for her bike and excess baggage or not. The 78 inch load bars it is, I will order mine tomorrow. I get them at cost. So I will order some and report my mpg difference, if it is significantly bad, I will put them on fleabay for a Ford Explorer owner with extreme negative equity to swallow.