Thule or Yakima?

“Ok, so I've picked up both a Yakima and a Thule catalog. I need a ski/snowboard rack for my Honda Accord. Does anyone have any recommendations? Or possibly know where I could find a used one or you know, cheaper one? Any input?”

“thule, is what I have bought!

after ALL the research and messing w/ people that have both systems I desided the Thule is better! Way better for what I need it for!

BUT for the light weight stuff that you are useing you could go w/ the yakima "grunt"!

I use it for yakin and the canoe!”

“We've got Yakima, but as the guy at REI said years ago when we bought the racks "it's an inve$tment!"”

“Yakima, but its only for snowboards.”

“I have a Thule but have only used for mt. bikes. I like it. It came with a used vehicle, so I never compared.”

“I have a thule gear, and some times it seems like it costs as much to haul my gear as it did to buy it. I think both are fairly comparable.
I do have a suggestion for you though. Get one of those cargo boxes, like Thule's Frontier box. You can lock your gear in there, whether it's camping gear, an acrobatic kite, skiis, snowboard, what ever.... Also, it keeps your skiis out of the road grime that kills the bindings and makes things dirty. Ever been behind a truck on your way home and the snow on the highway is melting....”

“I have a Thule roof rack to carry mountain bikes on my van. I looked at a Yakima rack in a bike shop after I bought my Thule and I didn't see a big difference between them. I don't think you can go wrong with either one.”

“uh, one other suggestion. If you can't afford a cargo box, go with the ski racks. You can generally fit a snow board in a ski rack, but you can't fit skiis in a snow board rack. Really though, suck it up and get a cargo box. They work so well for hauling everything.”

“they're both too expensive. try 2X4's. or get a luggage box like we got from sears for like $120. it carried my whole families packs(5) all packed full.”

“I looked it up on ebay and got some parts of the system that I wanted at a substantial savings...the remaining components were purchased on my rei visa at rei...can you say huge dividend check coming soon??? hmmmmm I have to pay for a 3000.00 transmission tomorrow...and Im putting that on my rei visa...even bigger dividend now...hahahahaha free gear!!!! I love it.”

“I bought a Yakima rack several years ago and have been really happy with it. It has served me well. I have two pieces of advice: 1.) Buy the longest crossbars you ever think you might need 2.) Get a box to go on top

At times, I carry both a canoe and a Rocketbox on mine and need the extra width. If you canoe, the longest crossbars will also allow you to carry two canoes side by side which is vey handy for shuttling between put in and take out sites.

The box holds everything I'd need to put up there. It's great for hauling skis & poles. It keeps them out of the road grime and after a day of skiing, you don't have to worry about putting the skis inside your vehicle. No matter how carefully you clean them off after a day of skiing, they'll still have some ice and snow on them, especially around the bindings and lift plates. In a warm car, that all melts.

The only two problems I see with some sort of cargo box is decreased fuel mileage and you probably won't be able to fit a tall vehicle in a garage.

Oh yeah, make sure you buy matching locksets so you only have to carry one key. You can usually buy extra locksets with the same code, but you may have to order it. Figure out the number of locksets you'll need for any rack accessories and don't forget the ones for locking towers.

I think either Yakima or Thule will handle the maximum weight your auto manufacturer says you can put on a rack system.”

“Skiracer makes a good point about ordering all the same locks. I did that and am very pleased with how it works. As far as gas mileage loss goes, consider these thoughts: A ski rack has no aerodynamic considerations in it's design. A box is considerably more aerodynamic. The loss in gas mileage I have often heard about seems to coinside with the following: Sloshing thru the snowy roads getting (uphill)to the ski mountains. Loading the cargo box full of stuff, and the trunk, and throw a few friends in also. Do you think that, just maybe, it's all the extra weight you are carrying contributing to the lost gas mileage???? I have never noticed lost gas mileage with an empty box when it's just me driving around. And to be honest, I seldom see a whole lot of lost mileage, unless she's loaded to the gunnywales and I carrying a carload of people. And I do check the mileage with every fillup.

Anyways, consider long term practicality, these suckers are expensive...”

“I saw my gas mileage decrease nearly 2 MPG, even when it was just me riding in the vehicle. Of course, it may have been the vehicle I was driving...a '96 Ford Exploder. I would leave the box on top of the truck all winter long. It was easy to take the box off the rack, but harder to put back up top. Again, that may have been due to my rack configuaration. I used two sliding mounts attached to the existing rack and two towers because I wanted the front rack to be closer to the front of the vehicle roof when carrying the canoe.”

“Does anybody know of any cheaper alternatives to Yakima or Thule? I want to carry a canoe and mountain bike on top a Nissan Pathfinder. Or should I just suck it up and make the investment?”

“pathfinder have a factory rack? According to Nissan's website, every pathfinder comes with a factory rack with crossbars. You should be able to acquire the canoe "L" gunnel brackets and some good tie down straps without spending an large amount of dollars.”

“I thought he was trying to decide whether to go to Washington State or Greenland.”

“I have a Nissan Xterra...

My bike fits in the back without putting the rear seats down.
Never tried a canoe, but I did carry my kayaks for a while without a carrier (always on my Sidekick) - problem is, the Xterra is higher, and the factory racks suck for trying to put two yaks on top. So I got the thule J racks. If you do that, check to see what additional parts you might need - I had to order longer bolts because of the factory rack. There should be a list of vehicles and their special needs at the thule dealer.”

“Ok, I dug a little deeper and found that Yakima has universal mounts that will fit the factory rack, then can mount a system for under $100. Much better than the $400+ system the bike store guy tried to sell me.”

“I have a yakima system. So, I'm yakima oriented.”

“Screw both of them.
I'm going with a trailer for my yak.
mata has a good one she made. I looked it over pretty close.”

“but the one I really like is the one that Kent has.”

“Have Yakama racks for over 2 decades. Just this year, when we changed cars for a third time, had to buy new mounts. The racks and all the various carriers--bikes, basket, ski still fit the 20+ racks.”

“Be sure and check ebay for Thule. You can order everything for a fraction. Just spring full price for the specific mounts direct from a online store: these guys have great prices and free shipping: https://shop.sunrisecyclery.com”

“WooHoo, I love e-bay! Just picked up a Yakima bike rack that will fit the factory roof rack on my pathfinder and saved myself hundreds of dollars!”