I've decided to go with a Yakima roof rack for my MCS. The only decision I have to make now is to choose between the King Cobra roof rack or the Viper roof rack.

King Cobra
A new design, and eliminates having to take off the front wheel. The illustration says it's lockable with the SKS cores, how so? Is it a cable? if so, that's ghetto.

Also seems to have a pretty large profile when laid down == wind noise??



Viper
Only downside I see to this is having to take the front wheel on and off.



Any suggestions?

 

I'm using the THULE Velovice with my Yakima rack (it will work on both the round yakima bars and the rectangular THULE bars).

 

Good to know that you can mix and match them. The Velo Vise is also 25 bucks cheaper than the Yakima Viper.

 

I like the trays that grab the fork much better.
I do kno a few people that hav the Sportworks tray on a Yak rack and they love it.
Sport Works

 

Did, does your Yakima rack scratch, discolor, or otherwise harm the fine finish of your Mini?

I'm planning on getting one to carry snowboards, but I'll take it off after the snowboarding season.

I'm a bit concerned that taking it off and putting it back on might harm something.

Can you share your experiences with that?

Many thanks,
Dan

 

Dan,
Heard from many people on this board that the Yakima doesn't do any damage to the paint. Everybody seems happy with it.

 

Dan,

I would recommend taking the yakima rack off when you don't use it. I wouldn't leave it on for 4 straight months. Yakima warns that the plasic gutters may become deformed over time if you leave the rack in place all the time.

Once assembled and installed it only takes a few minutes to install/remove the rack, so I would recommend doing that.

All that said, after driving 14 straight hours with a mountain bike on top of my MINI averaging 85 mph, there was no noticable deformation to the plastic.

Dave

 

Great, thanks much DiD and sambusik. I'll put the rack on only when heading to the slopes.

As they say:

There's more to life than snowboarding...

...like driving to a mountain in your Mini to go snowboarding.

Cheers,
Dan