The roof rack has an optional luggage carrier accessory. Has anyone bought it? Can it hold more than one suitcase? How is the stability? wind noise?

 

I decided against it because apparently some drilling needs to be done in the roof for it to attach to... dunno the complete details though

 

>>The roof rack has an optional luggage carrier accessory. Has anyone bought it? Can it hold
>> more than one suitcase? How is the stability? wind noise?

Bought it. Pick up my MINI tomorrow (hopefully). I hear various stories on wind noise. Supposedly it comes off easily if you're not carrying anything. They give you little rubber covers for the exposed anchor bolts when you take the rack off. Stability should be good (150 lbs. or so?). It's actually attached to anchors that are under the roof skin of every MINI.

Looks as good as a roof rack could IMO...

Will let you know more on the noise factor once I start motoring!

Bill

 

wjklos,
very interested in hearing your feedback after you get it. Are you gonna use it for a bike?

 

Barky has the roof rack on her MCS, which is black on black, and I honestly loved the way it looks!, i will post a pic ASAP for you. She did not complain about wind noise or anything like that although it does ad a bit, i presume its livable.

 

FYI, there were complaints about the plastic plugs (to camo the attachment drillholes) flying off in the wind. I haven't heard this complaint in a while; perhaps they have been modified to actually stay on at speeds over 60 mph (BRILLIANT IDEA!!!)?

 

Here it is, this is one of my favorite looking minis out there.

 

ok, that looks awesome.
I guess I need to look into how my mountain bike would fit onto the rack.
Does it come on and off with ease?

 

>>Here it is, this is one of my favorite looking minis out there.
>>

I like your pretty little yellow MINI. Looks cool from the ground AND from 38 floors up!

I don't have the luggage box for my roof rack, just the bike kit. The base unit whistles a little bit at slower speeds, but goes away at highway speeds. I haven't tried taking the base unit off yet so I don't know how it looks with the plugs in place. Fortunately, the plugs are black and match Agent Cooper's roof!

 

is the bike kit a "one size fits all" deal? dunno why, but I'm concerned about bike fit. i have a mountain bike with pretty thick tires...
How does the bike fit on the rack? Do you take off the front wheel and attach the bike to the rack by its fork?

 

At MINIUSA.com, in the 'our cars' photo gallery section are pictures of the rack add-ons ... the bike part is shown with a BMW mountain bike on a wheels-in-a-rail type carrier ...

 

here's any one to look at.

bbt4
USA, CA

 

>>is the bike kit a "one size fits all" deal? dunno why, but I'm concerned about bike fit. i have a mountain bike with pretty thick tires...
>>How does the bike fit on the rack? Do you take off the front wheel and attach the bike to the rack by its fork?

You keep the wheels on the bike. There's 2 plastic "boots", one for each wheel to sit in. They slide along the bar independently so that it can accommodate bikes of different sizes. Once you get the distance set right, they lock in place. The boots themselves work for both mountain bike tires and road bike tires, as I've tested both.

To keep the bike secure vertically, there's an adjustable metal bar that attaches to the rack at one end and the bike on the other. It's made so that you have some options on where to connect it to the bike. This piece also has a lock so you don't have to worry about your bike disappearing when you leave your car unattended,

 

ah, found that pic on miniusa that you were talking about. nice setup. I don't think that it would work with my bike unfortunately.

I have a Specialized Enduro mountain bike. Dunno the technical term for the frame type, but there's no vertical tube to which i could attach the metal bar to. ( http://www.specialized.com/SBCBkMode...in&my=2003 )

I guess I'm back to square one, gonna look into Saris, and Yakima. Will post any info I find.
Although I have to admit, the factory rack look very nice.




_________________
2002 Dark Silver MCS. Premium/Sport/Nav

 

>>wjklos,
>>very interested in hearing your feedback after you get it. Are you
>>gonna use it for a bike?

Bike primarily. The luggage carrier possibly if I start taking the MINI on camping/road trips instead of the Pathfinder. Maybe a kid or two if I have to take my kids friends anywhere.

Bill

 

>>FYI, there were complaints about the plastic plugs (to camo the
>>attachment drillholes) flying off in the wind. I haven't heard this
>>complaint in a while; perhaps they have been modified to actually
>>stay on at speeds over 60 mph (BRILLIANT IDEA!!!)?

I plan on buying an extra set in case that is still true or if anybody takes them.

Bill

 

>>I have a Specialized Enduro mountain bike. Dunno the technical
>>term for the frame type, but there's no vertical tube to which i
>>could attach the metal bar to.

I think I saw a picture where there was no downtube on the mountain bike so the rack attached to the "slanted" tube. I'll see if I can find it and post it....

Bill

 

by the way,

if any one is interested in buy a pair of bike attachments, let me know. i want to get rid of mine. $140 takes both (shipping not included). actual pics available upon request.

bbt4

 

bbt4,
where you at? i see CA and hills. not many hills in LA, are you in SF?
I would be scared sh*tless to drive my MCS on the SF hills, I would prbly roll back all the way to the bottom

 

yes,

i am in san francisco (best town in the states). don't worry about the hills; you'll eventually get use to it as i did.

bbt4

 

i love that place, the wifey and i try to make it up there at least once a yr. We stay on union st in Cow Hollow. Great restaurants, great bars, awesome city.