After a couple of posts on this subject when I was researching, I finally got my new Mini S and the Mini fork mounted bike rack. While I'm still waiting for the (backordered) roof rack base, I can say that the fork mount rack is very well made. Definitely a Thule made for Mini. Looks like a V2 or the new Echelon. Steel fork mount and solid tray. Comes with a lock. At retail of $125, that's very competitive to include the lock and adapters to fit the slotted Mini rack.

 

I was thinking of getting one

 

My roof rack base arrived Thursday and I installed the base plus bike rack. A few observations...

Rack base goes on reasonably easy. Still, not something I will want to put on and take off on a regular basis.

The bike rack mounts very easily. However, as I got to the end of the instructions, it cautioned about opening the hatch on an MCS with a spoiler or any car with an add-on spoiler. So I cautiously tested this and yes, the spoiler would definitely hit the bike rack tray if allowed to fully open. Bummer. So I put my bike up and saw that there were 4-6 inches of tray behind it. Time to get the reciprocating saw out and remove a couple of inches of tray.

I also got a fairing to reduce wind noise - based on posts here. The Thule fairing mounts quickly, but because of the slotted rack bar it mounts closer to the bar than on a standard square Thule rack. This means it interferes some with the bike rack clamp and it rests on the sun roof rather than the car roof. I ended up using a Dremel tool to carve out a notch to give the rack clamp more room.

I also found that when you open the sun roof, the little wind screen netting that pops up pushes the fairing up, defeating some of its purpose. So I removed the screen. After snapping the first couple of clamp tabs, I learned you can take a screw driver and depress the plastic tabs at the front of the screen base (near the roof at the front) and it releases the screen base. Then release the side clamps at the sides (where the springs are) and push it forward to remove. Really easy to do. Just wish I'd discovered the tabs before breaking the first couple in case I want to reinstall at some point.

Here are a few picts of the rack and fairing. Note the spoiler just touches the rear wheel when the hatch is open, but the tray is now clear.

 

Last picts.

 

How do the roof-racked bikes affect fuel economy?

The Mini rear bike carrier on my 2007 MCS is easy to load, but exacts a penalty in fuel. I ordinarily get 35 mpg, but yesterday we returned from a 900-mile trip on I-80 and got only 29 mpg with the two bikes on-board.

 

thats still good mileage compared to most cars ^^^

 

hows does the rack affect the sunroof?

 

Without a bike loaded, my morning commute to work dropped from 35.8 mpg to 35.6 mpg with the rack on. I'm sure the bike will affect it, but haven't gone far enough loaded to document. Will report back when I do.

My father-in-law has a Prius. With 2 bikes on top, his highway mpg dropped to less than 40 (I think he said 35). He normally gets upper 40s on the highway.

Sunroof opens and closes fine. A little more wind noise, but very tolerable (even my wife thought it was ok).

On my other car I was putting the roof rack on and off each weekend. I plan to leave this one on pretty much all the time. Much more condusive to a sudden urge to go bike somewhere.

 

Was there too much wind noise without the faring?

 

Compared to my old yakima rack on past cars, the R56 rack is silent! There is a small amount of noise at 60+ but it's really not bad. I close the sun roof and the noise is gone.

I actually purchased a Thule Criterium rather than invest in MINI specific bike carriers. The Criterium paired with the Thule XSporter Adapter 8 and some 1" washers work great!



My next step is to replace all the MINI rack locks with new Thule locks so that I have only one key to carry.