It seems pretty sturdy... If you look at attached pics, I could not get the mounting brackets to be any flusher than they currently are. It's torqued to spec (I think 6 nm). Can anyone confirm if I will lose my rack before I go on a test drive??


EDIT: Will add more pics shortly..

 

When I put mine on it was not flush either you are good. I even go through the car wash with it on.

 

WOOT! Thanks for the confirmation!

Glad I saved the ~$200 for installation...


If anyone wants to reccomend me a mountain bike attachment for it, please feel free There has to be better than what OEM has to offer

 

Looks good. The dealership installed mine free. In fact, my SA was surprised I asked for installation saying it was a piece of cake.

As for the attachments, this can be tricky. Some folks on the board have had success modifying Thule accessories, but I have not. The slot in the MINI RR is larger than the Thule aero series, so washers & other mods come into play. In the end, I could not get a stable mount on my "Velo" fork mount. Not sure if the Yakima components fit better.

I'm leaning toward the factory bike rack, even though I would really prefer the rack not to grab the frame.

 

I have the "travel box" and it slides on and off with no problems. Your rack install looks okay! I even take the entire rack on and off in 15 minutes and only put it on when I need it.

 

Trip over to the Clubman forum where we have been obsessing over the roof rack for quite some time. These are a great set of instructions

 

Hmmm... interesting. I guess I will go the OEM route for the bike attachment as well then. Price isn't too bad... East Bay MINI has it for around $113

 

I'm not sure who makes the racks for BMW/MINI, but the storage box looks a lot like ones from Yakima.... I just wonder what you would need to get for adapters to the cross rods for your rack...

 

Added two more pics of the end result..