Zweebee

Thank you for giving me such good feedback about my oil filter question. Now, let's see if anyone can help me with a bike rack.

My situation:
Mazda has not come out with a bike rack to fit the Protege 5. I know there are lots of bike racks out there, but want to know the best to buy for the top of the roof. I want one with a wind deflector to eliminate the annoying high-pitched squeeking sound the car makes when traveling between 70 - 90 (oops, did I say I drive my car over the speed limit?). I confirmed that the roof racks were making this noise from driving without them for the past 3 weeks. By the way, it is so much quieter, but I am not complaining. I knew this going into the purchase.
*If you know approximate cost for a rack you may recommend, can you include it too?

Feedback:
I love the site and all the advice it has. I am glad I found you all. My silver Protege is just the car I have been loking for. I just have to get people away from calling it a mini-station wagon!

Thanks.

Jodi

mtbracr

The first thing I put on my car was a yakima roof rack, I have not had any noticable problems with the wind noise. I did have to remove the factory rack and use theirs you will need towers (approx 150) i have 48" bars so i am able to carry four bikes and wheels or three and a space case or various combinations i do have a wind reflector that works good. as for the actual bike mounts yakima's steelhead or thier viper locks the bike down except that they are expensive(100-130) you can buy cheaper ones from Rockymounts.com(they even come in various different colors i will try to post a few pict of the rack in the next day or so

blackmp5

I used the Thule 889 Velo-Vice($140) which mounts to the factory rack. I also purchased the 589 Velo-Vise ($90) to mount a second bike to the roof. You have to mount them backwards to allow clearance for the hatch. Wind noise is noticeable but I think that's the case anytime you install roof racks for bikes. They seem very sturdy and look pretty cool too.

djb

Don't the bikes fit in the back of P5? That's part of the reason I was considering getting one, was that I would be able to fit a couple of bikes in the hatch area.

arl240

You fold the back seats down and you can fit a small apartment in there (i have). I guess if you have a dirty bike or passengers then you would want the bike rack.

Patio

I throw my BMX Bicylcle in there all the time, I use to deliver sammiches at jasons deli, man,you shouldve seen all the trays and buckets and what not i fit in there!!!!

Zweebee

We can place bikes in the back of the car, but it is difficult to transport other items without piling it on top of the bike.

Thanks for the advice on the racks.

Has anyone ever noticed the high-pitch noise I was talking about? It actually sounds like it is coming from the front windshield. It is different than the noise when the wind pours through the racks. The dealer told me to seal the front windshield with special tape and see if the noise is because the seal was not fitted properly. I decided to remove the racks first. Sound disappeared.

mtbracr

here is the yakima set up i have,
http://home.attbi.com/~culpejas/1.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~culpejas/2.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~culpejas/3.jpg
http://home.attbi.com/~culpejas/4.jpg

while carrying your bike inside is good sometimes it becomes a problem when you decide to go places with others
i can carry four bikes four wheels four people and all of their crap. and the four of us all fit comfortably inside. the best thing is about keeping the bikes and wheels outside is that when your finished riding all of the mud and road dirt isnt inside your car messing it up

djb

Oh yeah...I didn't think about that

Zweebee

Nice setup. How is the noise level with the deflector you have? Does it help?

mtbracr

the wind deflector helps alot, i drove around for aday without it because i was to lazy to put it on i noticed a whistling noise, i didnt notice it with the deflector on. during normal day to day driving it isnt loud enough to make me notice but i tend to notice the road noise from under the car

the only problem with the rack is that when i carry four bikes. the car feels like a mac truck especially in the wind and i didnt get great gas mileage. on my way home from AZ to PA i got about 220-240 per fill up at about 85mph. but it is better than having a bike sitting on my girlfriends lap for three days straight

fencepost

I was just looking at the same thing, and it looks like adding a hitch and a Thule hitch rack might be the best way to go, particularly for travel. Looks like a hitch for a P5 will run $150-$170 with shipping from Hitch-Web (the Draw-Tite looks better, but I'm open to feedback - is DaLan better?). It sounds like you can also get those installed at some U-Haul shops, I'm guessing the price for that would be $200-$250.

The two-bike and four-bike Thule racks look decent as well and run $130-$160-$225 (two kinds of 4-bike holders). They also have a more modular "space station" hitch connector, but it looks like the hitch connector is ~$140, plus another $140-180 for the carrier itself.

With the cheaper Thules, you'd probably also need to add their Zip Stick lower stabilizer (a bent piece of pipe to fasten the bottom of the bikes to) for $20. With all of them I suspect you'd need to add cables and locks.

So, to add a hitch and rack doing the install work yourself, it looks like $165 (draw-tite) + $140 (cheap Thule 2-bike) + $20 (Zip Stick) + $50 (a Thule lock for the receiver) + $? for a cable. Call it somewhere in the $400-$450 range to get this added to your car.

The one drawback to this may be locking - I'm not sure there's a good way to lock the bikes onto the less-expensive Thule racks, and if not then this probably goes up a bit - probably around $50.

So, suggestions from folks who've done this?

mtbracr

just buy a real long cable the can be locked probably around $20. (trailer rack)-run the cable through the trailer hitch then trough the bikes(roof rack) loop it through the cross bar.
the only downfall off this it sort of bangs around when you are driving so it is usually taken on and off between stops

but if someone really wants your bike they will get it,this just slows them down a little

java2flavor

Yeah, if they want your bike ... your best lock won't stop them.

Check out Performance Bike for Thule and Xport roof rack systems.

I got my Xport roof rack for approx. $200, including shipping. It can carry two bikes. Came with a fairing (your wind deflector and highly recommended) and has locks on both sides of the fork mounts. The latest model for Xport may be a little more expensive, but mine is like a 2000 or 2001 version ... not as aerodynamic looking, but still cool.

I recommend any Thule or Yakima and I bet they all offer some kind of locking mechanism. Mine does and it is the cheaper of the three mentioned here.

My roommate has a Yakima that he paid approximately $500 for the entire system a few years ago. Solid roof rack. The functionality of both roof racks are very similiar (locks, fairing, skewer style fork mount, etc), but his is just a little bit more refined than mine.

Oh he does have two wheel mounts that I don't have (probably an available option), but I just throw those in the back trunk easily.

enormiss

I just took the bike rack from my VW Trek off the VW roof rack. It bolted right up to the Pro5 rack. The rack has a built in lock. I can not however remember the name of the company. One stand came with the VW and we bought another from a bike dealer. I'll look when I get home. I took the rack and bikestands off as a complete unit as that is the only thing I would ever use the rack for. Sunroof is actually used now