tightlinez

I’m looking to get a bike rack for my RX.. I’ve done a search in this forum and found a guy with a bike rack from Toyota but when I tried to find it at the dealer they told me the stock cross bars will not support a load from a bike.

Anyone with experience with bikes racks??

I’m starting to look at the Yakima’s but they seem to only suggest the q-towers which I don’t like. I prefer it to be clipped on the stock rails if possible as apposed to the one that grip the door wells.


Any help if much appreciated..

bob2200

I haven't used them, but I like the looks of the bike racks that attach to the trailer hitch on the back. There are some models that will pivot down so that you can open the rear hatch.

If you don't have a hitch already, you don't need the electrical hookup if you're just using the trailer hitch as an attachment point for a bike rack. You look like a more serious outdoors person if you RX has a trailer hitch.

I think the rated weight limit for the top rack is something like 70 pounds.

nc-longhor

Because I did not want to use the q-towers on my RX300, I decided to modify some supports brackets (foot) for my Yakima racks so they would mount on the stock rails. I don't know what the part number was for the original bracket since I bought them used, but the foot had the plastic bracket on top with a couple bolts that were threaded into metal plates that was 3/4" x 7/8". When the bolt was tightened, it pulled the metal plates up and basically clamped the rail between the plates and the plastic. The trouble with the original brackets was that the plastic foot and the plates were too narrow to clamp the rail.

My solution was to create two strips of aluminum, one to go on top of the rail and the other just narrow enough to slip underneath the rail. These were placed between the foot and the plate so that when the bolt was tightened they provided enough width to allow the bracket to clamp securely.

My upper piece of aluminum was 1.5"x4" and the lower piece was 1.25"x4". Both pieces were 1/16" thick. (I got the aluminum from Home Depot) I drilled oversized holes where the bolts go through so I had some play for adjustment.

I also had to create a smaller piece of aluminum which was glued to the bottom of the lower aluminum between the original metal plates to keep the them from turning freely when I tightened the bolts.

My rack is used at various times to carry a cargo box, kayaks, canoes, sheets of plywood, ladders, etc. I believe that the weight limit is 150 pounds, so I have carefully watched how much I loaded at one time. You should have no problems with a couple bikes on the racks.

Good luck on the modification and let us know how it works out.

dfish

I installed a thule rack on my cross bars. I needed to clamp on a bar for the front and added two clamps to the carriers on the back to clamp onto the factory crossbar.

After loading many bikes on top of the car, i wish i went with a hitch carrier which is much more easier to load a bike. I would strongly advise to install a hitch and get a hitch carrier.
Loading heavy mountain bikes above your head on the roof is not fun. Also you can only max out at 3 bikes at most on the roof.