Thread: roof rack mounting

Originally Posted by portafilter

Hi all,
im looking at roof racks for my new defender, wanting to put just two bars up to mount a couple of bike rails on, ideally above the front doors. the question is has anyone here mounted permanent mounts such as this to the roof? would it be a bad idea? or good?
Screen shot 2010-07-06 at 9.49.05 PM.jpg

I pretty sure that wont work - it's designed to use hidden mounts on the vehicle OR involves drilling the roof, which will work (for a given value of work), but why do this when you can just go gutter mounts?

Couple of HD Rhino bars and you're done - it's not like you'll wreck the Deefer's aerodynamincs...

Originally Posted by portafilter

Hi all,
im looking at roof racks for my new defender, wanting to put just two bars up to mount a couple of bike rails on, ideally above the front doors. the question is has anyone here mounted permanent mounts such as this to the roof? would it be a bad idea? or good?
Screen shot 2010-07-06 at 9.49.05 PM.jpg

i,m no genius but i,d say the gutters r the only suitable load bearing area,theres a lot of flex in the roof in general .... i just fitted a set of rhino racks to attach a rhino cage i had off another vehicle ,,this set up is small and light,,which is the priority for me and will accomodate my needs ..it is higher than i would like ,,and i did look around for a set up such as u have in mind ,,but i doubt its integrity would hold up offroad,,,good luck ..cheers i,ll dig up a photo....

The roof bars, or more specifically the attachments illustrated, are not really any more permanently affixed to the roof than legs mounted on the gutter. The attachments (legs) just clips into grooves on the roof that is normally covered over with a rubber strip. This attachment is used because 'modern' cars don't have gutters. I have used two Rhino bars on my old County to carry a sea kayak. There has been some discussion of this on another thread (see here: 109 hardtop racks? (for canoe etc)). When I got rid of my County, I simply shifted the bars to the Disco II that replaced it. I think Thule and Rhino both have special bike carrying attachments, and there are probably many others.

Cheers
KarlB

Originally Posted by n plus one

I pretty sure that wont work - it's designed to use hidden mounts on the vehicle OR involves drilling the roof, which will work (for a given value of work), but why do this when you can just go gutter mounts?

Couple of HD Rhino bars and you're done - it's not like you'll wreck the Deefer's aerodynamincs...

its true... im pretty sure with my heavy duty rola's the economy strangely has increased... certainly didnt lose the 100k's range that i did in the disco per tank! it just seems to be getting better..

Steve