Thule vs. Yakima Racks

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff Roth on June 11, 2009 at 9:33pm

I'm not sure what you mean about Yakima rails being not as "extensible" as Thule. The 2 brands have very similar attachments to the roof for the basic rack itself. That's the crossbars and mechanism that hold them to the roof. The main difference is that the Thule bars are square and Yaks round. Some people say that this causes more noise being created by Thule not being as aerodynamic. I do think that Thule makes better bike roof racks. The actual attachment that hold your bike. The Swedish design seems alittle better engineered in my opinion. I heard that a few years ago several Yak designers left to go to work for Thule because they didn't like the direction the company was going in. I have the Criterion rack, which has an arm that reaches up and grabs the downtube. I thought that it would be a little flimsy at first, but I have driven with my bike in some fairly strong winds and it held the bike securely. Also like not having to remove the front wheel. However, I wouldn't recommend it for carbon fiber bikes.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jeff Roth on June 11, 2009 at 9:34pm

Jeff Roth said:

I'm not sure what you mean about Yakima rails being not as "extensible" as Thule. The 2 brands have very similar attachments to the roof for the basic rack itself. That's the crossbars and mechanism that hold them to the roof. The main difference is that the Thule bars are square and Yaks round. Some people say that this causes more noise being created by Thule not being as aerodynamic. I do think that Thule makes better bike roof racks. The actual attachment that hold your bike. The Swedish design seems alittle better engineered in my opinion. I heard that a few years ago several Yak designers left to go to work for Thule because they didn't like the direction the company was going in. I have the Criterion rack, which has an arm that reaches up and grabs the downtube. I thought that it would be a little flimsy at first, but I have driven with my bike in some fairly strong winds and it held the bike securely. Also like not having to remove the front wheel. However, I wouldn't recommend it for carbon fiber bikes.

• ▶ Reply