Which roof rail?!
 

My dad is giving me his first generation Yakima roof rack for my new [to me] car. I'd like to get a tandem rail so we can transport our bike without having to take it apart and shoehorn it into my wife's car.

I've found 3 racks on craigslist for similar money and I have no idea which is the best. Below are the 3 options I'm considering and I welcome feedback on which I should try to pick up.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Option 3 Thule looks suspiciously the same as the ATOC tandem topper which is what I have.
I am guessing Thule gets them from ATOC and just re-labels it.
So Option 3 would be my vote.

You are correct. ATOC/THULE same beast. If that rack is in good shape that is a VERY good price since they go for almost $400 new.

I have owned #2 and #3. The Thule is what fits on my current car's factory rack (06 volvo wagon) ' I like the Thule slightly better since it is easier for me to get the rear tire in the Thule's tray than to get the boom tube in the Yakima's cradle.

Thanks for the advice.

The rack will be going on this: (if that makes any difference)

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...meRyan/p51.jpg

#1 or #3, with #3 being the better value for money and #2 being a bit over-priced: $100 for that rack would be OK, $90 would be better.

#3 is nice in that the rear part of the wheel tray is removable: you pull a pin and it comes off. Note: Do yourself a favor by keeping it off when you're not carrying the tandem so as not to tempt any would be thieves. The pivoting head is a nice feature originally found on the ATOC TandemTopper series of racks designed by our friend Charlie Buchalter. Thule abandoned it's own, pretty awful design several years back (strange affair with a V-shaped rear brace that held the tandem's rear axle) and began selling re-branded ATOC mounts produced by ATOC. More on the ATOC mounts here: http://www.atoc.com/tandemtopper.php

If you don't need the pivoting head (which does cause the tandem to wiggle a bit more than other non-pivoting mounts, but to no ill-effect), the Rock Mounts is a pretty nice piece of hardware, vastly improved from their earlier models. I don't think it looks as streamlined as the ATOC nor would I want a silver mount, but those are simply aesthetic considerations.

Hold on a sec, I have #1 and it does pivot at the fork mount, that is what the little button under the fork mount is for. I have had no issues with that rail mounted on Thule crossbars in the 3 years I have owned it.

You learn something new every day and today, this was it.

Thanks for pointing that out. I've never seen anyone use a Rocky-Mounts that way (then again, I think I've only seen two and they weren't on high profile vehicles) and didn't realize it pivoted; pretty cool.