Yakima or Thule?
 

Currently I have a trunk mount rack on my 98 Accord. It's worked fine so far but seems to move around a good bit when I have more than one bike on it. Especially when they're mountain bikes. I've been throwing around the idea of getting a rooftop rack for my bikes. Pricewise, they both Yakima and Thule look close, but I was wondering about quality. Does anyone have comments on ease of use, installation, price, etc...

Also, what is the difference in convenience when comparing a fork mount (?) rack where I would remove the front wheel, and one where the front wheel stays on?

Get Yakima fork mount racks. Yakima is a lot better than Thule in my opinion. I have Yakima and have a friend with Thule. Also the racks that hold the bike by the down tube don't seem to hold the bike very sturdy (the bikes wobble around in them) and also the tubes of a bicycle are not designed to have pressure applied to them in that matter.

Yakima vs. Thule = Campy vs. Shimano = Triple vs. Double = you get the picture.

They're both quality systems. Both are easy to install, solid, lockable, and easy to buy mounting kits for different vehicles later down the road. Both are compatible with each other too (you can use Yakima accessories on Thule racks and vice versa). If you have a car with an extremely curved roofline, the Yakima may be better. Yakima uses round bars instead of square on the Thule - square bars need to be sitting relatively flat (which they are on the vast majority of vehicles), whereas it doesn't matter with round bars. FWIW I have Thule, mainly for the better availability of mounting kits for vehicles sold back at home (Australia), but I also like the colour better ;).

I like the fork mount systems over the down tube clamp systems. Fork mount holds the bike rock solid, and you're not risking damaging the frame with the clamp pressure (doesn't happen often, but can happen).

I switched from the fork mounted style to this:


http://akamai.backcountrystore.com.e...ge/YAK0052.jpg

I've sold and installed both Yakima and Thule racks. Relative to quality I'd rate them extremely close. I prefer the Thule towers but I suspect that's because I have considerably more experience installing them. I also like the Thule Velo Vise fork mount bike racks. It's truly a one hand operation so you have one hand to do everything that might be necessary with the rack and one hand to hold the bike.

I've never understood the people who make such a big deal about removing the front wheel from their bikes. To me it retes a zero on the inconvenience scale.