[LittleBigHead]

This is more of a warning to anybody who has the OEM roof spoiler and is thinking about the Yakima Frontloader.

Last week I finally got around to cutting off 3" from the back of my Yakima Frontloader so I could completely open my hatch. There is about 1/4" of space left between the rack and and the spoiler when open and I am pretty happy about that, other than having to cut it.

Then after loading up my bike and getting to the trail for the first time this year and in the XV, I find out that the bike tire contacts the spoiler when open. LOL. No biggie, it almost opens all the way.

 

[coreybarnett]

i think id have the same exact problem when i have the kayaks on the roof. it already hits the little bump out on the rear hatch when i open the back.

 

[AlexAlejan]

i think id have the same exact problem when i have the kayaks on the roof. it already hits the little bump out on the rear hatch when i open the back.

This. For some reason I consistently forget to load the trunk before I put the kayak up. Its not too hard, I just have to crouch down a little bit. If I ever put a spoiler up there, I don't expect to really be able to use the hatch until the kayak is off the car.

 

[ClubCrosstrek]

That's annoying, but at least you got it trimmed down a little.

 

[RubySu]

Sweet setup though 8)

 

[The Hulls]

LittleBigHead,

These are hindsight questions...

Can you reverse mount the racks, meaning rear wheel over the windshield? Will the front wheel clear the rear spoiler?

We have four of these racks and I usually stagger the bikes to maximize the roof space. We are going to sell two racks soon and never thought about your dilemma.

Thank you for posting pictures and I am sorry to see that it didn't make the clearance cut.

Dan

 

[LittleBigHead]

Yes. Being able to open the hatch all the way is really just a convenience thing. I also worried about forgetting there would be a clearance issue and marring the paint on the spoiler by letting the hatch fly open.

Dan,

You can totally reverse mount the racks and it will work perfectly. In fact, if you check out this thread: http://clubcrosstrek.com/index.php/topic,516.0.html , you can see that swfire271 did this to make it work with the spoiler. I also tried this for about 30 seconds. Decided that it was "wrong" to mount it backwards for no good reason other than I didn't like the way it looked. So, as you can see, I decided to make life harder on myself because I have issues. It's just more aesthetically pleasing to me. And I think I could have gotten away with only lopping off 2" now. I scooted the front aerobar forward a smidge instead of leaving a little gap to most forward part of the siderail.

 

[Subir_roo]

I'm running two Rocky Mounts trays on my car and I think even they would probably hit the larger wing (I'm just rocking the stock little guy). They're a few inches off but the larger wing adds a lot of length and height back there.

 

[gravitylover]

I always mount bikes on the roof facing back. Try a couple of road trips in "bugland" and then deal with all the little critters jammed into every nook and cranny on the front of your bike. The head tube on my steel hardtail is all pitted from bugs getting drilled into the paint and then getting rained on.

 

[LittleBigHead]

Ewe. I don't really venture all that far from home, so not an issue for me. Usually less than 30 miles from my house. But it makes sense. Though I've noticed that when parked, sometimes birds like to also park themselves on the bike carrier and take deuces.

 

[embryoguy]

was it hard to cut it?

 

[embryoguy]

nevermind, I ended up just putting it on backwards. Kinda like how it looks more anyway.