Yakima Viper vs. Thule V2?
- Thread starter aldante13
- Start date
aldante13 said:
I have the Thule Velo Vice which looks similar to the V2 and I am satisfied with mine. The V2 is described as the "all metal premium" model. One site I checked shows the price difference as being $102 USD vs $125 USD. If the only difference is the metal components, I would expect you to be satisfied with the V2. If $$$ are an issue, I have no problems recommending the Velo Vice, but for the additional $20 you may get better security and durability with the V2.
Good luck.
aldante13 said:
Just got the Viper, and installed it on my Volvo V50. It works great, and the mount is very secure. No complaints about how securely it holds the bike.
But I am not real impressed with the extra wheelfork mounts for the front wheel removed from the bike. When my wife, son and I ride, I can mount two bikes on top, and fit my wife's small frame (front wheel intact) in the back with the 60/40 seat folded down. But with a full load, the front wheels won't fit easily in the back, hence I have two wheelforks for two of the wheels. They're secure, but they want to "lay down" on the car roof, even though they're as tight as I can make them without breaking the finger-tighteners
On one occasion, my son's mountain bike wheel (mounted with the wheelfork) had laid back on the car roof, and managed to bounce off the car when we hit a small bump. At 65mph, the wheel landed on the (4-lane) freeway and began to roll. Both lanes had fairly heavy traffic, and about 100 yards ahead of the point of departure, an abandoned Dodge Caravan sat on the shoulder. So, I pulled off the road about 500 yards down the road, and both lanes of drivers and I watched in amazement as the wheel rolled down the road for about twenty seconds. Where I stood waiting for the wheel, it has slowed to about 10 mph and was just starting to roll on the shoulder when I snared it by hand, as though I was catching a Randy Johnson fastball with my bare hands! Wheel was in perfect shape, and the drivers all smiled in amazement as they passed by, me with catch in hand.
I called Yakima, and they said that with the round crossbars, they recommend laying the wheelforks back at a 45 degree angle (I think the tech was not very good at geometry - 60-70 degrees is more like it). This is what I had already tried, so now I just use a couple of old toe-clip straps to lace each wheel to the rear wheel of the bike mounted next to it.
Any other suggestions for molunting tricks? Also, how do you get rid of the howl of the roof-rack? Mine are quiet below 60 mph, but then the howl (wind-noise) starts. I've heard electricians tape wrapped arount the front of the viper helps some.
One more thing. I like to set the thumbwheel at the correct spacing for each bike, and leave it that way. But the skewer flops when its empty 'cuz there's no tension on it. Any suggestions short of adjusting the thumbwheel each time. One setting for empty, and one for when loaded?
Oh, and still yet one more thing. My garage opening is over 9 feet, so I don't have to worry about clearance on a regular basis. I hope I can remember the bikes if we stay someplace while traveling that has low clearance.
Cheers,
Rousslang
