Having trouble purchasing a rack system- suggestions?

[dishe]

After finding ORSracks on this forum and speaking with their excellent and helpful staff, I decided to order a Thule Podium 460 system from them.

Turns out they're backordered until the end of August, which means I'd get my rack WHEN THE SUMMER IS PRACTICALLY OVER and my kids are already going back to school. That won't work for me... So I decided to switch over to the cheaper Inno system (I don't like the Yakima door clips), and guess what?

THOSE ARE SOLD OUT AS WELL!!

Gosh, I guess it truly is the busy season for these things. I like ORS and their prices, but does anyone have any other suggestions for similar outlets to purchase from?

 

[ohioboater]

I have been happy with rackattack.com.

Thule recently changed the fit kit from 3069 to 3080, and the new fit kit is probably what is backordered. The older kit works with one minor mod - you need to cut 1/8" off the cylindrical sleeves/spacers for the towers to sit properly. People may still have that kit in stock if you're willing to do the mod.

 

[dishe]

Has anyone heard of fasttrackracks.com? They seem to have the item in stock, but I can't find any reviews/ratings of them anywhere...

 

[mpvue]

I have been happy with rackattack.com.

Thule recently changed the fit kit from 3069 to 3080, and the new fit kit is probably what is backordered. The older kit works with one minor mod - you need to cut 1/8" off the cylindrical sleeves/spacers for the towers to sit properly. People may still have that kit in stock if you're willing to do the mod.

I used the 3069 kit w/o the spacers, seems to work fine (although I plan on cutting them down and reinstalling them).
i found everything I needed in stock at my local bike shop.

 

[bryanj87]

I ordered the Innos from ORSracks. They are sold out but estimate I'll get them by Aug 12.

 

[dishe]

I ordered the Innos from ORSracks. They are sold out but estimate I'll get them by Aug 12.

Got mine from Autoanything yesterday!!!

Fast shipping, perfect!!

Only problem- the directions for the fit kit mounts were simple enough, but when it came to the actual inno feet, I had to refer the directions that came with THEM (the fit kit only has directions for their part included- each part comes with their own instructions apparently)...and it came with ONLY JAPANESE DIRECTIONS!!??!

I looked up online and found an English version of the directions this morning, but you can imagine my frustration as I sat outside, trying to hurry up and get this up before the sun sets, packaging and packing material all around me, up to the part about installing the feet and scratching my head!

Very annoyting. I figured out that there were plastic covers I could put over the fit points to protect them until I put the inno feet on, so I did that and hopefully tonight I'll refer to the english directions and actually get the bars and feet on.

Oh, and btw- the english directions I found are from ORS!

 

[flcruising]

Waiting for mine from ORS too. I ordered mine back on 7/12, and spoke to them last week. They even offered to substitute for the Thule rack, but that was on backorder too. Thankfully, I'm in no hurry, so waiting another couple weeks is still fine. They still are the best price I could find.

 

[red headz]

EDITED & FIXED...
The Yakima kit for the CX-7 fits the Mazda5.

I didn't like the Q-Towers & clips for the Mazda5 either, but I learned the Mazda5 and the CX-7 have the same mounting points... and the Control Towers and Landing pad 11 fit just fine.

So we roll the Yakima setup atop our Mazda5, but I purchased from ORSdirect as a CX-7 customer(dance).

Sorry I don't have a close up of the Control Towers & Landing Pad 11, just zoom in a bit.

michael.

edited & fixed

 

[professorhank]

redheadz, I think you meant Control Towers, not Q-towers. I think everyone before you in this thread had already posted to the various other threads about the alternate Yakima setup. Not sure but I sense that some may be shying away from using the Control Towers because they're not "approved".

Funny, what does ORS care about what car you drive? Can't they just sell you what you want?

 

[red headz]

Professor -

You are correct. I meant to write Control Towers with Landing Pad 11, not Q-Towers (I am getting my VW's & Mazdas confused).

While the Control Towers are not Yakima 'approved' for the Mazda5, my sister has a CX-7 with a Yakima rack, and the roof of a CX-7 isn't any different than my Mazda5...

Using the Control Tower and Landing Pad 11 kit, the entire rack is locked down by four bolts. Not much IMO, but it works. If 4 bolts are good enough for a CX-7 & CX-9... then it's good enough for my Mazda5.

 

[skiph]

^^^^

Same 4 bolts as the Mazda branded rack (Thule) and a 'real' Thule.

There are no other mounting holes in the roof....

 

[dishe]

Speaking of which- are the holes in the Mazda5 farther apart than other standard roof rails?

I ask because I tried out my new inno rack with a borrowed Sears X-cargo box from my neighbor yesterday... and I found the rails too far apart to line up with any of the default holes!
If it were my box, I'd drill new holes in it, however since I only borrowed it for a couple of days I didn't have this luxury.

I thought Sears boxes were like the generic, no frills, as close to "one-size-fits-all" as you can get with these things. If that box didn't have mounting holes far enough apart, I wonder if other "standard" boxes also have this problem on our roof rails??

Meanwhile, without the ability to drill holes into someone else's box, I came up with a rather clever (if I can say so myself) solution using a couple of extra pieces to hold a mounting bracket onto the rail, and then another set of holes into the box. Definitely not the most efficient way of doing things, and I wonder how long of a trip it would withstand for...

I'll post a video of what I did a little later.

 

[Tsuru]

I don't remember the exact measurements since this was a while ago but when I started sizing up my 5 for my cargo box (Thule Mountaineer 669) I remember being concerned that the space between the racks would be too small.
The Mountaineer is a long box though so if the X-Cargo in question is one of the "stubby" models I could see there being a problem.