Runestone
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Sten
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2021
- Threads
- 6
- Messages
- 58
- Reaction score
- 91
- Location
- Stockholm
- Vehicles
- Cross Turismo 4S
- Thread starter
- #1
Waiting for the Porsche rack* I decided to make one myself. Since I already had a basic Thule rack that I used on my previous car (with towing hook). I thought I could use it to simplify things. It turned out to be relatively easy and I only used a drill and a saw. I used two 48 mm aluminum pipes and a 130 cm long aluminum bar plus the bike rack. I removed the clamps for the hook and drilled holes for the rack in the bar.
Two tips if you want to do something similar:
- If don't have a Thule rack buying a new one isn't too expensive. Removing the rings for the clamp doesn't destroy it irreversibly. The rings are attached with rivets that you have to remove, but you can reattach them with ordinary bolts.
- Since the rack not is attached to the car at the top it will exert a rotational moment on the horizontal beam. You, therefore, need something with high torsional stiffness, otherwise, it will be pretty wobbly. You should not use something with an open cross-section like a U-beam or an I-beam. The best is probably a round pipe, but you could also use a box beam as I did.
* I got the idea of making my own rack last summer when I saw how simple the attachments to the car were. Then the car was delayed so I put the project on hold. When I finally got the car in November my SA offered me a Porsche bike rack for free as compensation for the delay. But since there seems to be no rack in sight I restarted my little project.
Two tips if you want to do something similar:
- If don't have a Thule rack buying a new one isn't too expensive. Removing the rings for the clamp doesn't destroy it irreversibly. The rings are attached with rivets that you have to remove, but you can reattach them with ordinary bolts.
- Since the rack not is attached to the car at the top it will exert a rotational moment on the horizontal beam. You, therefore, need something with high torsional stiffness, otherwise, it will be pretty wobbly. You should not use something with an open cross-section like a U-beam or an I-beam. The best is probably a round pipe, but you could also use a box beam as I did.
* I got the idea of making my own rack last summer when I saw how simple the attachments to the car were. Then the car was delayed so I put the project on hold. When I finally got the car in November my SA offered me a Porsche bike rack for free as compensation for the delay. But since there seems to be no rack in sight I restarted my little project.
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