We at Rack Attack Coquitlam like to get amped up for the Ski Season just like everyone else. We just do it in a slightly different way. Every year around this time we get a HUGE shipment of Cargo Boxes to make sure we have stock on all your Ski and Cargo carrying needs. Just yesterday we received our winter stock of Thule Atlantis and Boxter Cargo boxes. Our stock includes the Atlantis 1200, 1600, 1800, 2100 and the très sleek Boxter.

All of the Atlantis/Boxter cargo boxes are made of a ABS plastic making them light weight, long lasting, sun resisting and much more environment friendly then the dreaded PVC. Thule Cargo boxes open on both sides and have a central locking system, making it secure and easier to load your gear on wider vehicles. Another slick feature of Thule cargo boxes is their Quick-Grip mounting system technology, with a couple turns of the 4 mounting knobs your box is off and on in minutes. No more struggling with bolts and hardware, huzzah!

How many skis/boards can each box carry? Good question, here is a break down on the Ski/board carrying capacity of each box.

The Boxter is Thule’s most aerodynamic and easily best looking box. Retailing at $1099.99 It will carry between 6-8 pairs of skis with a max length of 205cm or 4-6 snowboards. If you’re looking for something that hugs the roof in all the right ways, looks fantastic and allows you to carry even Andre The Giant sized skis, the Boxter is for you. It fits pretty much every vehicle as well!

The Atlantis 2100 is Thule’s Largest Cargo box and retails for $949.99. This 21 cubic footer has an amazingly Duggar sized family ski/board capacity of 10-12 skis or 6-8 boards and has a max length of 220 cm!

The Atlantis 1800 will allow you to carry 6-8 skis, 4-6 boards with a max length of 198cm and retails for $879.99.

The Atlantis 1600 has a capacity of 6-8 skis, 3-4 boards with a max length of 178cm, fits almost every car and retails for $759.99

Last but not least is the Atlantis 1200. The 1200 is perfect if you don’t have much cross bar space, or want to eventually be able to carry a bike beside it. The 1200 allows for 5-6 pairs of skis or 2-3 boards with a max length of 192cm.

No matter what your storage or ski carrying needs are, we at Rack Attack take joy in finding a solution that works for you. Drive safe, ride hard and do your best to enjoy the upcoming ski/board season!

Shred on!

For years Thule and Yakima have had a Hitch Mounted Ski carrier that straps onto their bike racks. Turning your bike rack in an all season carrier. If you have a class 1 trailer hitch you can carry 2 Boards or 6 Skis with either brands carriers. If you have a class 2 and up, you can carry the maximum capacity of 4 Boards or 6 Skis, or a combination of 2 Boards 3 Skis. Both brands come with Locks that can be keyed the same as your bike rack making it so you only need one key to operate both. Seeing as how we have discuss their similarities lets talk about what makes them different.

First up we have the Thule 987xt Hitch Ski Carrier, which retails for $259.99. The Thule 987xt Hitch Ski works with the following bike rack 964, 954, 912(XT), 914(XT), 915(XT), 963(XT), 956,  975 or 958 so make sure you check which Bike Rack you have before you buy the Ski Carrier. The 987xt has a new extended bracket with two settings allows for thicker ski bindings making it less picky about what skis you can and cannot take. With a U-bolt that wraps around the post of the bike rack the 987xt is the most secure Hitch Ski carrier on the market.

Hitch Ski Saaaweeeet

Last but certainly not least is the Yakima 2418 Hitch Ski, which retails for an even $250.00. The Yakima Hitch Ski fits most dual arm hitch carriers including the SwingDaddy, FlipSide, DoubleDown 4 & 5, KingPin 4 & 5, BigHorn 4, BackSwing 4, SlickROC 4, and the FullSwing 4. With an adjustable bottom clam the Yakima Hitch ski is the easiest to load and tightest fit for Hitch Mounts. The Soft rubber padding allows you to comfortably transport and protect your Boards and Skis. The Yakima Hitch ski is quick and easy to assemble and install, making it peanuts to change your Bike Rack into a Winter Ride rack. With the Yakima Deadlock system you can lock the HitchSki to the bike rack, so you can grab some lunch and not worry about someone running away with your gear. The Yakima Hitchski, is the cheapest and easiest to use Hitch Carrier on the market.

New Flattop 6 on Bottom, old style Flattop 4 top.

Thule has just released  a new line up of Ski Racks  Thule Flattop 4, Flattop 6, and Pulltop 6.  The main change is the mounting hardware is similar to the 450 tower system or the mounting hardware which was found in the NEW  Thule 810 SUP Taxi Paddleboard Carrier and the Thule 809 Double-Decker Surfboard Carrier. Basically it is the same old Thule ski rack as the last ten + years but the Flat top 4 is now the same width as the old Flattop 6 at 23.5″ and the Flattop 6 and Pulltop6 has jumped up to a 30″ width to accommodate the wider twin tip skis/powder skis etc  found in the last 5 years. Don’t get me wrong the classic Thule ski rack is great reliable product and isn’t too bad-looking. But come on Thule it’s been 10+ years and you couldn’t come out with something a little more stream line looking? More like the Aero Blade but just have two AeroBlades with a piece of rubber between it. Or have the double pivot hing system like the Yakima FatCat 6 so when you put thick skis, ski bindings or snowboards in it so when you go to clamp it closed you are not fighting to close the ski rack.  Yes the new Thule mounting is easy on and off in comparison to the Yakima allen bolts but it’s not like you have to remove it after each ski trip. But maybe you would want to, because it’s like having two  5″x36″ wind blocks on the top of your roof for the winter. Personally I would spend the extra money and get the Yakima FatCat 6 or even better get a cargo/ski box that protects your gear and you can use it year around instead of 3-4 months out of the year. If you do decide on a box instead, in this order, I would personally go with Thule Boxter, Yakima Lowpro 15, Thule Atlantis any size, and then Yakima Sky Box Pro and Skybox. If I just spent close to $1k on just my board do I really want the base getting dirty and the edges getting rusty from the salt and sand on the roads just on the drive up to the hills,  I think not. Anyway I give Thule one thumb up for ease of installation and two thumbs down for a NEW product that’s the same but about 6″ wider then it’s replacement.

Thule Flattop 6 92725

FatCat 6

Thule AeroBlade on Mazda 3

One of the best-selling cars in Canada the Mazda 3 ( sedan and 5dr) come with pre mounted holes for the Yakima, Thule, and Whispbar Racks to mount directly to the roof. Since this customer had a 2011 he wanted to go with the newest, and best system for his vehicle, as he was going to be keeping it for a few years. Since the Thule AeroBlade has been out (few weeks now) the customer feed back has been great and every customer wants one.  So to keep with that stream line and low profile look the customer went with the Yakima FatCat 6. Thule also just came out with a new updated ski rack that is just wider and a lot bulkier version of the old model, but I will go into more detail about that in another blog. So here we have it a Mazda with the Thule 460R, 47″Bars, fit kit 3069, 4 pack locks, and a Yakima FatCat 6. The only bad part going with a different brand of  ski rack to roof rack is we can not same key the system.  But if you want the best of both worlds some times you have to mix and match products to achieve a great base rack and ski rack combo.

Thule 460R AeroBlades and Yakima FatCat 6

Yakima FatCat 6 on Thule AeroBlades

If there is anything else that you would like to know about, feel free to post a message to the moderator, and it will be answered as soon as possible. If you require a more immediate resolve, then feel free to contact our store at 604-526-7225 and a Rack Attack specialist will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Alternately you may visit us in store

Thule 460R, AeroBlades on BMW 3series

CLOSE UP OF BMW 3 SERIES WITH THULE 460R & AEROBLADESThule AeroBlades and Ski Rack

At our Rack Attack Coquitlam store we love to match cars up with the quality Thule car racks we sell. Take for example this beautiful German-made sports coupe what better roof rack match can you have then the 460R that mounts right into the factory mounting spots. To top it off we were able to get a hold of a couple sets of pre release shipment of the NEW Thule AeroBlades. Not only does the curves of the new AeroBlade match well with the body lines of the BMW 3 series is can save your ears by 13 decibels and your wallet as well. The New AeroBlade reduces drag up to 55% over your old Yakima round bar or the Thule square bar. So based on a person  driving 15K miles a year that can save you about $100 in gas/year depending on the cost of gas. I personally found even with going with a Yakima system on my car with a fairing ($95-$100 that costs about the same as upgrading to the AeroBlade) the AeroBlade still had way less wind noise. The 460/460R Podium foot pack has a fit kit that mounts right in to the factory mounts not just only on BMW’s but also the Nissan Xtrail, Subaru Impreza as well as the Mazda Protege 5/Mazda 3 and Mazda 5 just to name a few of the top of my head. Thinking about skiing or snowboarding this winter we also have you covered from both Thule and Yakima ski rack as well as Thule and Yakima ski/cargo boxes. Why spend a tone of $$$ on your gear just to get it beat up by the salt, sand, rocks and any other chemical they put on the roads to keep it clear. When is can have a safe, dry, secure ride in one of Thule or Yakima’s Cargo Boxes. Also with a cargo box it can be used year around and not just a few month out of the year.

So for any of your Car Racking needs don’t  forget to stop b(u)y and shop with the racksperts. Not only do we stock the products we can have it installed for you in about a hour.

Please come by our store at .

Rack Attack Coquitlam
Unit #4 75 Blue Mountain St.
Coquitlam, BC, V3K 0A7
Canada
tel : 604.526.7225
email : coquitlam@rackattack.com

Dodge cab guard and tool box

Truck cab guard and tool box

So if you just have one truck or a fleet of trucks no job is to big or small for us! We will Rack Your World at Rack Attack Coquitlam.

Rack Attack Coquitlam
Unit #4 – 75 Blue Mountain St.
Coquitlam, BC, V3K 0A7
tel : 604.526.7225

It uses a strap that starts in the mount and runs down around your cross bar. The strap is made of rubber coated steel strips the protects you from having some one trying to slash your ski rack off your vehicle. The new Thule racks are all so a “universal fit”  meaning they will fit almost any factory cross bar. This means you will not have to buy a whole new rack set up if you already have racks on your vehicle. The new Thule set ups come in two sizes a 4 ski and a 6 ski. also the 6 ski come with the “pull top” option it lets you pull out the ski rack from over top of the vehicle to the side so you can load your skis and snowboards with ease.

If you would like this same set up, its available for nearly every Make and Model of car.

Call or Stop by the store for Price and the specific gear you want to put on your Vehicle.

Rack Attack Coquitlam
Unit #4 75 Blue Mountain St.
Coquitlam, BC, V3K 0A7
Canada
tel : 604.526.7225
fax : 604.526.7228
email : coquitlam@rackattack.com

Also the new AreoBlade has some of the best technology built into it including:

• WindDiffuser™ is a textured surface on the t-slot cover that disturbs the airflow better than a smooth surface, greatly reducing wing noise.
• BoxBeam™ – The sophisticated BoxBeam aluminum extrusion creates one of the strongest load bars in the market. Using a vertical load test, the AeroBlade can sustain over 800 lbf of force.
• SmartSlide™ – The new SmartSlide™ is a molded measurement system providing a quick, no-hassle, tapemeasure-free foot installation. SmartSlide™ also covers the underbar slot to improve aerodynamics and noise diffusion.
• SwingBlade™ – The new SwingBlade™ end cap pivots open to allow full access to the t-slot for easy accessory installs.

Also a nice piece of information even though the AeroBlade come in about $100 or so more than a regular Thule square or RB bar in about 15,000 KM of driving (average person drives that in a year) that rack save that for you  in gas.  Or even if you went with the Thule square bar with a fairing you would still be about at the same price as the AeroBlade system, so it’s a  no brainer spend the little bit now and it will be music to your ears rather that a howl or whistling scream of a Yakima round or Thule Square bar.

Thule 53" AeroBlade on Nissan Frontier

Every now and then we come across a rack and car that were just made to be together. The Honda Crosstour is a combination of the speed and style you want in a Sedan/Sport Utility vehicle while giving enough space inside to be practical. Something similar can be said about the Yakima Highlite.

Link to Highlite 3 Silver, Highlite 3 White, Highlite 2 Silver, Highlite 2 White

Link to Skybox Lopro 15 Cargo Box

The Aluminum and Steel constructed Highlite was just released in the last year and weighs under 20 pounds, making it one of the lightest weight hitch mounted bike racks on the market. A nice thing about the Highlite is even though its light in weight its no lightweight, it can still carry as much weight as any similar sized rack out there. Thanks to its ant like weight and strength on a class 1 hitch you can carry 3 bikes opposed to the usual 2, Wowzers! The feathery weight of the Highlite makes it struggle-free and effortless (seriously who wants to work) to remove from the vehicle. Even your tech-dinosaur grandparents can figure this rack out, on the base of the rack there is a locking knob (shown above) which secures the rack as you tighten it, making the Highlite tool free. The Highlite comes in 2 and 3 bike models as well as a choice between white (The first and only White hitch rack, Pioneering!) and silver colors. The Highlite doesn’t even care what type of car you drive, big or small it comes ready for both 1 1/4 and 2 inch hitches making it non-biased and versatile. With a built in cable bike lock, you can sit and drink that pre-ride latte stress-free.

If you’re looking for a simple, secure and easy to use bike rack look no further then the Yakima Highlite, they considered everything making this rack, even adding two bottle openers on the arms for that after ride sparkling water drink. If you have questions about getting a hitch or about any of the bike racks we sell, drop by, email  or call us and one of our well trained Rackxperts (Rack Experts) will be happy to help.

Ride on!