Question - for all the Outback owners
 

Hey guys, I have a 97 outback, and here is my question:

can i buy a Square CrossBar set for my Outback from Subaru? The only set that i have found for my model is round made by Yakima. At the same time, i see so many outbacks with Thule Racks and Thule Cross Bars. Where do people get them?

If anyone has any idea, or if anyone has a rack like this, don't hesitate to answer,

thanks

nik

All you should need are the 450 crossroad foot kit, the cross bars, and some lock cores.

I buy my rack stuff from Agee Bicycle, I use yakima, but agee has it all.
Check out this site to see the foot kit.
http://ageebike.com/Thule/Thule_Feet.htm#450

Measure the distance between your roof rails to the outside edges, add a couple inches and buy the next width up crossbars. Always go wider, as you can always cut the bars if you want.

The feet retail for about 140, agee has em now for 126. Sometimes they have auctions on ebay for even less. "ageebike" is their name on ebay, but they don't have anything listed right now, you might find some used on there though. Agee's shipping is VERY reasonable by the way, they are great.

I wish I had a CF frame! My trek weighs a ton, I still love it though.

Hey Nik-

To start off a thule rack system on your outback, you'll need the 450 crossroad foot kit, and the LB50 load bars. You can get them from any local thule dealer. If there isnt anyone near you, shoot me an IM. My mom is a thule dealer.

mike

ahh you beat me! haha (at least it's good to see my info is accurate)

Speedklix and Mike,

Thanks for a helpful advise. I will definetly look in to it if won't find anything at subaru dealer. See the whole fuss is about getting those things for free. I have 400$ subaru buks, which i need to spend on my cycling needs. At Subaruparts.com, they gave me the link to 2006 subaru square bars - which definetly don't fit to 97, since 06 has different rails.

Next step would probably be to go to Suby diller itself. Didn't Subaru had some kind of deal with Thule? I thought they did - hence all the subarus with thule racks.

nik

what on earth is a thule?:D :confused:

It's a multi-attachment rack system for a car. Allows you to carry skis, bikes, pretty much anything on the roof of the car.

Mike

LOL @ n00b on demand.

Anyway - I still have a thule on the immortal suby but alas she doesn't really need to carry any more canoes at her age. If anyone needs a thule for the older loyale wagons I could get it off of there. Have a couple ratchet strap attachments for it too. I doubt it would fit an outback - we tried it on my moms 96 legacy and it wouldn't fit the roof line.

Thule racks get expensive. When I got rid of my RX and got the Legacy, I decided i wasnt goign to waste the money on a new foot kit. I just attached the ski holders to the factory rack with radiator hose clamps. lol. Works great.

Mike

Interesting, all the factory bike racks I've got from Subaru were built by Yakima - at least since '95.

Yeah, all of the OE racks are yakima.

I know the only ones I have seen with subaru right on them have been made by yakima. I'm sure a subi dealer could get em for you, they must be able to get the bars at least.

I'm not sure how subaru bucks work, are they just like visa cards? Maybe you could convince someone to buy em off you?

Yakima or Thule the Outbacks that i have seen had a square cross bars. The once that are sold on Subaruparts.com are round.

I am basing this observation on the recent bike race that i had. I went around the parking lot, stalking other outbacks. Most of them had Thule racks. Beside that, most of them had square cross bars. May be they purchased them other then Suby Places.

I emailed the dealer today to see what they can help me with. If not, i will probably end up getting Thule 450 bars as Mike and Speedklix advised me to do.

nik

Yakima makes both round and square bar type systems. Thule also makes a line called the 'fat mouth' attachments which will work with the OE cross bars. I have a fat mouth system with 2 bike trays on my legacy in the summer.

Mike

http://www.subaru-svx.net/photos/fil...5SVX/18698.jpg

thule on demand....

=tool on demand!