Solid racks for small loads

By Scott Pendleton Ranked #783 - Car Racks February 26, 2010

Like pretty much everyone else I got these on SAC because they were both cheap and supposedly fit factory cross bars. I mounted them on my '96 Outback just fine. In fact, they're so easy to mount and unmount that I regularly take them on and off to preserve my fuel economy. No tools required, and even so they're good and secure; these things are well built and secure. Also nice is that despite being so easy to take on and off, while locked the latches are covered and they can't be removed.

They do lock and come with two keys. And as I said, when locked they can't be removed. It's a clever design.

Now here's where I'm less pleased with them: they do not fit 4 pair of skis unless you are skiing on late 80's GS skis with 55mm waists and 70mm shovels. The usable width of the rack (width of the foam ski carrier) is 15 1/2 inches. Thus, the carrying capacity is significantly overstated. I can put three pair of skis on this thing, no more, and that's with two of the skis being just plain groomer carving skis with 70mm underfoot and 110mm shovels. Three pair of my personal skis (122/90/115) would be very tight. With a snowboard, only one pair of skis fits besides the board. Two snowboards can fit if they're smaller boards; if they're larger sized boards they won't fit. So be warned, these are not particularly wide, you've only got 15 1/2" of room. Measure your planks according and figure out how much width you actualy need.

Also, they stick up pretty high. Some may not like this as it hammers gas mileage. I actually like this because it means that I can stick my skis mounted with Naxo AT bindings on them (the high heel levers have prevented them from fitting in most friends' racks).

I'd buy them again, I'm happy with them, just be warned that they aren't as wide as you may be led to believe.

View Details: Inno Racks Nexess Universal Ski Rack

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