Does anyone have any personal experience with the Saris products. I am torn between the Yakima and Saris. The price isn’t so different that I can’t put out the extra few dollars for the Yakima, but if the Saris a quality product, why not go with them. The sadles may be one of the largest decision makers. Does the saddles oil can or mark up a plastic kayak (Carolina 14.5)? Is it reliable, and holds tightly to the car, without damaging the car. As well, how quiet, or noisy is the Saris. My other option would be the Yakima with landshark saddles. Any personal experience and info would be greatly appreciated.
Saris is better
I have owned and used them all and personally find the Saris roof rack the best on the market. I particularly like the way the clamping to the roof is designed. Their saddles are as good as or better than any.
Regards,
Bill
I own both…
And agree that the Saris are very easy to install/remove (I change company cars weekly)and are as solid as any rack. One plus with the Yak is that I can swap bar length (48"-78" or more) when I need to carry several boats or drive a wide vehicle. With the Saris, the model of your vehicle determines the bar width you have.
Jon
The Saris rack is outstanding
I’ve been very happy with its strength and ability to go on and off the car quickly. I don’t have any experience with their saddles, as I adapted Thule saddles I already owned to fit on the Saris rack. One other nice feature is that the T-slot system allows you to easily make custom fixtures to fit the rack.
Thanks for the replies
Its interesting how marketing works. In the beginning I wouldn’t even consider Saris because I had never of them. Although after doing research and the positive feedback from you guys, it seems Saris will be the way to go.
Mix and match Saris and Yakima?
I have a couple of different questions and hope I can ask them correctly. I have never seen a Saris kayak rack; local shops sell Yakima and Thule almost exclusively.
Presently, I carry kayaks on a modified Triton Blizzard snowmobile trailer. There are two 2x4 crossbars covered with carpeting. The plastic yaks just get strapped directly to the bars. My wood boat I put on homemade cradles designed specifically for that hull (works very well).
First question: Can I make the Saris rack system work with the existing trailer set-up, or should I remove the 2x4 bars?
Second question: I will soon be buying a new truck and topper. At least two of the topper brands (Leer and SnugTop) are available with factory rails designed for use with Yakima crossbars–the crossbars can be moved closer together or farther apart as necessary, which will be a critical feature for me due to differing uses of the bars. Also, I’d like to be able to easily move the Saris kayak rack from the trailer to the topper, and vice versa.
I’m not sure if I have to use Yakima crossbars with the topper rails, or if the only requirement is a generic bar size/shape. If I do, will the rest of the Saris hardware work with a Yakima (or Thule) crossbar?
It’s hard to say
"I have a couple of different questions and hope I can ask them correctly. I have never seen a Saris kayak rack; local shops sell Yakima and Thule almost exclusively."
That’s par for the course in most areas. Saris racks are not marketed very well and few dealers carry them.
“Presently, I carry kayaks on a modified Triton Blizzard snowmobile trailer. There are two 2x4 crossbars covered with carpeting. The plastic yaks just get strapped directly to the bars. My wood boat I put on homemade cradles designed specifically for that hull (works very well).”
OK.
“First question: Can I make the Saris rack system work with the existing trailer set-up, or should I remove the 2x4 bars?”
Without seeing your setup, I wouldn’t have any idea. Your best bet would be to take pics of it and email them to Saris customer support. I’ve found them to be very responsive and helpful.
“Second question: I will soon be buying a new truck and topper. At least two of the topper brands (Leer and SnugTop) are available with factory rails designed for use with Yakima crossbars–the crossbars can be moved closer together or farther apart as necessary, which will be a critical feature for me due to differing uses of the bars. Also, I’d like to be able to easily move the Saris kayak rack from the trailer to the topper, and vice versa.”
Again, without more specifics regarding dimensions and the attachement method, there’s no way to know this.
“I’m not sure if I have to use Yakima crossbars with the topper rails, or if the only requirement is a generic bar size/shape. If I do, will the rest of the Saris hardware work with a Yakima (or Thule) crossbar?”
No, Saris cradles will not work with Yakima or Thule bars. I made adapters that allow me to use my old Thule cradles on Saris bars and one could probably do the same thing in reverse, but it’s not simply a matter of bolting them in place.
Saris Market Through Bike Stores
Another satisfied Saris customer here.
Don’t know why, but, bike stores have them. I haven’t found one that had them on hand, so I made my purchase through rackattack.com because they have a 30 day return policy. I chose Mallone saddles, as Saris did not have a “J” type saddle. I’ve heard that the Saris saddles are really nice.
Lou
Saris saddles vs. J cradles
I have the Saris saddles and love them (and of course the whole rack system). I side load like with J cradles, setting the boat up onto the outboard ones and then pivoting it down onto the others. Reverse coming off. The way the saddles tilt/tip is very handy for this.
Weird looking, but extremely soft and easy on any hull too. They conform to the boat - and also flex as the boat is buffeted by wind and road bumps so the hull doesn’t have to. I know of no better commercial saddle in this regard.
Can’t use Saris accessories on other racks, but pretty easy to adapt others to Saris rack. Slot accepts standard carriage bolts so it’s easy to make accessories too.
How
How did you adapt the malones to the saris bars?
Thanks.
Malone Takes Care Of This
Malone can send you the correct hardware to fit the Saris rack. Malone is a small company. The people that I spoke to were Saris fans and knew what I needed. Here’s one bit of information if you are trying to decide whether to use the Malone or a Saris saddle. I am told that the Saris hardware fits the bars perfectly, while the Malone hardware for Saris is made to work with a variety of bars and is a little “one size fits all”. I did find that the Malone hardware needed to be tightened one time when I was driving with the boat mounted at highway speed with a strong crosswind.
Lou
does everybody use saddles?
how do guys feel about a sturdy foam pad over the bars instead of the saddles?
caveat: i usually am only going short distances and have a fiberglass boat.
seems easier.
Saris is not for every car.
Saris seems to work best with simple, linear roof lines. But consider my 2003 Corolla. Viewed from the side, the roof is a dome; viewed from the front or rear, the roof is also domed. Worse, viewed from above, the roof is an hour-glass shape. Then there are the integral rain gutter slots which run very close to the edge of the roof. Finally, the inside edges of the door frames are angled, making them hard to grab. Basically, you couldn’t hold a ruler flat anywhere on or around the roof. I had little choice but to return my Saris rack. I left a long voicemail for their “fit engineer”, but never got a return call – a hopeless cause, I presume.
The Yakima rack has just enough means of adjustment to grab the roof securely. And the round crossbars allow accessories to remain vertical on a domed roof. I wish I could have kept the Saris, but modern car designs really don’t seem to take into account the possibility that someone might want to add a rack.
Curved roofs
Bears watching on some car models no doubt, but I have a '98 dodge Neon it work great on. Bubble/dome roof and the Saris grabs well and seats firmly. The bars are not 100% horizontal - but acceptable - this is another benefit of the flexible saddles as they cancel it out. Adapting other accessories could be an issue as most all are rigid.
With mine, I’d much rather have some slight angling off horizontal that have to settle for skinny round bars, saddles that beat up hulls, etc.
I like the rack enough that anytime I even think about getting a new car I check the fit guide. It would suck to have to use another rack system.
Ideal roof line on a small car? Mini Cooper! Level and allows pretty wide spacing.
My experience is similar
– Last Updated: Mar-10-05 10:38 AM EST –
My Elantra GT hatchback has a moderately domed roof and it hasn't presented any problems. But every car is different, so YMMV. The bars are slightly rotated, but it doesn't adversely affect anything. The front and rear saddles are not at the same height, either, but that would be true for any other rack. Eventually, I'll probably make spacers to raise the rear saddles an inch so the boat(s) will sit level.