I’ve been on an as yet fruitless search for the “perfect” pickup truck rack. It’s been out for almost a year but I just stumbeed upon the Thule Xsporter and it looks real nice. Does anyone have one and what do you think? It’s pricey but looks alot better than the Yakima Outdoorsman. I have a Drydock now and it may be ok for canoes but if I can’t get rid of it, I’ll be using it to hang laundry.
racks
I saw a set of these, judging from the welding and the look of the rack I suspect they’re made by TracRac. I’m not sure of the price but for $599 you can pick up the TracRac, the T-Rac (non-movable) is less.
X-Sporter by Thule
Yeah, I’ve got one on my Toyota PreRunner truck. I’ve had it for about 9 months now, and love it. It is a little pricey, I paid 440 for mine yet the reason I ended up purchasing it was because I did not want a rack up on my truck all the time. I like the idea of being able to lower the rack to a position that makes the truck look sporty and not so construction looking. It really is a piece of art work being aluminum with welds that are near perfection.
The only thing that I found offensive initially was when the rack is up, the wind made a whistling noise. I figured out from where, put some good tape on it, and now run down the road at 75 with my yak on tight, no worries, no noise.
A couple of other things I also did was to shorten the length of the cross bars as they appeared to me to stick out to long, down the sides of my truck bed. A good hacksaw, and a clean job solved that issue, and now looks as though the rack was designed especially for my little truck (there made longer for big trucks)
The other thing I did was cover the locking nuts that hold the rack on the truck rails. By doing this, no one knows exactly how they could steal it if they wanted to. I also bought both the locking deals that also prevent theft.
It’s a solid part of my truck now and I get many stares, and compliments from it’s functionality and good looks being brushed aluminum.
I use a cable lock on my yak to insure its security and feel safe as pie leaving it unatended for hours at a time.
I’ve only seen one other truck here in Southern California using it, and I bet it is because of the price. What the heck, all rack parts n’ stuff are fairly expensive, but I must say the looks of the x-sporter kind of sold me.
I love it.
sounds like a ringing endorsement
I too like the idea that they telescope down out of the way when not in use. Thought I would use the Set-to-go saddles that also lay flat- just like they are doing in the banner ad right now. $440 seems to be the price for everyone. Pricey, about the same as the cheaper Trac-rack without the sliding rails. Even though the whole setup will cost almost as much as my kayak, I spent a fortune on the truck. Isn’t that a good rationale? If not, guess I’ll have to buy a better boat.
Solid rack, good price
I purchased an Xsporter last September, put it on my Nissan Frontier and have been very pleased with it. It has performed well, and I would make the same choice again.
About the whistling, I had the same problem, contacted Thule and two days later I had the rubber strips that fit into the groove causing the problem at no charge - some of the early shipments were sent w/o this piece. Solid rack, and solid customer service.