Yakima Gets a Makeover for 2016
As I drove down I-84 towards Hood River, OR, I heard nothing. Nothing at all. Sure, the hum of my tires on the asphalt, but that was pretty much it. Which surprised me, considering I had a rack on the roof of my car and some accessories. Why is this a surprise? Let me turn on the way back machine to 28 years ago…
I got my first Yakima rack back in 1988. Those round crossbars across the roof were my portal to adventure. First came skiing. Then snowboarding. Then biking. All with these classic round Yakima bars and Yakima’s nifty accessories for carrying my various toys. Since that first rack, I’ve had a number of other cars and made use of a number of Yakima’s other racks and mounts to carrying my gear around: everything from roof racks and all the attachments to hatchback/trunk racks to trailer hitch mounted racks. You name the activity, and Yakima had something for getting my gear from the front door to the start of my next adventure. The matching lock cores, while not unique to Yakima, were sweet, too; one key to rule them all.
But the heart and soul of the system (less the trunk and trailer hitch racks) was always this simple round bar rack system with a variety of towers that would somehow attach to the roof of damn near any car - even an old Volkswagon bug with its rounded roof. And recently, as pictured above, I saw a Porsche 911 with a Yakima roof rack in Death Valley, CA. But here’s the catch: ease of attachment and versatility were great things, but lash that sucker to a roof and hit highway speed and the racks nearly always made a surprisingly loud amount of noise. But it was the type of noise one easily and automatically tunes out - like when you live next to a railway yard or near a highway: after a week or so, you sleep through that midnight express or the din of rush hour traffic. So after 28 years of rack noise, I never knew what I was missing until I experienced Yakima’s new JetStream bars, one of the new aero shaped roof rack cross bars Yakima is rolling out with their new StreamLine System. Golden, blessed silence reigns supreme as you get from A to B with them on the roof. It may not be complete and total silence, but it’s a noticeable improvement over the old round bars. And really only noticeable by its absence.
This new crossbar shape is the face of a new rack system for Yakima and spearheads the largest makeover in the company’s history. On the one hand, Yakima is coming out swinging with the new bars and accessories designed for them, but Yakima overhauled and redesigned nearly every other rack in their line, too, from roof racks and accessories to trunk racks to spare tire mounts to nearly all of their trailer hitch racks.
But if the bars are the face of the new StreamLine system, the manner in which one attaches those bars is the heart and soul of the new system. To accommodate them, Yakima had to completely re-design all their towers, making them stronger, more streamlined to fit in with the design philosophy of the new bars, more adaptable by building in pitch adjustments, and by creating a variety of foot pads and clips for various roof and rail attachments - the clip library for the new towers can now accommodate an astounding 95% of existing vehicles on the road today without any modifications. And if you've got the old round bars and all the accessories to go with them but just need a new set of towers and clips for your new rig, no problem: the new towers and clips will also work just fine with the old round bars, too; as Yakima’s Product manager put it at the roll out for the new racks, “We can party with everyone.”
And while the new racks stole the show, Yakima also debuted their new breed of cargo box: the Showcase. The main thing about the Showcase design is that it's meant to blend with the diminishing lines of today’s vehicles, so it's a lot easier on the eyes than, say, the original Rocketbox or even the more modern Skybox.
The ShowCase was also designed to allow better hatch clearance - no more cracking your noggin on a partially open hatch back as you grab groceries, etc with a box on the roof. The push button opener makes one-handed entry into the box much, much easier, too. The only ding I can make on the new boxes are that they have 36 and 37 inch wide profiles respectively; this new shape takes up no small amount of space on the racks, so if you plan on carrying a SUP or a bike rack on the roof-top, plan accordingly with some wider bars vs something just wide enough for the roof-top.
Overall, it’s a pretty sweet makeover. I had the use of a ShowCase 20 for a month and a bit, and that thing redefined the term black hole. It held nearly everything I could put into it and then some, making it even easier for me to get to where the fun starts.
More on Yakima's whole line-up at www.yakima.com
Words and photos by Colin Meagher.
MENTIONS: @meagerdude
I got my first Yakima rack back in 1988. Those round crossbars across the roof were my portal to adventure. First came skiing. Then snowboarding. Then biking. All with these classic round Yakima bars and Yakima’s nifty accessories for carrying my various toys. Since that first rack, I’ve had a number of other cars and made use of a number of Yakima’s other racks and mounts to carrying my gear around: everything from roof racks and all the attachments to hatchback/trunk racks to trailer hitch mounted racks. You name the activity, and Yakima had something for getting my gear from the front door to the start of my next adventure. The matching lock cores, while not unique to Yakima, were sweet, too; one key to rule them all.
 |
 As seen recently in Death Valley: an 80s something Porsche 911 with a Yakima roof rack with all the trimmings. |
But the heart and soul of the system (less the trunk and trailer hitch racks) was always this simple round bar rack system with a variety of towers that would somehow attach to the roof of damn near any car - even an old Volkswagon bug with its rounded roof. And recently, as pictured above, I saw a Porsche 911 with a Yakima roof rack in Death Valley, CA. But here’s the catch: ease of attachment and versatility were great things, but lash that sucker to a roof and hit highway speed and the racks nearly always made a surprisingly loud amount of noise. But it was the type of noise one easily and automatically tunes out - like when you live next to a railway yard or near a highway: after a week or so, you sleep through that midnight express or the din of rush hour traffic. So after 28 years of rack noise, I never knew what I was missing until I experienced Yakima’s new JetStream bars, one of the new aero shaped roof rack cross bars Yakima is rolling out with their new StreamLine System. Golden, blessed silence reigns supreme as you get from A to B with them on the roof. It may not be complete and total silence, but it’s a noticeable improvement over the old round bars. And really only noticeable by its absence.
 |
| The Whispbar is the top of the line cross bar in the Yakima line, and it redefines a quiet riding system with a 70% reduction in wind noise. It comes with the new end cap design of tower as well as the Through Cap tower. The cutaways of the Whispbar show that it also has an internal rib/I-beam type of reinforcement to add rigidity and strength to its svelte, aero shape. |
 |
| The new JetStream bar is an extruded alloy bar; the cut-away shows the internal reinforcing of the bar. It may not be as svelte as the new Whispbar, but it's nearly as quiet when it comes to rocketing around the countryside with one on the roof. |
 |
| The new CoreBar; as the cutaway shows, is a simple roll form steel aero bar with a coating to allow rack accessories a bit more bite ala the old round bars. It, too, is almost as quiet as the Whispbar, as well as being a lot easier on the wallet than the Whispbar system. It's also the first steel aero type cross bar on the market. |
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| The JetStream bars, seen here in both black and silver, and the new Whispbars both feature the Tee-Slot mounting system. Certain rack accessories attach via the Tee-Slot gutter in the middle of the bar (that black, rubber filled slit running the length of the new bars). Any Tee Slot rack accessory will mount in that rubber-lined center crack and lock in with a simple twist of the T-nut that gives the Tee-Slot its name. |
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| Not all the new racks are Tee Slot compatible, so Yakima is utilizing updated clamps for various accessory racks that will work with not only the new aero-shaped bars but also with the old round bars, too. |
This new crossbar shape is the face of a new rack system for Yakima and spearheads the largest makeover in the company’s history. On the one hand, Yakima is coming out swinging with the new bars and accessories designed for them, but Yakima overhauled and redesigned nearly every other rack in their line, too, from roof racks and accessories to trunk racks to spare tire mounts to nearly all of their trailer hitch racks.
 |
| For the back of the car, it's nowhere near as complete of a makeover as the top of the car. The new FullBack and HalfBack trunk racks, for example, merely get a nip and a tuck: gone are the side straps that tended to make things a bit of a rats nest when it came time to mount that sucker up on the back of the car. Added now, too, are some simple labels that make setting the rack up a snap (see again the rats nest that was the old system). |
 |
| Nearly every back of the vehicle bike carrying accessory from the trunk racks to the spare tire racks to the trailer hitch mounts such as the Literider three or the Ridgeback 4 gets a bit of a collagen injection by way of the addition of the Super Cush bike frame carrying system. This system gently cradles any bike vs the older clamp style that wasn't quite as, well, cush. |
But if the bars are the face of the new StreamLine system, the manner in which one attaches those bars is the heart and soul of the new system. To accommodate them, Yakima had to completely re-design all their towers, making them stronger, more streamlined to fit in with the design philosophy of the new bars, more adaptable by building in pitch adjustments, and by creating a variety of foot pads and clips for various roof and rail attachments - the clip library for the new towers can now accommodate an astounding 95% of existing vehicles on the road today without any modifications. And if you've got the old round bars and all the accessories to go with them but just need a new set of towers and clips for your new rig, no problem: the new towers and clips will also work just fine with the old round bars, too; as Yakima’s Product manager put it at the roll out for the new racks, “We can party with everyone.”
 |
| The new kids on the block: the new Yakima towers (from top left, clockwise). The Timberline tower with the old round bar; the Skyline tower with the new Core bar; the new Ridgeline tower with the JetStream bar; and finally, the new Baseline tower, also with the JetStream Bar. These new towers up the ante by adding not only the more aero design but also more load carrying capacity. The old towers were rated for only 165 lbs; these new ones allow for 220 lbs of load (75 vs 100kg of load). |
And while the new racks stole the show, Yakima also debuted their new breed of cargo box: the Showcase. The main thing about the Showcase design is that it's meant to blend with the diminishing lines of today’s vehicles, so it's a lot easier on the eyes than, say, the original Rocketbox or even the more modern Skybox.
 |
| The new top of the line ShowCase roof boxes are a definite improvement over the old cargo boxes. The two ShowCase boxes, the Showcase 15 and ShowCase 20, both feature one button opening vs the old handle that could sometimes be a cast iron bitch to lever open. They also feature a new, steel claw that clamps the boxes to the roof racks. Interestingly enough, this new clamp opens forwards instead of towards the rear ala the Skybox design. This design update makes for a safer cargo box as it prevents a loaded box from launching forward in the event of a fender bender. |
The ShowCase was also designed to allow better hatch clearance - no more cracking your noggin on a partially open hatch back as you grab groceries, etc with a box on the roof. The push button opener makes one-handed entry into the box much, much easier, too. The only ding I can make on the new boxes are that they have 36 and 37 inch wide profiles respectively; this new shape takes up no small amount of space on the racks, so if you plan on carrying a SUP or a bike rack on the roof-top, plan accordingly with some wider bars vs something just wide enough for the roof-top.
 |
| The new Showcase roof boxes are different from what Yakima has historically produced in the sense that rather than being similar lengths but wider as one goes up in cargo capacity, the Showcase boxes feature nearly identical widths. Where they differ is in length and height, with the Showcase 15 measuring 80 inches long to the 91 inches long ShowCase 20, and 14.5 inches tall for the Showcase 15 vs. the 17 inches tall Showcase 20. The ShowCase 15 is on the left, the ShowCase 20 is on the right. This keeps a similar streamlined look for the line but as mentioned above, they claim a fair bit of real estate on the roof top vs some of the older cargo box designs, making it a bit more of a balancing act to have a box on the roof and a SUP rack or a Front Loader bike rack on the roof, too. Plus there is a bit of a hit to the mileage when you're pushing a box around with a cross section that large. Certainly, one can remove the box when it's not in use to both free up that real estate and improve fuel economy, but my experience is that once a box goes on the roof, most users are loath to remove it. |
Overall, it’s a pretty sweet makeover. I had the use of a ShowCase 20 for a month and a bit, and that thing redefined the term black hole. It held nearly everything I could put into it and then some, making it even easier for me to get to where the fun starts.
More on Yakima's whole line-up at www.yakima.com
Words and photos by Colin Meagher.
MENTIONS: @meagerdude
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I hope Kuat isn't as bad as you're saying ! I've had mine for almost a year and have taken it on some pretty serious offroading with out any problems yet.. I routinely took it over Ophir Pass from Ophir to Silverton CO this summer, not the most difficult road in the world but it is a 4wd mountain pass and is extremely bumpy/rocky.. As I was re-installing today, i found a big section of scarring on the metal from touching rocks, however it is straight and sturdy as ever... Better be for the price right !
In January, I bought a Yakima 2" hitch mount rack $500 USD ... while assembling, 2 bolts stripped-out, despite being careful. Returned that and bought a Thule (my first Thule). Drove from California to BC and both ratcheting arms failed (the rack was a week old). Thule replaced both arms, but I've yet to install them and honestly, I don't really trust them not to fail within a week.
A sturdy rack is essential for the safety of your gear and other vehicles/people on the roads, but they're all made like $hit (it would appear) and are definitely waaaaaay overpriced. Racks and associated accessories are one of those things I loathe paying for - it's about as much fun as paying a speeding ticket.
When I don't have to carry a few bikes or other gear, I toss my bike into a 2x4 rack that sits in my pick-up truck - cost me $8 to build and is zero hassle.
The Whispbar Roof bike carriers are the best and easiest lock/removal I have seen.
Saris Superclamp performed amazingly over past two years, with no signs of issues going into year three and forward. Two DH bikes up and down eastern NA. Used on small sedan and SUV - both with zero issues over hwy to off road.
All roof racks get the bozack. As Miss Universe, I will advocate to eradicate. Along with mosquitoes and ranch dressing.
Tray hitch racks are for me.
Those vertical Northshore racks are a little too neck brace, but I'll allow them on your Monstergator.