kloftus1044

Hey everyone...

I've been searching the interweb for some bicycle rack options for a 996. I've run across a few that will fit on the top and a few options that somehow bolt behind the license plate.

I'd love to know if anyone has used a bike rack on their 996. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

9964runner

Factory Porsche rack with mtn bike rack. I believe Suncoast carries them.

kloftus1044

That roof-rack itself looks surprisingly good on the roof of a 996. Doesn't really mess with the lines of the car all that much. How much extra wind noise do you get when the roof rack is in place? Some of them are surprisingly loud.

C4CRNA

Lots of wind noise, will drive you nuts.

dr_r2r

Once you've got the OEM bike rack for about $500 (got mine used for $350), get this EZ quick bike carrier

http://www.ez-quick.com/index1.htm .

Best bike carrier ever. Easy to load and stable even at triple digit speeds

9964runner

Not sure about the crossbar only as I always have the bike holder attached, OK until 60kph, above that its time to close the sunroof. on the flip-side, takes less than 10min to install/remove.

Thundertub

FYI, before you purchase the two factory crossbars, open the four little flaps on your roof and completely unscrew and remove the flush slotted screw in the very center of each opening. The factory "Roof Transportation System" requires that you insert a bolt from each foot of the cross bar into each of those holes. MANY 996'ers have sadly discovered that over time those filler bolts have fused themselves to the metal foot plate and cannot be removed for love nor money.

Also, if you think you can just drill them out and retap them, early 996's had NOTHING under that filler screw but a very closely mounted HEADLINER FABRIC. You don't want to drill through that by accident, or pour any lube liquid into the hole to help with the drilling/mounting. The purpose of the filler screw was to prevent water from getting onto the headliner through that hole.

A careful search of this forum will produce several threads on this topic.

Throttle

I had a Willrack hitch receiver system on my Boxster. Very stable and holds two bikes. Rooftop not an option because for me because my 996 is also ragtop. I am exploring some other options but will likely go Willrack again. He makes one that goes under the license plate so when the rack is not installed you don't see anything. The other approach has two receivers mounted under the bumperettes. That is what I had on the Boxster and it actually blends in well. Most people did not even notice.