To MikeP
MikeP said:
Thule makes a great rack. Does Thule make the Honda rack? Any other reason for returning the Honda rack other than it doesn't look like the old one? The price looks great for a Thule rack if it is a Thule.
Sorry it took me so long to reply. I have been out of town. When I first saw the picture of the Thule rack that I posted above, I became certain that Thule makes the Honda rack. This is because every detail (except for rack mounting method) matches, right down to the shape/color of the release buttons, rivets, etc. However, I have no official confirmation.
I wasn't very precise when I said that I returned the newer Honda rack because it didn't look the same as the old one. I really had 2 concerns:
(1) Vertical height of skis above the vehicle. The original Honda rack holds the skis at a 45? degree angle (the "roll" angle, to use an aircraft analogy). When the skis are clamped in as base-to-base pairs, this implies--other issues being equal--that the ski whose binding points away from the vehicle would not stick up as high as it would in the newer Honda rack which would point the comparable binding straight up. I was hoping that I would be able to leave skis attached to the rack when I drove in and out of my garage. It has an opening a couple of inches shorter than most garages. This is not a big deal, but there are lots of other racks that might provide such convenience. (I could even buy a wider rack with the Thule clamshell design that would allow me to point all bindings on 3 pairs of skis down toward the vehicle, i.e., not clamp them in as base-to-base pairs.)
(2) Ski rack to roof rack attachment issues. The original Honda rack attaches to roof rack crossbars using brackets and rubber grippers which require no modification to the crossbars. The newer Honda rack requires removing the crossbars, then removing the rubber inserts which run the length of the crossbars. (Refer again to my post above for more details.) Even though well-engineered and more secure than some other options, this extra complication is a bit impractical for me. I actually like the attachment method of the generic Thule rack better than the method of the new Honda rack made by Thule.
Thanks for your observation on the pricing (and the suggestions/alternatives mentioned by other members above). I am still shopping around trying to decide what I want.