[Quasimodem]

I was planning on getting an 09 335d e91 Touring, but it looks like the Touring won't be available for a while, if ever in the States. So sad, one would think a diesel would appeal more to the station wagon crowd than the sedan crowd, but who am I to tell BMW how to make money?

So if I have to settle for the 335d sedan, is there any way I can get rails on top of the vehicle like the Touring comes with?

I don't want to have to install and uninstall the BMW cargo system into the slots everytime I want to take my bike to a trail head to go mountain biking. And I don't want to leave the cargo system on all the time because it messes up miles per gallon. If I had rails attached to the slot all the time like the Touring does, I could just slap the loadbars on and then put the bike holder on top of that anytime I needed.

Any ideas? Is this something I would have to have custom made?

[samson]

A) anything on your roof will "mess up miles per gallon" - even the stock rails.
B) just use the roof rack , it is not like you will go from 30 mpg to 16mpg just because of the roof rack.

[Kevin G]

Note on this: just put the BMW racks on my coupe, and the wind noise is almost unbearable (audible even when sunroof closed and at speeds above about 45 mph). Plus I imagine my MPG is taking a hit. Will most likely remove and throw snowboards in the trunk with a seat down. Will use the racks only on certain trips when roof transport is absolutely necessary.

P.S. They're very easy to take on and off; basically only 4 screws once you do the initial mount.

[Kilgore Trout]

Originally Posted by Quasimodem

I was planning on getting an 09 335d e91 Touring, but it looks like the Touring won't be available for a while, if ever in the States. So sad, one would think a diesel would appeal more to the station wagon crowd than the sedan crowd, but who am I to tell BMW how to make money?

So if I have to settle for the 335d sedan, is there any way I can get rails on top of the vehicle like the Touring comes with?

I don't want to have to install and uninstall the BMW cargo system into the slots everytime I want to take my bike to a trail head to go mountain biking. And I don't want to leave the cargo system on all the time because it messes up miles per gallon. If I had rails attached to the slot all the time like the Touring does, I could just slap the loadbars on and then put the bike holder on top of that anytime I needed.

Any ideas? Is this something I would have to have custom made?

Have you considered a tow hitch?

[Quasimodem]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

Have you considered a tow hitch?

Certainly a bike carrier in a tow hitch would work. I don't know what it is, but I just don't like having my bike down where somebody can hit it with their front bumper. I would also have to be careful backing up, but with my bike on the roof. Of course, I have to be careful driving under low hanging roofs and branches. I would be leaving the rack on my car at trailheads, so it would be easy for somebody to hit my rack with their car.

I have seen some small doors on BMWs that open up and have a "fix point" for attaching a luggage rack. Is this what a 335 has? It looks like the door probably conceals is a slot which receives a metal on a screw. The plate is inserted through the slot, rotated and then cranked up like a vice securely clamping the foot of the rack. This is secure, but I would like an attachment point which I could just insert the rack into and it would click in securely without requiring screws to be turned. Maybe I will have to have something constructed, some kind of adapter for each fixpoint. Then, when I am ready I could carry out the rack with my bike mount attached, place it on top of the car, push down on each corner, clicking each corner in securely, and then put my bike on top.

Kilgore: You could try a fairing, of course that will only make the rack less noisy, anything you put on top of it will still make noise.

[zamboni]

I can still get 24 MPG on my 2001 E46 combine with freeway & local, the BMW bike rack looks cool on the car beside I don't want my nice bike to get bump.