I'm offering this to give some ideas of what can be done if the need arises say for a Hurricane evacuation.

Sometimes people need to haul things that just do not fit inside their BOV.  I sometimes need to take a bike along, and it will not fit inside the Suburban.  

Oh Hi; time for a bike rack.  There are choices for racks roof mount or hitch mount.  The Suburban has a roof rack, and I do not want to fight my way past a hitch mount to put groceries in the back of the truck.  The factory roof rack has sturdy rails but the cross bars are barely sturdy enough to tie string to.  

There are some companies that make good looking high quality roof racks, and fittings to carry; bikes, skis, canoes, cargo, etc.  I like them but for now the out of pocket expense is a no go.

I did have a bike rack that I got cheap from Craigslist that only needed to be attached to the roof rack on the Suburban.  Now to review my comment about the weak crossbars; really not able to securely carry a bike.

Oh Hi; we're going to Home Depot.  Now for about 30 dollars of hardware I have a WECSOG roof rack that I can use until I find a screaming deal for a name brand rack, and is sturdier than the factory.

First I need better crossbars.  Conduit fills the need at a reasonable cost; under $10 for a 10 foot section.  I cut the 10 foot piece into the desired length bars.

$10 conduit subing for $75 corssbars

Then I gotta attach the conduit; 8 Ubolts.

$10 of Ubolts subbing for a $160 set of name brand adapters

Next install the name brand bike rack.  At this time I could have used the rack as designed, but I added some hardware so the rack would be sturdier than originally marketed.  2 Ubolts, some unistrut type angle, 3 bolts another $10.
Here is the rack installed and stowed.


Test the system.


This works well for me because this rack will haul any size bike without needing to take off a wheel.  It is called an AnkleBiter, and is no longer in production, but is available used.  

I saw a Clampit roof rack at the hardware store made of 2x4 lumber lashed onto a factory roof rack with ratcheting tie down straps.  

Sweet Cannondale too

Thanks; I bought the front fork (tine?) for personal health reasons, and the rest of the bike came with it.

What model is your Prophet??   I had a Jeckyl then switched to a Stumpjumper.  Sorry for the hyjack.  Nice, simple rack system.  I wish I could do that to my Wrangler.....

TimJ, thanks!

The bike is a 2005 model 1000.  I really may be under utilizing the bike, because when I was shopping every bike sales professional tried to sell me a comfort bike based on what type of riding I do.  I bought it to get the soft ride of the lefty for medical reasons, and the disc brakes for trailer towing.  No comfort bikes had those when I bought this bike.

I tested the fit of the smallest bike; I'll have to strap the little one on but it will work



also saw a Wolfcri type rack while in town

I did something very similiar. I used zinc coated conduit and painted it black. It outlasted the original rack.

Edit: I cut holes in the conduit so the u clamp fit through it and fastened with only 1 u clamp per side.

Great job on the Mcgyver deal man. As for a good quality rack/ basket.... I just put a Thule MOAB on our Tuscan. Now I have a way to fit more stuff into the little SUV when camping or when the Zombie Hoard arrives. As for the Quality of the MOAB basket... GREAT. I got mine for new 320 delivered. Picked up a net and a set of 4 locks for a little bit more. Fathersday weekend it will be carrying a large waterproof duffle containing my Wiggys FTRSS bags, the canvas to our 7man Springbar, Kelty kitchen, misc campin supplies in other duffle bags. The factory rack is rated at 165lbs, the rack is 30, that leaves me with an avilable 135lbs... 55 of which will be the canvas of the springbar tent (the poles are too long to fit up there so they will still ride inside, still allowing for 80 lbs of gear. The rack comes with a pair of cross bars and hardware to attach them for adding bikeracks, ski racks ect ontop of the basket. I just left these off for unobstructed storage space.

Give me a few more weekends and I will report back and have a photo of it loaded. I have to say I actually like it. This Tuscan has the 2.7 V6, instead of the 2.0 4 that they all sport now... not sure why they did that. Really like this little vehicle, its great so far.

Good looking rig spoolup.  Has the basket added to the wind noise?  Does being empty or loaded create wind noise?

Nice do it yourself project!  A couple questions: is friction the only thing keeping the cross bars from sliding out sideways from under the U-bolts?  I was wondering if the conduit might slide out if you took a hard corner or did some evasive manuveurs.   Would permanently attaching some end caps on the conduit prevent the pipes from sliding out if it could be an issue?  End caps might cut down wind noise from the hollow conduit if that's an issue at high speed.  I'd imagine the nuts might loosen after a while, or maybe not.  Will you always keep the cross bars on?  If so, maybe using loctite on the nuts or using some jb weld could keep the nuts locked up good.

Just curious and not trying to poo on your project.  It'd be quite dangerous and a pain in the ass if a bike/pipe fell off your roof while driving 55mph+

I actually installed it at work during lunch. Assembly and install took about 20 minutes. At first I did not attach the "thule ferring" thing. Holy hell I thought I was driving in my racecar again, anything above 40MPH was loud, I had a few people look over at me driving down the freeway. Could not hear the radio, myself think, or anything. Got home and installed the ferring up front. Drove back to the highway and got on it, at 90 I noticed no increased noise. Girl drove it to work and did not notice a thing. As for loading it up... will be doing a testload-up this weekend and doing a drive around the 215 beltloop. So I can not comment. But will on Monday or so.

Yes.  There is quite a bit of friction though because I had to pound the Ubolts on.



It would probably be easier to roll the truck.



The bars hummed a bit, but 'lectric tape appears to have hushed them.



I have installed lock washers.



They will ride there for the duration but I plan to replace them as soon as I find a deal on some name brand equipment.



No offense taken; I would have not posted this if I though it was not serviceable.  I'd be sad dad if I lost a bike of the rack too.

I had to go out to the dairy so it was a good opportunity to test the rack for security and noise.

I loaded a bike and some conduit on the rack and we went into the country.

First I tested the overhead at the bank.


Then went out of town on rural highways to the farm.


Somewhere along the way we struck a tree because I brought back some twigs, leaves and a caterpillar; I think it was as we departed the farm.  

There was no noticeable wind noise or vibration, and I didn't even notice that the tree struck the bike.  Speed was a varied mix of urban traffic up to 70 mph highway.

I decided to add room behind the truck over going higher....




Trailer is a 6x14 with a side door and barn doors on the back (I didn't want the ramp).  I like the baskets but the Expedition is just as high as I want it already!

If I get my enclosed trailer I want it is going to wind up being a bit taller than my grand cherokee most likely, I am trying to avoid being a whole lot taller.

I figure if the trailer is taller by a foot or so I will go with some of those low profile cargo haulers for some lightweight stuff to keep with the jeep.

Now that I am back to having my suv and no pickup bed I find myself using the roof rack here and there for stuff.

The factory bars kind of suck so I am considering just putting something up there full time and it looks like conduit might be a good solution since I could slide stuff on them and not hurt them.