elatrickWheels
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Trey
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2023
- Threads
- 8
- Messages
- 140
- Reaction score
- 255
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
- Vehicles
- Rivian R1S
- Occupation
- Ski bum, mountain bike bore
- Thread starter
- #1
One tries not to complain too much, but am I alone in finding the locations of roof bar mounting locations on the R1S to be limiting? This vehicle has three fixed mounting points for crossbars. The front pair are spaced at 36”. The rear pair are spaced at 27 1/2” (and so the front and rear pair are spaced at 63 1/2”). The three mount points on each side are not level, so if crossbars were installed at all three locations, the middle one would be nearly an inch higher than the outer pair. Therefore it would not be a good idea to try to mount anything flat on three bars.
I recently sold a trusty old ski box that worked fine on a previous vehicle because its crossbar channels didn’t align with any of the three options, so I turned to Craigslist to unload it.
Now I’m in the market for a rooftop tent. I was very tempted by the TopOak Galaxy, which is a wedge-style tent that closes down to an 83”x56”x8” box. According to the manufacturer, their recommended bar spacing is between 30” and 57”. This rules out all by the front pair of crossbar locations on the R1S, and would mean that the box would overhang by nearly 24" both in front of and behind the crossbars. Two feet in front of the front crossbar means about one foot in front of the top of the windshield, which would be a serious range-killer. Realistically, in turn, this rules out this particular RTT, and anything in a similarly long package.
It sure would be nice to have some more flexibility in the mounting points for these crossbars!
I recently sold a trusty old ski box that worked fine on a previous vehicle because its crossbar channels didn’t align with any of the three options, so I turned to Craigslist to unload it.
Now I’m in the market for a rooftop tent. I was very tempted by the TopOak Galaxy, which is a wedge-style tent that closes down to an 83”x56”x8” box. According to the manufacturer, their recommended bar spacing is between 30” and 57”. This rules out all by the front pair of crossbar locations on the R1S, and would mean that the box would overhang by nearly 24" both in front of and behind the crossbars. Two feet in front of the front crossbar means about one foot in front of the top of the windshield, which would be a serious range-killer. Realistically, in turn, this rules out this particular RTT, and anything in a similarly long package.
It sure would be nice to have some more flexibility in the mounting points for these crossbars!
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