Structured Solutions Raxstars Compact Universal Ski Carrier

This universal ski carrier works fine its just a bit cumbersome to get the skis mounted. I like it enough but if I skied a lot I would get a regular rack. It is easy and much cheaper for casual skiers.

I looked long and hard for the perfect ski and snowboard roof rack for my Honda Civic... for the price. I ended up with Yakima crossbars and a Thule Top-of-the-line Universal ski rack. The problem was that I had one more ski left to carry after I maxed out the load capacity of my Thule ski rack. The Raxstar Ski Carrier proved to be an almost perfect solution to my problem. Everything worked almost exactly how the video had showed. I felt that I needed to hold back one star because the product is not quite as easy to handle (although close...) ask I had hoped. I made a round trip road trip from Salt Lake City to Jackson Hole ( a 6 and half hour one way trip... due to the weather) with 5 sets of snowboards and skis on my civic, driving through very poor weather, so when attaching all my gear to the roof, I wanted to be sure I wouldn't lose anything along the way. It took me about 10 - 15 minutes to attached the single set of skis to the crossbars using the Raxstar, which sat alongside the Thule ski rack. The only issue is that (compared to using the Thule rack) the loading process requires extra elbow grease and dexterity. Don't get me wrong... everything worked OK. The mount successfully held my favorite skis to the crossbars on the 600 mile road trip safe and secure (I did use a pad lock on the Raxstar as well). It just was a bit harder to do than I had imagined. Let me give you more details on some of my minor difficulties. To start with, the skis need to sit and balance on it's edges which means that you can expect a sort of balancing act keeping the skis sitting straight up on the crossbars while you complete the installation. Then you had to thread the thumb screw to the threaded hook. Doesn't sound hard... but it is just a bit irritating in -10 degrees weather (it sure was cold this past month... especially when you had to take your gloves off to be able to handle all of the steps of the installation). The threading on the hook is finely threaded, so it takes quite a few turns of the thumb screw to get to where it needs to be. Since the Raxstar only holds the front of the skis (or the back, depending on how you look at it), you need to scrap down the other side to the rear crossbars using a pretty simple looking scrap (included). This keeps the back side of the installation from wiggling around. My largest complaint comes from how wobbly the whole set-up appears after getting everything nice and tight. My skis wobbles a bit, even when I bear down on the thumb screw as tight as I feel comfortable. I don't think that they would ever fall off my crossbars (due to the threaded hook). It just feels uncomfortable knowing how much the skis wiggles on top of my roof while I drive down the freeway at 70 mph plus. One way you can speed up (and make more bearable) the Raxstar installation is to do most of the set-up indoors (in humane temperatures) by pre-loading the ski poles and skis to the Raxstar, leaving the thumb screw a bit loose so you can simple hook the whole package to your crossbars and a near complete package. If you can loosely scrap your skis together (using a third party ski scrap) it would provide further stability and ease the overall installation. The most positive aspect to the Raxstar is how compact the whole system is. It really does sit comfortable in you glove compartment or side door tray, ready to be easily found and used on your next ski adventure.

I didn't want to spend very much to transport my skis from Fort Worth, TX to TAOS, so this was a great solution. My recommendations when placing skis on carrier it is best to put something soft underneath if you dont want your rack to scratch, because the ski blades sits directly on the rack. Second the wrapp included works I found it faster to use a small bungee. The locking mechanism is a simple padlock. Bang for the buck this is great.

This is a poor design and difficult to put together. It mat work great for a snowboard but avoid it for skies.

Be aware that this does not fit cross bars for 2005 Acura MDX. The hook is not wide enough to fit flat. Ended up getting an Inno ski roof rack. Good concept but ...

so if you have one pair of skis, or maybe two, this is workable (although the straps that come with it are utter junk) even "practical".the videos make it look so easy (it isn't hard, but it takes some practice, and it doesn't fit high profile (thick) skis well, and some fat skis may not work as well either. this only secures one end of your skis - you are expected to secure the other end with the aforementioned [short] strap which has a dysfunctional clasp. get your own strap.On the other hand - by the time you've mounted two pairs of skis and are looking at mounting the third set you'll be wishing you just broke down and bought a real ski rack.

I looked at different ski racks but given that I was an occasional skier I wasn't exactly happy paying ~$200 for a rack that I would use a few times per year.In addition I wasn't happy that the rack would stay on the car the whole winter (can't say for sure how much it affects the mileage, but it does affect it).At that point I saw these racks and decided they were a good fit for me.Pros:* easy to install (3-4 minutes)* easy to store* do not remain on top of the car* they are safe (I was worried in the beginning, but once you put the skis up you'll see they cannot fly from the roof of the car)Cons:* the price is actually not that cheap. I paid $40 for a couple of them and, after all, they are just a bent piece of metal with a screw.* the cord that comes with them to fix the back part of the ski is useless. I've thrown it away and I'm using an elastic cord instead.Overall a very good solution, cheaper than the alternatives, especially if you'll carry only one or two pairs of skis. If you will carry 3 or 4 pairs of skis I'd give a good look to more traditional ski racks.4 stars for the minor "Cons".

I was looking for a way to carry our skis, and found out that buying a complete roof rack with a ski tank will be somewhere in the $800 range. I already had a dingy roof rack (one that connects with suction cups and belts to the car, but that one wouldn't have worked with the regular ski racks out there.So instead I opted for the Raxstars, they fitted my roof rack perfectly and did their work.The skis didn't budge the whole drive on the highways.It takes you around 4-5 minutes to get the thing in place, and it will be hard to do it with ski gloves on, but as long as you can stand being out of your gloves for that amount of time you are fine.Overall a very good solution for those of us who are looking for a cheaper way to carry skis.