For most of my life, I never owned a ski rack. I just folded down one of my car seats and shoved my skis through the trunk. And while that method works, my skis and my car took quite a beating. But since starting at 国产吃瓜黑料, I鈥檝e tested quite a few different rooftop ski racks. The one I think offers the best features for the money聽and the one I recommend most to friends聽is the .
Ski racks aren鈥檛 very technical pieces of gear. They all do pretty much the same thing and are even designed the same way, with聽two rubberized plastic bars that hinge, like an alligator mouth, to hold your skis. (The bottom bar attaches to horizontal roof racks on the top of a car.) The LiftOp Biggie follows this construction. But there are a few features that set it apart. First, of any rack I鈥檝e used, it鈥檚 the easiest to install. Out of the box, it comes nearly fully assembled and easily attaches via four metal cables to just about any type of rack. When you remove it, which I did a number of times this winter, all the pieces stay together. Read: no more filling plastic baggies with nuts and bolts聽to be聽duct-taped聽to the rack during storage.
Price is another huge factor. At just $180, it costs nearly $50 less than its competitors鈥 versions聽and works nearly as well. Plus,聽the smaller聽but identically built聽聽costs just $160.聽聽
Besides that, the Biggie has all the features we look for in a ski rack, like a one-touch push-button lever for easy opening and closing, and two locks, one to secure the rack to the car聽and one to lock the skis inside to聽prevent聽anyone from swiping them from the rack.
My one gripe? The springs at the hinge are weak enough that the rack doesn鈥檛 stay open on its own. This means you have to hold the rack open with one hand while loading the skis with your other hand. It鈥檚 manageable, but not ideal for shorter or weaker users.