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Explanation
by Argiope
Friday the 13th turned out to be lucky for me, this year. My Classic Carrier arrived! Shipping problems had delayed its arrival … but it was worth the wait! The unit is well built and has a feeling of quality.
The rack is a single piece, welded and heavily chromed. Chromed mounting brackets are connected to the rack using stainless steel hex screws and washers. The mounting brackets, in turn, attach to two flat chromed strap assemblies, again using stainless steel hex screws. The strap assemblies lie across the top of the engine deck, cushioned by rubber channel to protect the paint. A strap assembly is made up of three parts; two hook pieces designed to grip the edges of the deck, and a longer center piece that lies between them. These pieces are fitted into the lip edges of the rubber channel. The hook areas have formed poly pieces that cushion their connection to the edge of the engine deck.
Assembly is easy and straightforward. The instructions included in the package have no text, relying on images to explain the procedure. Parts are stamped with markings as to their respective location during assembly. I followed a five-step procedure.
Step one: Loosely connect the mounting brackets to the rack.
Step two: Loosely assemble the strap assemblies and insert them under the lip edges of the rubber cushion. Also insert the poly cushions into the hook areas.
Step three: Install the strap assemblies on the engine deck, aligning them on either side of the deck vent area and spacing them by loosely connecting the straps to the mounting brackets on the rack.
Step four: Check alignment and tighten the screws.
Step Five: Take a test drive!
The fit and finish of the assembled unit is impressive! I was particularly pleased by the clearance where the hook units fit around the edge of the engine deck. Someone spent some time making sure that the hook units conformed to the body contours and would not chip paint!
My first impression, upon taking a test drive with the new rack attached, was that something shiny was very close to the back of my car! In the rear view mirror, the rack intrudes into the lower third of the rear window. Visibility is not blocked, but it does take some getting-used-to. Rear “side” visibility doesn’t seem to be too badly effected; not that backing out of a blind parking space was ever easy with the top up in this car.
After the first test, I figured I ought to see what things would look like with a suitcase on the rack. Let’s just say that I’m glad the Spyder has two side mirrors. I could still see to the rear “sides”, so I could tell when I finished passing someone and it was safe to pull back into the lane; but if a policeman were directly behind the car I wouldn’t know it unless the blue light happened to reflect off of the chrome finish.
That’s fair enough, I guess. Being able to take an extended trip WITH someone is worth some trade-off.
All in all, I’m very satisfied with the Classic Carrier. I hope that their shipping arrangements are now straightened out and delivery times will be quicker, but even if I had to wait again I would still place my order. It really is a quality piece!
Argiope
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Explanation