2011 Chevy Cruze Roof Kayak Racks - base roof rack cross bars and kayak carriers on 2011 Chevrolet Cruze rooftop

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Posted: 7/18/2011

Question: I want to haul a 70 lb fishing kayak, 12' long (Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120 kayak) on my 2011 Chevy Cruze rooftop. The Cruze roof is currently totally bare, no factory rack or side rails or anything. Also, I sometimes want to carry two bicycles but not at the same time as the kayak. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer: As of this writing (7/18/2011), we highly recommend the following configurations for a 2011 Chevy Cruze roof rack cross bars system with a kayak rack and bike racks attached to the crossbars...

MULTI-PURPOSE BASE RACK SYSTEMS
You'll need to first install a general-purpose base rack system on the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze car top. With the multi-purpose car rack in place, you can then attach any kayak carriers and bike carriers to the base rack cross bars for transporting your sporting equipment. We highly recommend Thule Racks for the '11 Chevy Cruze. Option one is the Thule 480 Traverse roof rack system (includes a set of four Thule 480 Traverse Feet, set of 1569 Fit Kit clips and a pair of 50” load bars with end caps). Option two is the Thule 480R Rapid Traverse roof rack system (includes a set of four Thule 480R Rapid Traverse Feet, set of 1569 Fit Kit clips and a pair of RB47 47 inch Rapid Aero load bars with end caps). The 480 Traverse and 480R Rapid Traverse systems are exactly the same except that the 480R Rapid Traverse uses the more premium looking Thule Rapid Aero load bars, while the regular 480 Traverse uses the classic Thule square load bars.

KAYAK CARRIERS
With either of these base racks listed above installed as a 2011 Chevy Cruze roof rack, you can then connect any kayak carriers to the cross bars. Virtually all kayak racks are universal mounting, allowing you to choose the model that you like best, independent of whether it is the same manufacturer as the base rack system. In general you have three types of kayak rack options: 1) kayak saddles - carry the kayak laying flat / 2) kayak j-cradles - transport the kayak cradled on its side (great for when you need to carry multiple kayaks because the j-cradles use up less crossbar space than the kayak saddles style) / 3) kayak lift-assisting models - mostly kayak saddles with a rear roller that helps you to more easily load and unload the kayak, however some side-loading options are also available that work with j-cradles etc.

BIKE CARRIERS
Finally, you can then also connect any roof bike carriers to the cross bars. Virtually all bike racks are universal mounting, allowing you to choose the model that you like best, independent of whether it is the same manufacturer as the base rack system. In general, you have two basic roof mount bike rack categories to choose from: 1) upright mount bike racks, where you leave the bike wheels on and load the entire bike onto the rack / 2) fork mount bike racks, where you take the front wheel off and mount the bike fork to the bike rack fork mount block & quick-release skewer.

Please note that if you are using the Thule 480 Rapid Traverse roof rack system, some Thule bike carriers require the use of a Thule Xadapt Kit to mount the carrier to the Rapid Aero load bars. Each Thule bike rack product page specifies if a Thule Xadapt Kit is required or not with the bike rack. However, all roof mount bike carriers will mount directly to the square load bars included with the regular Thule 480 Traverse roof rack system that has the square cross bars included.