With the side effects of the global pandemic keeping many people grounded at home and the resulting halt on ‘normal’ summer travel—i.e. flying to far-off places—this summer has turned into a COVID camping season. No matter the state, trailhead or weather, people from all over the United States are loading up their vehicles and hitting the road to enjoy vacation as safe as can be.
But with all that camping comes a slew of gear: tents, fishing rods, pool floaties, foldable chairs, even kayaks, canoes and mountain bikes. Instead of overloading your trunk with all that equipment, effectively losing passenger space and the ability to organize everything neatly, what’s a better alternative? The solution: Rack Attack and its vast lineup of boxes, racks or trailer hitch attachments for every summer rig.
Rack Attack opened its first store in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1996. Since then, the sport rack company has expanded to 19 different locations across North America, from Boston, Massachusetts, Toronto, Canada, to Los Angeles, California, outfitting customers with the roof boxes, racks and custom setups to house and transport skis and snowboards in the winter, fly rods and mountain bikes in the summer—and just about everything else, any time of year. Featuring both brick-and-mortar stores for in-person consultations and installations, as well as an online shop for convenience, there’s no limit to who can benefit from Rack Attack’s services.
I first had the Thule Motion XT XL installed on my 2018 Hyundai Tucson back in January—the entire process took less than an hour. The XT XL is the second-largest box in Thule’s Premium Motion line, and it offers 18 cubic feet of space and fits up to 200-centimeter skis—plenty long even for the lankiest athletes out there, or those of you who want to take your dad’s old 210s out for a spin at the resort. The box itself is sleek looking and has an aerodynamic design reinforced by a metal rod that runs down the center of the box. It’s a small design detail, but it significantly cuts down on highway chatter. The Motion XT XL also boasts a central locking system that can be accessed from either side of the box, making it easy—even for me at five-foot-one—to access all of my gear.
As the snow began to melt and the coronavirus outbreak really took hold in the United States in early spring, I made packed up my things and chose to move to Idaho. Rather than spend the extra money to rent a U-Haul, I was able to utilize the Thule Motion XT XL to carry all of my gear during the cross-state move. Since landing in Idaho, the Thule box has come in handy for more than one occasion. Going climbing with your gal pals? Throw everything in the box and limit chalk splatter on the interior of your whip. Want to carpool five adults and one giant dog to the river? Leave the trunk clear for the pooch and throw everything else up in the box.
If you’re looking for a new system but don’t live anywhere near a Rack Attack location, most items ship for free from Rack Attack’s website and land at your doorstep within a couple of days with easy-to-use mounting instructions. If you’re just looking for a weekend setup—a rack or trailer hitch that you’ll only need for a couple of days—Rack Attack also provides roof box rentals that start at just $15 per day.
Better yet, Rack Attack makes it a point to stock its shelves with products from the top names in the sport-rack industry. Yakima, Thule and Küat are just a few examples of the 15-plus brands Rack Attack carries, so you can rest assured you’ll find exactly what you need, no matter your lifestyle or vehicle.
A road trip with your buds or heading up to the local ski hill shouldn’t have to be a cramped and uncomfortable; choosing and installing a rack or box shouldn’t have to be a huge hassle either. Thanks to Rack Attack, both of these issues are solved with expertise and accommodating customer service, learned after being in the biz for over 20 years.
