I haven’t had time to read all threads so if this question was already posted/answered, I apologize.

In the Element dealer brochure, they show a bike fork mount attachment that connects directly to the factory rack, without adding an aftermarket cross bar on the front factory bar. The brochure states that it is an after market attachment but does not indicate who manufactures it. I called Honda, and nobody could tell me who manufactures that attachment.

The only “direct connect solution” I found is made by Barrecrafters (model RP2) but it is no longer manufactured. I have looked at the Thule, Swagman and Yakima solutions but it looks like they all require the extra cross bar, which I would like to avoid. Any ideas? Thanks.

It's not clear what you mean by cross bar. Is this a bar that crosses from right to left, or a bar that crosses from front to back?

Across, right to left. From what I have seen, the fork mounts from Thule/Yakima require a square or oval bar to connect to. Since the E factory rack is wide and flat, they will not connect. To solve this, the Thule rack pack comes with a square bar that mounts on top of the front factory bar with plastic adaptors.

After posting, I stumbled on a good solution - www.rockymounts.com - the noose sl. It will clamp to just about any factory rack without converting to a square cross bar.

Look at Yakima's mighty mounts. They adapt the factory rack to any Yakima gear.

http://yakima.com/tech_manual/viewimage.asp?part=2365

That RockyMounts looks like it should work. I have an older RockyMounts bike carrier that I've used successfully on Yakima bars. When I bought it was a lot less expensive than similar Yakima or Thule mounts. Not quite as polished in its construction, but still quite functional.

paulj

Thanks everyone for your input. I went ahead and ordered the RockyMounts. I'll let you know how they work out.

Look at Yakima's mighty mounts. They adapt the factory rack to any Yakima gear.
Only partially true.

Mighty Mounts are not supposed to be used with fork-mount bike racks. They are only supposed to be used with the non-fork mount styles that leave the front wheel on the bike, because they have a wider front mounting platform. This allows the front 2 Mighty Mounts to be mounted further apart from each other, creating more stability and strength than you would have on a fork-style mount.

The RockyMounts are working out well. There are some features I like better on the Thule fork mounts I have for another vehicle, but the RockyMounts were easy to install, have a low profile so there is no discernable wind noise, and they mount to the factory rack very securely.

This is probably a big duh, but I am 5’11’’, have a fairly light road bike, and it can be a bit of a challenge to put the bike up on the roof. Shorter people may want to consider an alternative.