I love my new Baja rack but it is heavy, 100 lbs. of steel tubing fashioned into a visually appealing and functional cage. That's one advantage of the ProSpeed, weight, along with the low-profile design and lack of wind noise. I can see why people that want those features would be excited by that product.
It was a nice day and I was down at the marina hanging out and I got the urge to see if I could climb up and stand on top of the Baja, like I have seen others pictured doing. I'm not a small guy, but I figured if I took it easy it would probably be okay. If nothing else, it would be a good test to see if the product holds up to its claim of being able to hold up to 600 lbs. of static weight. I got up there fine and I was able to stand on top of it and sit on it and lay on it and then I climbed down.
I don't see myself ever doing that again.
The thing is that I spent a lot of time reaming out and prepping the insert connectors for installing the short rails and then the installation of the full-sized rack. I know what's underneath the whole thing and how it is mounted to the vehicle. There are 8 mounting points with threaded inserts in the roof that hold fairly modest-sized screws. Each screw is buried into the insert maybe a little more than 1/4" deep. That's it. That is all that is keeping 100 lbs. of steel from flying off of my roof. Plus, there is the integrity of the roof itself. It's mostly glass. Would it be any wonder if one of those glass moonroof panels shattered under the pressure and stress of too much weight? And what about where the rack is mounted, what is that resting on? Is it structural? An unsupported sheet of body panel? I don't know. What I do know is it was made to support a couple of roof rails and cross bars that are intended to put some luggage on or maybe the holiday Christmas tree. Bottom line, I'd feel a lot better if it was welded down to something that was structural.
