Well, my BIC Targa bars arrived today, but it wasn't until evening that I was able to give them a good go. (It was raining earlier.)
Chassis flex:
On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is the targa off, windows down, and 10 is my hardtop (Targa roof bolted on is about a 9) I'd give these a solid 8.5. I can drive across the local bridge with the windows up without fear of the windows being broken by being battered against the A and B pillars. That's not bad at all. Some zipping through the twisties gives a nice solid, predictable feel, and the back half of the car feels like it's following what the front half the car is doing. Still a bit of squeaking from things when the road gets rough, but it does that with the top bolted on, too. As good as I expected.
Installation:
A bit awkward. You have to have the rear portion fairly tight before you can get the front to go in at all, and when it does, it's not as smooth as the roof is. I have a fear of cross-threading the nut since the bar can still twist a bit and doesn't seem to be guaranteed to be centered well. Takes a bit of patience, but probably will become better with practice. I could have hoped for a better captive bolt on the rear of bar, but it was as good as expected.
Driving impression:
It's not quite the same open feeling of driving with the top off, but it's good. The bar is lower than the roof, so it took a bit to get used to where it sits, but a nice drive on the highway in the moonlight did the trick.
Chassis flex:
On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is the targa off, windows down, and 10 is my hardtop (Targa roof bolted on is about a 9) I'd give these a solid 8.5. I can drive across the local bridge with the windows up without fear of the windows being broken by being battered against the A and B pillars. That's not bad at all. Some zipping through the twisties gives a nice solid, predictable feel, and the back half of the car feels like it's following what the front half the car is doing. Still a bit of squeaking from things when the road gets rough, but it does that with the top bolted on, too. As good as I expected.
Installation:
A bit awkward. You have to have the rear portion fairly tight before you can get the front to go in at all, and when it does, it's not as smooth as the roof is. I have a fear of cross-threading the nut since the bar can still twist a bit and doesn't seem to be guaranteed to be centered well. Takes a bit of patience, but probably will become better with practice. I could have hoped for a better captive bolt on the rear of bar, but it was as good as expected.
Driving impression:
It's not quite the same open feeling of driving with the top off, but it's good. The bar is lower than the roof, so it took a bit to get used to where it sits, but a nice drive on the highway in the moonlight did the trick.
