When I bought my trail XJ it had these bars on the roof and I've never paid them much attention to them. I was looking at bike racks today and realized I've got no idea what these are useful for. There are no brands or writing on them. I think they are the base of a bike or canoe rack.
Any ideas?

 

If I had to guess maybe you put the bike upside down an you slide it or something.

 

Off topic: my roof rack(same as yours) one of the mounts came off the rail and I cant get it back on to save my life

 

Kayak?

 

+2. It was my guess. Some form of watersport anyway.

 

Those are like a universal rail, they had different attachments like the Yakima ones to attach kayaks, canoes, bikes etc..