I have just got a new car without a tow bar so the ball carrier has gone.

I have bought Thule wingbars so I am thinking a Thule carrier makes sense as it slots in to the bars nice and easily.

Is the Thule 598 worth getting over the older 591, all I can see is that you get a new style wheel holder and torque stop on the frame vice. Its a good £30 more though.

Also what are peoples thoughts on the Yakima Frontloader?

Is a fork mount better than all of the above….?

Cheers

I tested the 598,and already owned the 591. Both are on top of our berlingo,so it’s not the easiest to access. I found the 598 a lot easier to use – less of the bike falling on my head while trying to get it up there. Plus might be worth noting the 598 will take fat bike adapters and the 591 doesn’t. review here.

591 is durable, tried and tested and incredibly easy to use.

I’ve got both. The 598 is better. However if I didn’t have a carbon bike I’d probably have stuck with the 591.

Is a fork mount better than all of the above

Definitely more stable, I used to use these.

Make sure you lock it properly with a cable lock under the roof bars (the Thule locks are useless).

I’ve also had Thule bike carriers come lose (whilst driving) as the bolts holding them on fracture, luckily the cable lock has kept everything in place.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/8ga91]Return to England[/url] by Ben Freeman, on Flickr

I’m currently using a wholly Thule setup with 591 racks. But the next car I’ll use a Sea Sucker on as it’ll be a saloon and without roof rails.

Got both a couple of 591’s and a 1st generation (9mm only) 561.

I bought the 561 as I had a carbon frame and QR forks and didnt’t want to risk clamping the frame. In hindsight this was silly as the frame is a C456 so built like a tank and that frame now has a 20mm bolt through (seemed fitting for the way I ride the damn thing) so the 561 stays in the shed.

I am not sure how the newer fork mounts work but make sure they cover all axle types and it’s easy to change. I wouldnt use them on forks with 9mm carbon drop outs and would even worry about old style bonded aluminium/carbon forks.

The 591s weaknesses are the wheel trays that are thin and go brittle and the wheel straps are okay but not great. The metal clips on them also rust. The clamp is okay but more suited to round tube bikes. The 598 does look like it has addressed those issues so I would go for it.

Bolt breaking should be addressed now, they did have a recall. If going on a long trip I have secured the bikes with a ratchet strap too just as a precaution to secure everything to the roof bars but this was more due to me using an old 1980s/90s roof rack at the time which was fine but not the Thule I was used to.

Some form of extra lock would be a good idea if leaving the car but I generally don’t move more than 30 seconds from the car with the bikes on.

Just got an inno 389 which grabs each wheel. Bought for flexibility: no frame contact and easily swaps between big wheel / little wheel bikes so fewer limits on n+1 transport. Seems to hold OK, but nowhere near as stable as a fork holder. Normal price is crazy expensive, but I bought someone else’s return at knockdown from roofbox.