Thule Roofbars – real world differences?

As above, really. Looking to get some roofbars for my car, as I can’t really be doing with getting a towbar installed and then storing a great big rack when I’m not using it.

Has anyone used both of the above bars, and noticed any difference in terms of fuel economy/noise between the square bar and wingbar?

My bike’s carbon, so I don’t really want to use the basic FreeRide carrier. Has anyone found the ProRide ok for use on carbon frames?
Alternatively looking at the ThruRide, but not sure if it’ll take a boost fork..? Anyone used one with boost?

Cheers,
Scott

Square bar and aerobar user here. No real world difference other than aerobar lighter as aluminium. Wing bars will also be light. That’ll mke a difference if you want to carry lots of bikes on top of are concerned about handling I guess.

Halfords exodus are the older Thule products.

Haven’t used wingbars but would expect they’re better for your economy. Loads of God stuff on e Bay.

Wingbars and 598 carriers here. You get a carbon adaptor for the 598’s which is handy.

Mine whistle above 60mph, but that’s the carriers, not the bars. I have 3 carriers on the bars all the time.

Wingbar and 598 here.

No noticeable noise at all, and 598 is fine (touch wood) on my crabon fribe FredSled. 🙂

Had both, aero bars are quieter and look trick (thanks 1993) – but only once you remove bikes and carrier. Use a 591 carrier on carbon, steel and Ti just fine, can’t say I’ve thought about it really.

Just got a set of wing bars and a Thule roof box then went on a 400 mile round trip. No particular increase in noise and economy was hit by no more than 5 mpg. Decent bit of kit.

Got the bars from Tredz as they were cheapest about and there’s also a 10% discount code kicking about. Delivered the next day as well

Dont forget the T-track on the wing bars. Much better fixing method than the crappy square ones.

I use my 591 on steel alu and carbon. No issues at all, the clamp barely leaves any mark at all.

I use aero bars which are definitely a lot quieter than the square steel ones. I leave the bars and 2x bike carriers on all the time and don’t have an issue with noise on my Legacy. In our Yaris you can hear them a little but that doesn’t have much sound insulation.

Buy Wingbars.
Less noise
Better MPG
T-Track is ace.

If you buy square bars, every time you hit 70+ and you have to turn up the stereo to drown out the sound of them, you’ll think of this thread…

I’ve got Whispbars on ours. They’re definitely quieter than regular square bars. They stay on the car all the time.

Can’t recommend a roof-mounted carrier though. I either use a Thule High-mount rear rack for the bikes, or sometimes just stick the bike in the roof box (Kamei Delphin).

If we’re going on holiday, I often leave the bike in the box while we’re away so I can potentially jump on and ride back from a day out to get in some miles while the Mrs drives the kids back.

Dont forget the T-track on the wing bars. Much better fixing method than the crappy square ones.

Best reason to IMO. Quick and simple job to put the carriers on and off, without carriers (and the rubber strip in place) they’re effectively silent and don’t seem to affect mpg. Also if you’re paranoid, not having posh carriers left on your roof means less chance of someone breaking in for bikes.

i set my bike holders to my bars and then got good at taking the whole lot off in one go, amazing how many people leave them on all the time.

Fashionable, isn’t it!

suppose it depends how frequently you are using them !

I used to take bars and carriers off in one go but that was when I drove to wales and few times and month and lived in the bike crime hotspot of Bristol. Now I live somewhere with less crime but no trails on the door step the bars and carrier stay on unless I’m going on a +2hrs journey when I’ll take the carrier off. Whispbars have been on permanently for 2 years.

Used the Thule aero bars and no noise at all. Now a whispbar user as prefered the fit look with my new car, again no noise and lovely to look at. I also have the Thule 591 and a Yakima frontloader. The frontloader is now used 100% of the time because it doesnt make contact with the frame anywhere so avoids awkward down tube clamps as well as carbon frames like my roadie.

Good shoutout on Tredz. Use code COFFEE10 for £10 off and split them into two orders. Just got wing bars and 757 footpack for £130

I have wingbars and Thule carriers. No noticeable difference to mpg. I keep them on permanently.

Worth remembering that Halfords do a pricematch. I ordered mine online for local pick up, got them to price match the best deal I could find online (2 x carriers cheaper than a single one reserved). All they wanted was for me to show them on my phone where I could get them so cheap.

Thule aero bars here and noisy as f&@# anything over 40mph

Anyone got any tips of how to solve?

I happen to have a pair of Thule aero bars and a bike carrier thingy that I’m looking to move on. It’d be an added bonus if you drive a MiTo as that’s what they were bolted to. Failing that you’ll just need a fitting kit.
Let me know if you are interested and I’ll work out a price for you.

I’ve got Toyota OEM bars which I believe are Montblancs. The T-track is exactly the same as Thule’s.

@ibnchris, have you taken out the rubber strip in the top middle of the bars?

Customer service is top notch too

Had lost a bracket for a old Thule clamp, spoke to them over the phone, had one complementary in the post the next day.

Thule aero bars here and noisy as f&@# anything over 40mph

???!!

As above, you have go the rubber infill in the tee-slot?