Our Thule is about dead, and now I’ve lost one of the arms. By the time I buy a replacement long arm, replacement short arm (threaded out a year back) and replacement 4th bike arm that threaded two years ago, plus two ratchets are dying, I’m in for new rack cost… It’s 7 years old with us, bought already at 5-7 years old…

(Unless someone has a crashed Thule EuroClassic I can cannibalise…)

What alternatives are there to Thule?

I’m happy to spend money on a solid, easy fit towball rack. Must fit long large in29er and short xs 27.5, everything is boost wide…

That said, it’s an intake of breath at the cost of a Thule.

yeah. Just buy a new Thule.

You’re about to throw one that’s 14 years old. What more do you need to know about them. That’s cracking.

If you can handle the extra bit of spannering for on/off and lack of tilt I like our Buzz Rack, which is an older version of this

http://buzzrack.com/galleries/new-buzzybee-4/

It doesn’t tilt (they do the Quattro which does) but it’s also lighter than a tilter so more load capacity for the bikes themselves.

Takes about 3-5 minutes to mount on the car as needs a spanner (they supply it but I reckon a right size socket would be better).

My large (120mm travel, non boost) 29r fits on comfortably.

Not cheap, but we’ve been very happy with the Atera. Not currently in stock here (helpfully), but a couple of the euro places seem to have it

https://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php?AR2603

Had several makes over the years. This one’s been the best by far. Mine’s 5 years old now, used at least once a week and no issues whatsoever, really well built. Fits in the boot, takes seconds to fit, 29ers, 2 eBikes too.

https://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php/car-specific-accessories/yakima_justclick_3_bike_tow_bar_carrier_no_8002487/Qx%40w%2C6M42VAwp3%40Rb%7B~cC4ure_%7BjhG

I looked around and checked it out and tbh, the best combination was Thule. It literally takes a minute to mount and plug in, no tools needed to fit it. Rated for 70kg load so that’s two ebikes without batteries and 15kg spare. Folds/tilts. Spaced for boost/fatbikes without rubbing at the axles.

Took the car and this to Lithuania and the state of the roads was shocking and it just didn’t flinch. Very confidence inspiring as it just worked.

Wait until there is a deal or purchase code then buy well, buy once.

Can’t you just repair the stripped treads? Seems very wasteful to replace the entire rack for want of a few stripped threads.

It’s in German, but I reckon with Google translate and just looking at the pics, you may get some useful info?

https://presse.adac.de/meldungen/adac-ev/tests/fahrradhecktraeger-2019.html#:~:text=Testsieger%20wurde%20mit%20dem%20ADAC,das%20g%C3%BCnstigste%20Modell%20im%20Test.

I ended up going with a Pendle rack. Solid, can carry 4 enduro bikes including an XXL.

Solid rack, more industrial than Thule, I like the fact that it uses wheel loops rather than channels and you can get wider ones for 2.6 tyres. easy to adjust for different length bikes as well.

I like the 4 bike carrier so much I’ve bought a 2 bike version as well.

The Thule racks aren’t cheap but they’re pretty solid, as you found.

See if you can get one on your cycle to work scheme if you have one. I got mine through the scheme and it worked out about a 40% saving.

Doing this research myself at the mo.
Thule easyfold XT looks like the winner if compactness when folded is important (first version available slightly cheaper as a volvo branded item).
Yakima just click loos like the winner if you want to be able to add and additional bike to the 2 or 3 bikes (depending on the version you buy), and it’s a little cheaper.

Seems very wasteful to replace the entire rack for want of a few stripped threads.

The bolts and nuts are rounded – and the nuts are ‘encased’ in a twist handle that is glued up it seems. Also, finding 30cm long bolts with smooth centre section is an issue. I can just buy new ‘arms’.

The issue is that all the bindings are also wearing, the tilt doesn’t work, the lights have given up with wet so have a light board ziptied on, the upper support stand is rusting through at the mount where you lift it up each time to fold (paint has worn through, I have touched it up once), and some of the plastic parts are now coming apart…

It really is a 12-15 year old, heavily used rack that I paid £100 for…The new Thule parts tot up to £150 odd, and I still have a worse for wear rack that might need more parts shortly.

Having looked last night I am on ‘buy two new arms and see how long it will last’ – and save for a new Thule they are that good.

Sounds like quite a list. Shame but 10 years of heavy use I suppose

yeah. Just buy a new Thule.

This. Wish we’d bought one but went with the reviews and got an Atera which I’ve compared side by side with a friends Thule and the Thule is just a far better rack in my opinion. Loads easier to attach the arms to the bikes, better made feel to it, packs down tiny vs the massive Atera etc. I’ve always been a Thule fan (and more lately, very taken by my Yakima stuff) but I’d happily never see my Atera Strada ever again.

That said, it’s an intake of breath at the cost of a Thule.

Find a used one. Last time I looked theres plenty around.

Keep an eye on Facebook marketplace. Used versions do pop up on there and its usually local for pick ups.

Have you tried this lot out for sensible spares?
https://hollandbikeshop.com/en-gb/bicycle-carriers/thule-bicycle-carrier/thule-parts/thule-spare-parts/

If you’ve got a van or anything else with a flat back (eg Galaxy) then would also recommend the Atera STRADA DL.
Had to wait a while for them to be in stock again, but glad I waited – really nice bit of kit, easy to use, easy to put together. Been great so far.
Was recommended by at least a couple of friends, so that’s three happy punters.

I have a 2nd hand thule easy fold.
There are a few things I would change, its pushing it a bit to use with an looong LLS, XL 29… in fact it’s officially too long, but works ok still.
The racks are a bit close together so some care is required to ensure no rubbing (when you know how you load your bikes its no bother, but a friends bike, you need to think about it and check/try a couple of arrangements)

I dont like the arm clamps on odd shape/size carbon frames, would prefer a strap a-la altera ones that wrap round the tube, so just in case add boat straps, its never actually been an issue, but still….

The arms need to be threaded through the front triangles, so you cant use a bottle cage (fidlock now on ours)

Ive had it a long time, and its beginning to get a little tired, they do a new one (XT?) thats more designed for Ebikes i think, with greater spacing, but otherwise the design is the same, I was kind of hoping there would have been a series of other jumps forward in design but as there doesnt seem to have been for me isn’t worth changing for that, but is probably what i would buy if i needed to again now.

The above are minor niggles really, its very good/stable and I use it a lot, its loads better than the (much older generation) thule I had before, that needed lots of nuts spinning to attach etc.

I really like my Atera Strada. Slidey-Tilty mech is genius & is the only rack I’ve found to fully grant access to a t5’s hatch. It’s seemingly built from cut up old artillery – we’ve been all of Europe over the past 7 years with it and the only thing I’ve had to do to it was replace the 13pin connector as I tried to lift the rack off the van with it still attached. A mate of mine has the folding version (vario 3) which probably would counter DaveBoyWonder’s comment above.

BUT: they need to update them for modern bikes, the stands are too close together so boost spaced forks and dropouts rub without very carful jenga play and they’re not long enough for LLS bikes so I end up strapping the bars to stop the front wheels twisting. Fully loaded I reckon all racks exceed the design limitations of the towball when tilted and possibly just when fixed in place – even on our van which has a 100kg nose weight limit (VWG have started to include this kind of info in their manuals).

Where are you OP? I’ve got Thule one in the cellar gathering dust as it’s been used about 3 times but the car with the tow hook got nicked soon after I bought it. Happily take a sensible offer for it as doubt it’ll ever get used again.

We were in the same boat as you a couple of years ago with the same rack. Bought when the girls were young it replaced our original one that we built ourselves in 1987 and welded bits on when we needed to.
I thought the original was a lot of money at the time but it did us proud over the years with numerous trips around the UK and Europe mostly with four bikes on. We new which bikes went where and in what order.

Took the plunge and bought the Thule VeloSpace XT3 and the fourth bike adapter. Cost was eye watering but Halfords had 20% off and allowed us to use the BC discount as well.

We used it a couple of times and its a great bit of kit. We had to remove pedals which we didn’t have to do on the old one and the clamping bars were lower down so had to be put through the frame.
We sorted that by using the fourth bike attachment from the old one so only used two of the arms and then clamped the third and fourth bikes with the separate clamps on the top tubes

Not long after we bought it we got a great Black Friday deal on a LWB Tourneo Custom, so the rack is at the rear of the garage just in case Abigale would ever need it.

We took the old rack to Peatys Bike Bonanza and put it up at £125. Sold it very quickly to 4 lads who needed one for their Alps trip.

Just got one. From my research, the Thule Velospace XT, has the biggest bike spacing and will take will take the longest bike. The bikes are miles away from each other, which is the 1st rack it has ever happened on.

Also will take 2 heavy Ebikes upto 30kgs, as has a 60kgs limit

Was looking for one on ebay but were going for silly money, and managed to get a deal for a new one for not much more than that. Obviously if I could have got one cheap 2nd hand, I would have gone with that.

To save a separate thread (sorry for hijack) has anyone noted a change in MPG with such a rack fitted?

All being well driving down to the south of Spain in the summer and probably again October (~2600 miles each time) and wondering if the cost of a towbar rack might be somewhat offset over using roof bars. The reduction is hassle makes it worthwhile alone but I do like some ‘man maths’ style cost offsetting.

To save a separate thread (sorry for hijack) has anyone noted a change in MPG with such a rack fitted?

All being well driving down to the south of Spain in the summer and probably again October (~2600 miles each time) and wondering if the cost of a towbar rack might be somewhat offset over using roof bars. The reduction is hassle makes it worthwhile alone but I do like some ‘man maths’ style cost offsetting.

I can’t remember the exact numbers but with four bikes on the roof of the car we got something like 47mpg travelling to France.

A couple of return trips to the Alps, one with bikes in the boot and no rack fitted and the other with the towbar rack and three bikes on it both had very similar mpg for the trip. Again, I can’t remember exact figures but it was around 62mpg so quite the difference. Not sure if it’s enough to cover the cost of the rack though!

I stick the bikes on the rack on the back, two kayaks on the roof. Of a 1.6l Honda.

My MPG sukketh the b@lls!

To save a separate thread (sorry for hijack) has anyone noted a change in MPG with such a rack fitted?

I hate to undermine man maths but the towbar rack hits the mpg quite hard on my car – probably about 5mpg. About the same as a roofbox tbh…

Is anyone using one with a spare rear wheel on the back?

Could do with something for our Trafic Rimini, but struggling to find anything that will clear the spare when fitted to the towbar.

@ransos so the answer is a T5 and keep the bikes in the back? Awesome.

Edit – just told Mrs B, she said very no

Our t6 velle does about 30mpg @ 80mph whether the rack or roof boxes are in place or not. The t5.1 was similar but at around 25mpg. The rack largely sits in the turbulent wash of passing a 2m x 1.7m brick through the air at autobahn speeds.

I drive out to the Alps with all out bikes and camping gear in a 7’x4’trailer with a 1 metre high frame and canopy. I am not a speed merchant, and also drive a Doblo. At 60mph the mpg difference is not noticeable. The trailer is fully in the slipstream of the van and may have a positive effect on aerodynamics at my slowcoach Autoroute speeds, offsetting the increased fuel consumption due to the extra load when climbing the Col du Lauteret…

I haven’t noticed a significant change when using the towbar carrier. The roofbox, yes.

To save a separate thread (sorry for hijack) has anyone noted a change in MPG with such a rack fitted?

I don’t really remember noticing any meaningful change (mine have generally been on the back of a large estate – Mondeo or Passat or MPV). Whatever change there was was significantly less than standing them up on the roof. On my previous car (B7 Passat estate) the trip computer would show 5-10mpg less with bikes on roof (usually more like 10mpg).

On the SMax I barely noticed more than a couple of MPG lost with four out back but the four are almost completely in behind the car.

I reckon if you have a saloon or hatch with a long sloping boot lid (think the profile of a Mondeo hatch) you would get much worse impact as I would assume the air flow would follow the roof line down the slope and hit the bikes on the rack causing more drag.

Buzzrack Eazzy 4

I’ve tried Thule, Atera and Pendle over the years and found the Buzzrack to be the best. I like the fact that it uses upright arms (like the Pendle) which hold the bike so much more secure but it is rather less industrial than the Pendle and folds up nicely for storage. It has a tilt mechanism which isn’t as slick as the Atera but works fine. Had 4 bikes on it on the back of our V70 and averaged in excess of 55mpg over a 600 mile trip last summer.

Im just going to buck the trend here

ransos
Free Member
To save a separate thread (sorry for hijack) has anyone noted a change in MPG with such a rack fitted?

I hate to undermine man maths but the towbar rack hits the mpg quite hard on my car – probably about 5mpg. About the same as a roofbox tbh…

With rack on, but no Bikes, my MPG figures rise by approx 5-7mpg – i can only assume it’s because of the vortex effect being undone. Howver, with Bikes on, it’s back to normal, if not maybe 3-4 lower (Bimmer 5 touring diesel)..

I’ve towed (pun intended) with the idea of a trailer, with the bikes sitting low and not mounted on top, it’s a brilliant idea in theory, espeially with a trailer that has got suspension, but the family don’t ride enough, i don’t go away with mates enough and i also drive like a knob sometimes and this wouldn’t be wise.

Also, why havent the manufactures figured out how to put a PDC splice in yet. I get they deactivate rear ones when the socket is connected, but what about actually having some from the rack!! I see that Uebler do a PDC version, but this works off a separate unit plugged to the incar power.