How do you get on with Thule towbar bike racks??

[Daniel B]

Chaps,

I currently have a Thule 912 Bikeon rack

Which carries 2 bikes.

I bought it 2nd hand off ebay, and it does a good job, the only alarming thing is that it can pivot on the towball, but to remedy this you can use a couple of straps to tether each side to the car, so no biggie.

A friend has just offered me this Thule 914 Euroclassic

It's a sturdier design, and the main advantage for me, is that it takes 3 bikes as standard, and has the adaptor with it to take a fourth - the reason I want this is that we want to go to France and take all 4 bikes, but it would also be handy for going to trail centres and taking a mates bike at the same time.

It does have a different way of attaching to the towbar, so I'm hoping it will still fit, but I haven't managed to try it out yet.

Does anyone on here have one, and what do you make of it?
How was it at attaching to your towbar for example, and was it easy to use and stable at speed?

Dan

 

[Chromatic]

I don't have a 914 but I do have a 902 Euroclassic and from what I can see in the pic you provided it uses the same mounting system. There is adjustment of the force needed to clamp to the ball so you should have no problems about pivoting. It does fit better on some towbars than others, I asked about this when I bought it and that was what I was told. It turned out to be correct, I have a swan-neck bar on my car and it fits without problem on that. My wife's car has a bolt on towball, and whilst the carrier will fit on, it wont sit square or level on her car. So try before you buy.
As for ease of use, bikes can be mounted and dismounted in seconds so that is excellent. The tilt feature for access to hatchbacks is a bit of a fag but does work ok.
I have no problems with stability, although mine is only a two bike rack and I usually only have one bike on it I regularly drive on a motorway without problems.

 

[Haitch]

We've got a Thule three-bike carrier. I can't see from your picture whether it's the same model or not but it's a lot better than the two-bike model we used to have. It's lighter than it looks but a bit wide and awkward to carry. Fits on the towbar no trouble and the mechanism to lock it in place is easy to use once you get the hang of it. It's sturdy and well-built and you can tilt it down to get into the car boot (a very handy feature). Putting the bikes on is a doddle, as long as you remember to insert the arms that clamp on to the bikes' tubes through all of the frames (the longest arm goes to the bike on the outside and you have to place it through the frames of the other two bikes). All in all, I'd recommend it (although I haven't had much experience with other three-bike carries).