Side by Side Comparison of: Allen Sports vs Thule

Wasn't sure how much we would use our bikes at the beach, but I wanted to bring them along as an option. Because of this I didn't want to spend too much on a bike rack and was hoping for the best with this affordable price. This one was perfect!It took my husband about 20 minutes for the 1st install on our SUV the night before our trip- he had no experience with bike racks. Afterwards, he said now that he did it once, it would only take him less than 5 minutes every time.We had 3 bikes on it, (2 lightweight & 1 heavy), drove 3 hours to the beach & then back, the bike rack was strong & steady! So glad I purchased this! Makes it so easy!

Let me first start by saying laughing is not allowed. I am new at this whole bicycle thing. (Now ask me to strap down my Harley and I am here for you.) I decided not long ago that I was going to pick up a new hobby and start getting healthy at the same time so here it is long story short. I bought an adult mountain bike and proceeded to make it mine with all the necessities, to include purchasing this bike rack. I have a 2008 Chrysler Sebring convertible and this item stated it was made for and should work on the car I have. Excellent! So it arrived and might I add it was fast. I broke into the box and away we go. Wow tons of straps which by the way, was a bit intimidating. So I am out putting this thing on my car and of course I have the box and the directions to try and allow myself to keep up. (Where is the dang video…hello people I am a visual learner) So after what seemed like forever I thought I had it. I was positive the other strap was just extra. Wrong all straps are needed. Don’t let it fool you. I proceeded to undo everything and then redo everything step by step and YES it worked (4 time is the charm). I then proceeded to hook my one and only bike to the rack and added my own bungee to strap it down. (Yes the one I use for the Harley) and off I went (a total of 6 country blocks) to then unstrap it and start riding. Takeaway…. It would have taken a lot less time to ride the bike the 6 county blocks, however I got this and next time it will be so much easier and faster. I have found that it is very easy to use now that I have an idea of what I am doing. Thank goodness. So now that I have mastered this thing and ALL the straps I would recommend it to others and I like the way it folds down to be able to store it. I am very happy with it over all and in the past couple of trips I have added an additional 2 bikes (boy was that fun the first time- thank goodness my friend knew what they were doing) all in all great buy, and highly recommended.

Got this 3 bike rack to put on my 2012 Prius V (the larger hatchback version). Amazon says it doesn't fit but it does according to the Allen fit guide on their website, and verified by real world use. It's been on several trips up and down the CA coast ranging from 70+mph freeways, stop and go city traffic, and windy mountain roads with no problem. It's a pain to put on your car so bring a buddy to help you hold it up and help do the straps. Here's some quick tips that I found from others that have worked for me:1) Wrap the metal strap clips in Electrical tape or put pieces of rubbery cabinet liner between the clip and the car. Serves two purposes: protects your paint from scratches, and helps the clips grip to your car.2) Use bungee cords to strap the bike(s) to the rack and to keep the wheels from spinning. More bungee cords never hurt anyone.3) Alternate your bikes on the rack. I saw folks putting their bikes on in the same direction. Alternating them (one bike points one way, next bike is flipped the other direction) makes the bikes fit into each other better and evenly distributes the weight across the rack.4) Retighten your straps after putting the bikes on the rack after you first mount it. Once the bikes are on there, you need to give those straps some more good tugs because the added weight will change the distribution and forces acting on the rack. Have your friend lift the rack/bikes while you do the tightening. Then you can neatly tuck away the excess straps in whatever way you see fit. I wrap the excess around the straps then tuck the last three inches back into itself5) IF YOU HAVE NICE PAINT: Take the rack off frequently after long trips and clean in between the pads. I live in the dry and dusty California climate and I found out the hard way that if you keep the rack on your car for extended periods of time, dirt and grime will get up in there and scratch or stain your paint and/or bumper. It isn't too bad on my car, but it's definitely visible.With those tips go forth and enjoy your bike racks. If y'all have any additional tips I would love to hear some!

I was initially sceptical of this rack due to it's cost (under $50) and still wondered just how it would fit on my 2004 Subaru Forester. When I received it, I was immediately impressed with it's construction. It appeared to be solid tubing and had the foam pads in the correct places. There was also some rubberish sleeves over the bottom support bar (near where the license plate would be) that served as a tad bit more scratch protection. The silver reinforcement braces were very stiff and once locked in, provided great rigidity to the rack. This is a bonus since these are really the only thing that keeps the rack from collapsing on itself. I would suggest removing these as little as necessary to keep the metal from springing or weakening. The straps are wide, the hooks are flat and lock in well. I didn't notice any fraying or loose stitches so this summer will tell if they all hold well.I would absolutely recommend this rack as others in this range were at least double the price (in some cases, it was triple!). My co-worker also bought this rack (well, he got the 2-bike version) and said the same things about its construction.

The first installation is easily the most frustrating part. When I first opened the box. I was very nervous that I was going to need a Boy Scout to help me attach it to my car. I settled for my roommate. It looks complicated when you first attempt to figure where every one of the flopping tentacle-like straps go. Then you press the rack's padded bars against your car and strap the hooks onto your trunk or hatchback.The product description brags about how initial assembly shouldn't take more than a few seconds, which isn't especially flattering to my skills. The first assembly is easily the most frustrating part. Took me about five minutes to discover exactly what goes where and how. Only about a minute of that time was spent crying and ruing existence.The second time you put it on takes about thirty seconds. Your straps are already at about the right length and your muscle memory will compensate for your general inability to attach things.Putting bicycles on there is pretty easy. Lift them up and into the little cradles. Then those are a simple strap on each side and it holds it secure. Repeat these steps for however many bicycles you plan to attach (which really maxes out at three total).I would recommend buying bungee cables to secure your front tire so that the handlebar stays stationary.Pros:1. I am terribly uncoordinated at these types of things. And I have managed to get my assembly time down to about 29 seconds. If I can make this thing stay on my car, then your dog probably could too.2. It's super compact. When I'm not using it. It fits really well inside my trunk.3. The price. I was initially going to buy a much more expensive one, but I decided to give this one a chance. It has worked tremendously for my needs.4. It holds very securely on the back of my Chevy Cobalt. I never have to worry about it.Cons:1. The instructions are not very intuitive or helpful. It ends up being more guesswork than I'm sure they intended.2. It looks very daunting at first. But once you attach it once. It's never difficult again.

I ordered this bike rack to go onto the back of my 2000 Chevy Cavalier. The bike I had in mind for it was a 100$ special and I really didn't want to spend twice that on a rack, so this seemed a good choice. I put it on a relatively small car, but the straps seem to be more than long enough (especially the two on to bottom, which I had to tie off on one of the bikes). It seems that this rack will fit almost any car with an actual trunk and no rear lip/spoiler. Allen's website has a fit list.In terms of build quality, I am satisfied. The components seem to be of good quality, and everything was included in the box. There is ample room between each mounting point to put adult bikes on. The directions state that there is a 100lb weight limit, which may be a problem if you choose to use several very heavy bikes. However, I recently had three full-size mountain bikes on it (which I suspect was a little above the weight limit), and everything was fine for an hour trip at 55mph.Another good point for the bike mounting points: they can be rotated, so if you have a bike without a horizontal bar running from the base of the steering rack to the seat post, you can rotate the mounts to make it work. This is very handy, and worked well for the aforementioned mountain bikes. I have used a hitch-style rack before on another vehicle and that required you to purchase a 10-20$ adapter per bike that does not have the horizontal bar.It is a good idea to put little pieces of cloth between the clips and your trunk to avoid scratching the paint. I took the advice of other reviews and did this and am happy to say there were no scratches on my trunk. It is also a good idea to tighten the straps down once you have all the bikes on the rack, so the foam padding has a chance to settle on the trunk.Overall, I am very satisfied with this product.A word about the shipping: it was shipped promptly, but it was also shipped in its retail box, with no padding. The box was fairly beat-up and had a few small holes in it from where ends of the rack moved around. Nothing was damaged or scratched, though.

On a nearly 7000 mile round-trip vacation from Texas to Pennsylvania, it worked beautifully on my Prius! Durable and solid function with 2 standard weight adult mountain bikes. Minimal movement, despite bumps, hills and unpredictable freeway traffic. I highly recommend this product.

Fist rack I've ever owned so I was a little apprehensive and intimidated with the installation and the security of my 35-year-old 10-speed road bike being damaged. Easier to install than I thought it would be and it was very secure on the rack as I was on the highway doing 65-70 mph going to my favorite path on the lake. Even carried my 21-speed hybrid along with it (for a friend) and both bikes were very snug with no problem at all. I would just recommend bungee cords to keep tires and peddles from moving during transport. Can't beat it for the money. Works great on my Mercury Milan. No scratches,,,no problems. Strongly recommend

Great rack and ease of assembly and mounting makes this bike rack the best I've ever had! I replaced my Thule roof rack with the trunk rack. It's easier to mount, takes minutes, and no damaging the roof trying to put on the roof rack. The quality of this rack is outstanding. Why would someone put on a cheap rack with expensive bikes on it? Great seller; fair price, wide selection & fast shipping. Highly recommend this seller and enjoy your Summer!

Fits a 2011 Buick Regal excellent and I haven't had any issues to date. I've put over 400 miles on my bike these last few months just to give you an estimate of how many trips I've been on. (Granted many of those were around the house). The bike locks into place and has an anti sway bar. You will need to buy a locking mechanism to keep the mount from being stolen / and lock your bike to the mount if you plan on leaving it mounted out of sight. Bikes can sway a little bit but are pretty much stable. I've token two bikes with me a few times, but as the second bike is steel frame I'm trying to avoid over weighing it.

I bought this carrier to take two bikes to Burning Man and found it to be very easy to mount to my PT Cruiser and easy to hang my bikes on. I have two women's beach cruisers and had bought a bar that most carriers had told me that I would need to mount the girls bikes. As it turned out, I didn't need the support bar, we just mounted the bikes at an angle and they rode fine. Our bikes are quite heavy as they were not built to be light and we have loaded them up with racks, baskets, carrying boxes and decorations. The carrier handled the job very well. A 1200 mile round trip mile and some VERY BUMPY dirt roads. The carrier was very good to my vehicle, no marks or damage and though I did remove the bikes to open the hatch, I did not have to remove the carrier. Our bikes are very WIDE due to all the baskets etc. but they were able to fit on the three bike carrier just fine. I highly recommend this carrier. I would have been in it pretty deep if it had failed.Many have asked if this carrier will fit their vehicle - Just go to Thule's web site and their FIT GUIDE will tell you. If this rack won't fit - They have one that will! I have had this rack for three years now and it is still holding up great and is supper easy to work with - LOVE IT!

I really wanted a trailer mounted model but I couldn't find one I liked and didn't stick out too far. I also have a trailer hitch carrier, so this allows me to carry both bikes and coolers/beach gear instead of choosing one or the other. It is well-designed and strong. No complaints.I read another reviewer who has a Tahoe and couldn't make this work due to the shape of the tailgate door... This is true and it wouldn't attach there. But the Tahoe does have a very strong and perfectly shaped roof rack bar that you can attach the top straps to. NOTE: THE INSTRUCTIONS SAY NOT TO DO THIS. But I found it worked well for me and was quite strong. When you open the tailgate the straps loosen, so as long as you have the bikes off the rack before opening we found it ok. I am not sure you can open the tailgate with the bikes on anyway. Your call.

This is an easy to use carrier made of durable thick metal tubing. I found the instructions to be a bit lacking. The initial setup was not too difficult. A small portion of the very lower straps is elastic. This allows the carrier to be easily unmounted. The carrier folds for easy storage in the trunk when not in use. The only drawback I found was that the bike holders were a little too close. This made it a little difficult to get the second and the third bike mounted. After the bikes are mounted, it is easy to strap them in and they remain in place. Overall, this is a good carrier for the price and does the job.

Not sure how this compares to other bike racks because this is the first one I purchased, but I haven't really had any problems. It's easy to put together once you've done it a few times. The straps are a bit long and end up hanging low, but I just tie the ends lightly and swoop them around something so they don't just flap around while driving. I haven't had to put 3 bikes at once yet, so I will update this post once I do to make sure it still works well. Two bikes is no problem though.

Overall I'm very happy with this bike rack but I think I'll make at least one slight modification to it.There are 6 metal "hooks" that you put in the gap between the body and the trunk and then tighten so that the rack is firmly held in place. Metal-on-metal means wear to the paint no matter how careful you are, so I'm going to look for a way to line them with a thin rubber or foam layer which I will glue in place.The rack is designed for bikes with a top bar or cross bar like a road bike or mens mountain bike. BMX bikes and womens bikes with no top cross bar have to sit on top of the rack... not a huge problem, but it was a little difficult to get 2 BMX bikes and my mountain bike on at the same time.Once you have all the bikes loaded, check the straps and tighten them again. One tip I read was don't lay the straps flat but put one twist in the strap so that it doesn't vibrate and buzz at highway speeds.No problems recommending this rack if you need to carry 3 bikes at once.

be sure to check if this product fits your car before buying it doesnt fit my accord but does fit my altima so it worked out however you should know that it doesnt claim to fit every car

I've had this for close to a half year now and used it for a few decent sized road trips.Over all, it's great and easy to install and holds bikes nicely. I've a Trek Marlin 7 MTB and it held that fine which another holder didn't, as the frame is a bit chunky. This also held my daughters bike with training wheels easily enough. Other daughters smaller first bike couldn't fit though.Plenty of adjustment and the straps are lengthy enough that I used them to tie the bike down after strapping it on to hold the pedal and wheels in place so that don't move around.The hooks that hold it in place aren't rubberised which is a shame but they're very wide at the top/bottom so don't scuff the paint like the Bell one I used before, also the padding doesn't put a dent at the end of the boot/trunk door like the Bell did. The side straps, the hooks aren't as wide, so fits well enough but I'd recommend adding a bit of tape or cutting up an old sock and wrapping it around it to add a bit of protection to prevent it scuffing your paint.Car was a 2008 Saab 95 and the bottom strap had to go under the bumper rather than the boot/trunk, so once set up, it's more of a hassle to open the boot but with a few bikes held in place, it's pretty heavy and hard to open the boot on the car anyway, which was the same as the Bell. One thing that is certainly better, once it's all strapped in, even loosening the straps, I wasn't able to pull the hooks out. That's not going to stop someone from cutting them and stealing your bike, but it makes it a bit more effort for a casual thief as they don't then have the rack to go with the bikes.

This is a good bicycle carrier, though could be improved. This was used to transport two “adult” and one “women's” bicycles for a 2000 mile move on the back of a Kia Forte 5 Door hatchback. The bicycles were secured with bungee cords to keep the handle bars from moving.Some reviewers pointed out that it's difficult to put three bicycles on this rack, I didn't have this issue because in my case one of the bikes had a different geometry from the other two. If you have three bicycles with identical geometry this might be an issue though.Don't underestimate how tight the straps need to be. On the Kia Forte 5 door there is no way to attach the bottom straps to the bumper cover. I had to attach both of the bottom straps to the tow hook on the metal frame of the bumper on the driver side. After the first 500 miles, one of the bottom straps loosed up which made the rack rock side to side which caused the passenger side lateral strap to slide down and scratch the paint. After I put in some effort in re-tightening the straps the rack stayed in place for the next 1500 miles. While I suspect that if the straps are tight the car paint will be safe, I do wish that the hooks had some kind of soft rubber coating.Except for the paint scratch from the strap hook, the rack fared well.

On time and undamaged, but the buttons to release the bike support arms to the folded position work off and on and do not reset to the outward position. It takes some fiddling to fold and unfold the arms.

Sturdy and the rack fit my car very well, but it would not accept either of my bikes.One was a adult 26" bike , but it did have a double cross bar.The other was a standard boys 24" bike.Neither one could fit as the bars on the mount were too far apart , or too thick.

Easy on and off, the only thing that I don't like is it's too easy to remove, I can envision someone just stealing it with or without bicycles on it. I would buy it again in a heart beat, keep it in the back seat, it's that easy to put on or off.My car is a 2012 Toyota Prius V

I don't have anything to compare this product to but it works very well for me. I got it since it would work on my GMC Acadia as well as my wife's Lexus SUV. Some of the straps were a little too long so I have cut these so that I don't have to roll them up each time I mount the rack. I don't leave it on the vehicle so every time I use the bikes I have to mount it. But it mounts rather quickly since I only loosen one strap so the others don't need adjusted every time. The bikes sit close to each other but I use foam pipe insulators, cut to fit, on a few of the bike frame areas to protect them from rubbing. I also added some foam strips to the brace that fits against the vertical frame going down from the seat so that it would not scratch the bikes. This brace holds the bike from moving laterally.My wife's bike is a woman's bike. What a pain that is! If you're thinking about buying a bike for a woman, don't bother thinking she needs a woman's bike. It's not like they wear long skirts to bike like they did years ago! Save yourself the trouble of needing a Swagman Bar Adapter and get her the men's bike. You will be glad you did. Plus the woman's bike doesn't have the screw insert provisions for a water bottle or other accessories like a man's bike. Just saying.

I bought this bike rack for my wife's Toyota Sienna minivan. She does triathlons so any given day she's running and biking, or swimming and biking, sometimes all 3. We really wanted a rack that was easy to install and capable of folding down when not in use since it needs to stay on the van most of the time.This Thule rack was super easy to install. The instruction manual is very good, the graphics combined with word instructions made it very easy. I had it up and loaded with three bikes within 15 minutes.The only flaw this rack has, hence the 4 star rating and the reason we decided to return it to Amazon, is that the rear windshield wipe is trapped underneath the upper rack arm. You can not operate the rear windshield wiper on the Toyota Sienna (our model is a 2004) with this bike rack. We're going to bite the bullet and install a hitch and buy a hitch mounted bike rack. The fact that my wife needs the rack to stay on the van throughout the week as she trains means we need a rack that doesn't obstruct the rear wiper.Other than that, the product is excellent. The rubber straps feel sturdy and have the right amount of friction on them when you're trying to pull on them for strapping or unstrapping your bike. The arms fold down out of the way when you don't need them. And my wife says "it has too many straps" but that's the nature of the design.

I bought this bike rack for a camping trip in early August, based on reviews and somewhat on the Thule name. Unfortunately, when I received the bike rack, one of the wing nuts that adjust the arms was missing (the box itself was pretty banged up, but UPS is to blame on that one). Although the part was missing, I called up Thule from the number in the manual, and after a short, very painless process, I had the part in the mail with no questions asked.Checking the "fit guide" that came with the rack, it was not recommended to fit on my 1996 Ford Tarus. I was able to fit it no problem after a few test fits. The straps that generally hook to the top of the trunk, can be configured to fit inside the trunk, and are held in place when the trunk is closed. This seemed more secure to me, and it held up great with two adult bikes on a 300 mile drive.Overall, bikes are easy to load, are well secured by the rubber straps better than other racks I've used, and is very stable over bumps. I had a strap fall off from the tow hook when going over a very jolting bump, but the rack didn't shift at all with only three points tied down.

I did a fair amount of research before I bought this. First off I have a 2015 Honda civic sedan. The bottom of the rack will end up just below the licence plate. FYI IN MY STATE BLOCKING THE PLATE MAY GET YOU PULLED OVER. Technically putting any kind of bike rack (even hitch mounted ones) on your vehicle with bikes will more than likely block the plate.If you need to carry 2 bikes buy a 3 bike rack. I used the outermost sections of the rack and barely got two 26 inch bikes on it. I put a huffy full suspension women's bike and a GT hard tail bike on it. The reason why is no matter where you put the pedals they will hit the trunk unless you use the middle and end spots on the rack. I did use caution and placed a glove over the pedal closest to the trunk. If you have a full suspension or women's bike you will need to buy an adapter for this to work for you.YES I DID SCRATCH MY CAR. But it was my own stupid fault. I'm not going to blame the company. I should have checked and rechecked after i put the bikes on. The bikes will move, its going to happen. The front fork nut put a couple of gouges in my bumper (from the bike on the middle of the rack).USE COMMON SENSE. The metal clips that go on the paint NEED COVERED (I used electrical tape to wrap them. You can't just put painted metal on painted metal and not expect it to mark it up. I may end up coating them with tool handle dip (or some other rubberized dip coating). It would have gotten more stars if the company fixed this issue.It is easy to put on the vehicle...BUT you need to take your time doing it. Double check everything and tie extra knots after the buckles, just incase. It will bounce a little due to the softness of the cushions that rest on the vehicle.Obviously a hitch mounted bike carrier is the way to go. This will save you some money if your willing to take you time installing it and recheck everything twice. Don't forget that YOU HAVE TO MODIFY IT (coat the clips with something).

Delivered on time and actually fit 3 bikes and installed easily on my 08 Corolla. Was kind of worried driving 4 hours on the first trip, but it stayed right where it was supposed to. I did use a ratchet strap of my-just in case. Only problem I had was one of the lower straps was worn completely through and the clip that was originally on it was missing when I opened the package.

The rack was easy enough to assemble, and attaching it th the trunk of my '09 Yaris was simple. I was able to mount three bikes (one 28", one 26" and one 24") without any issues. However, the six strap hooks are painted metal, which could scratch the finish on the edge of my trunk lid over time. I wrapped them with some black electrical tape, but if the manufacturer were to have sleeved the hooks at the factory, this would have been a 4 star review.Also, the Amazon website identified this a also suitable for my '03 Town and Country van. It is not, and the rack box doesn't make such a claim. I was able to mount it to the van anyway by wrapping a thick towel around the lower brace, so now this product meets my needs.

This fits well on my 2008 Buick Lucerne and holds my big bike with 29" wheels. But I haven't used it because none of our 3 other bikes fit on it due to the construction of their frames. It's not really the fault of the bike rack, but rather the design of the bicycles. You might want to take a look at your bicycles to see if you could mount them on two supports like this.

Got this for $49.97 so watch the prices, they vary greatly! At that price it was a good buy, but I needed it to be what it stated, and that is that the bottom padded bar keeps the bikes away from the vehicle. NOT TRUE! I only had ONE bike on this rack, this bike to be exact: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030UESQY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and put it in the middle of the rack. It still scratched the bumper of the vehicle, and the pedal scraped the trunk/license plate area. This was put on a 2008 Honda Civic Si, for those that want that info.We were moving from Alabama to Ohio, so I wanted to make sure this bike would arrive safely, and without any damage to the car. It did arrive safely, BUT not without damage to the car. We took extra precautions by cutting up some mouse pads and placing them under the tabs where it holds onto the trunk and other areas of the car, but some of them flew off on the highway. The area that holds the bike did great, and no slipping at all, but the side straps wanted to keep pulling even though we tied them extra good, just like it showed in the instructions, and then some. I highly recommend using bungee straps to try to keep the wheels from turning towards your car. It helped some, but not a lot. We stopped many times to check on the bike, and always had some adjustment to make.I would not chance putting 3 bikes on this car. I am not even sure I'd put 2 on it. Around town, maybe, but not on the highway. There has to be a better way, better product, but I have no idea what that is. I did a lot of searching before deciding on this one, and most products seem to have the same issues of POOR designs, but this was a new bike, and I needed some way to transport it.The tabs that attach to the trunk should be padded with foam rubber material like mousepads are made from, but with a grip texture so they don't slide even though the lines are taut. They also should have a much thicker foam pad on the part that touches the back of the car to make sure that the bikes will NOT DAMAGE it! That padding should've been several inches thicker. In hindsight, I'd try using the foam from a large pool noodle over what is there. That might just work. We haven't put the rack back on, as have had no need to, and honestly, am not looking forward to using it again. I may just sell it. It took my brother and I about 40 minutes or so to attach it to the car, so it was not all that easy for us, even though I'd watched the video several times. They made it look easy. I find it humorous, that the photos shown, never show a bike ON the rack. If they did, you'd see that the foam padding is not nearly thick enough, and that more than one bike is looking for some damage.Get it if you have to have one like I did, for moving, but if you need it for daily use and can hold off on something better....possibly more expensive, I'd wait.

While this rack serves it's purpose, there are a few things to keep in mind. First and likely most importantly, while this is sold as a three bike rack, it will probably not hold three bikes. After mounting my and my wife's bikes, we realized it would be next to impossible to fit another bike on it. An adult and two children's bikes may fit, but even that would be a bit of a mission.Secondly, while the hardware is really good quality, the straps came loose a bit during my drive out to the park. It was an easy fix for the ride back by rolling the excess strap and folding it over buckle, securing it to itself with a zip tie. A bit of a rig, but it worked. The rack stayed put on the ride back, instead of sliding down the trunk.Overall, not a bad buy, could just use some work to make it 4 or 5 stars.

The design is simple and once you do the first install, it's easy to use after that. How steady is it in holding a bike? Fairly steady but not steady enough to give me complete peace of mind. On 4 legs of a 1000 mile trip, I noticed my bike was "jumpy" back there and I held my breath on many occasions. Am i too nervous in general? Probably. But considering how important it is to secure your cargo, and how disastrous it would be to have a bike let go on the highway, I think this bike rack did only a fair job of holding on to it. The straps are narrow, and they don't seem to have a very confidence encouraging method of tightening up. Also they used a fairly friendly metal fastener on the top two straps but then a plastic buckle fastener on the other ones. I would have felt better of the straps were wider and the fasteners were uniform; preferably metal.

Don't feel that the bikes are on that secure with my Prius V, but they have stayed secure on city streets so far the few times we used it.

Must recheck straps frequently, particularly after crossing bumps in road.

This was okay, it just wasn't tall enough to get my 26" Raleigh wheels off the ground. I had one of the fellows at the bike shop help me with it and he couldn't do it either. I had to go home and get another vehicle with a trailer on it to get my bike home from the bike shop. Not too handy!!!

Bought this for a 2011 Jetta Sport Wagon, after first trying a Saris carrier. This was much better by far! The side clips on the tie down straps have marred my paint..not too thrilled about that. We have put on maybe 500 miles of driving thus far. One of the rack mount anti sway lugs where it mounts has broken, another on the way. They are just not robust enough to prevent the bikes from swaying. These are not reliable!My pedals have dented the rear door on the car and one bike has had some spoke damage. Not happy about any of that, but that was how it worked out. I will have to contact Thule about replacing a couple of the parts. What I did like was the mount is really solid on the car. There is no way I could transport three bikes on this rack. Nonetheless, this was the best I have used so far and my search will continue.UPDATE: This item from another Thule rack will solve the problem with the anti sway system!Thule 955 No-Sway Cage Accessory For Hitch Cradle, $20 on Ebay.Update: Unbelievably, the rear of one of the bikes actually came off the carrier while we were driving yesterday. The bike was securely mounted and it still managed to end up being dragged behind the car...thankfully for a very short distance. I would guess a combination of bumps in the road, a downhill turn and possibly the tire hitting was enough for one strap to come off and leave the bike hanging. I will have to use additional cam lock straps to make sure this can not happen again. Seeing how well the bikes were mounted on the carrier I would never have guessed this was even possible.

I guess this falls under the you get what you pay for file. I bought the cheapest Thule rack that would fit our cars for hauling 1 adult bike and 2 child's bikes 2 1/2 hours to the ocean boardwalk for a few days.I found assembling the rack to be difficult (I'm a Engineer by trade and restore antique cars so I can read instructions and am mechanically inclinded) due to lack luster directions and struggling to get the arms into the sockets the first time. The directions and Thule's website also fail to show the proper positioning of the bottom bar support. Should it rest vertically on the bumper cover? Or should the bottom support have a gap to the bumper and be resting horizontally against the rear hatch. I checked online, on Thule's website, and asked around and 50% said one way and 50% said the other way. I thought it would be more stable with the bottom support resting on the bumper so that is what I went with.The next problem was that I barely could get the adult mountain bike's frame around the arms, the 8 year old's bike had to have one are through the frame and one in the gap between the fork and the frame, and the 5 year old's bike would not fit at all and had to stay home. That did not make for a happy child.Once on, the rack was pretty stable over the rough PA roads and the smoother ones in NJ. We got there with no problem and offloaded the first time. The anti sway bar did a nice job keeping the mountain bike from moving. Don't use the loose strap supplied for a tie down, use quality rubber bungee cords. They will keep everything from rocking and keep the wheels from spinning.The next issue was that every time we opened the hatch, the rack would come loose and need to completely be reinstalled and readjusted. This was a problem as the bikes were going off and on the rack 2 times a day for a 20 minute car drive.I repositioned the rack for the drive home. I loaded the two bikes securely for the drive home, but the rack shifted during transit and rubbed the paint off my car down to the primer where a tube was making contact. The car lease is up in 2 months so I don't care, but would have been really mad if it was on the car that I own and it caused this kind of damage.

We have 3 bikes. One adult mail frame bike, one adult female and one youth bike. Only adult male bike could fit on this rack.I have to say it was easy to put on by one person, but unfortunately it didn't work for us. Going back

I had been using a Bell 3 bike rack for years. When it was "donated" to a family member, I bought this because it was a few bucks cheaper. I wish I'd spent the few extra dollars. This model is a lot less convenient to use. To fold it after use , you have to force the two silver support bars out of their slots, which is not easy to do and a PITA. The bike support pads use a slip lock type of strap fastener, which means you have to re-thread the fastener each time you mount or dismount a bike. Another PITA. Something like a velcro fastener is so much more convenient. Finally, the pads cannot be moved on the bar, they are fixed in position, which means you cannot slide them out to accommodate a bigger bike or in to compress the loaded bikes.I'd pass on this and buy the Bell or something else if I were to do it again.

worked kind of, and also caved in car rear and scratched the rear lid and spoiler - would not recommend to anyone. get a real insert on a hitch system and keep your car in good shape

Two bikes on this rack for a 2.5 hour drive through some mild mountain roads in Colorado was a slightly terrifying experience. I didn't think it was that presumptuous of me to think that would be fine. The whole time we were afraid the whole rack was just going to fall off and slam the car behind us. I will give it props for making it there and back, but it took some pretty serious work to get it somewhat sturdy on the trunk (super tight knots, constant readjusting of the straps). We also tried to add in some padding between the trunk hinges and the metal parts that attach it to the trunk, but anything we had was too thick to close the trunk. As a result, I've got some scratching on my trunk where the metal attaches as well as from the base that goes under the license plate. I know a trunk mount is never going to be as good as a trailer hitch mount, but it seems like you could devise a way to be better than this one. I only used it once and don't plan to use it again.

It is near impossible to have 3 bikes fit on this at the same time. I did pull it off but it was 2 childrens bikes and one adult bike which only fit after a lot of messing around. There is no way you could fit 3 Adult bikes, but it works great for 2.The Other reason I gave it a low rating is that the side straps scratched my car badly. All it would take to fix this is coat the metal brackets that hook onto your trunk in rubber or slide them into a sleeve.

I ordered this after reading some stellar reviews. This product took quite a while to securely mount to my Prius. The manufacturer claims that this particular carrier is compatible with my car make and model. By the time I had driven 20 miles it had become unsecured and my bikes were hanging by a thread. I reinastalled and tightened everything and once again it cam lose and nearly fell off. I returned it the following day.

Seemed like a decent bike rack, and supposedly fit my car, however in reality it didn't work. Two star rating because it fit both mountain bikes pretty comfortably, but it didn't work for my vehicle. I have a 2004 Subaru Legacy 4 door sedan with the factory installed spoiler, and that spoiler was a real issue with putting on a bike rack. I managed to wedge the rack onto the car and load 2 mountain bikes onto it, but it really didn't fit properly and I did not feel comfortable taking it out onto the road. Disappointed by the results and returned this pretty quickly.

Used on a Volvo XC90. On 600 mile trip had to stop numerous times to tighten rack. The side straps never fit correctly in trunk creases. It is also a pain to install. Bikes made it there and back but not without unneeded stress.

I found this bike rack to be more difficult to install than expected, but not overly complicated. It is tricky simply because adjustments need to be made after each bike is mounted on as the weight causes loosening of the straps and it's tricky for one person to do alone. Occasionally lower straps would unhook off my cross-over vehicle on the road, causing some inconvenient stops and adjustments along the way, but easily corrected. My biggest complaint, however, is that although it claims to hold children's bicycles, it really does not. It was extremely difficult to to mount my son's bike, and often, I would just give up and throw his bike in the back. Adult bikes seems to go on no problem though. I suggest the Allen rack if you have kids bikes. It worked much better.

Advertised to fit a Honda Insight, but reading the installation instructions I discovered it is not recommended to be used on that car. Luckily the return was no problem with Amazon.

Maneuvering a child's bike and a small woman's bike onto this rack is, frankly, a huge pain. The height of the clips prevent us from sliding the bike frames over the rack as intended so, until we decide to spring for a better rack, we have settled on putting the child's bike on the rack crooked and the woman's bike as intended with the aid of a huge amount of swearing and shoving. The rack would be perfectly fine for larger bikes though.

I have an Infiniti G37 Coupe (2010). The Thule "fit guide" indicates that the 910xt supports my vehicle, however, the instructions are designed around the assumption that the trunk edge lines are straight. The G37 Coupe trunk lines are curved on the side edges, and the hooks will not tighten -- they slide and eventually pop off. Not sure how I can make the rack secure, at least with the side to side straps. The side straps extend to the bottom, and are also connected to the bottom hooks, so they MUST be secure to ensure the bottom hooks are tight. I really doubt if Thule tested this product on the G37 Coupe, even though they list it explicitly as supported on their website and in their fit guide. Very disappointing.

Note, the website says this product fits the Audi A3, but does not specify whether it is the sedan or hatchback. Spoiler alert, it does NOT fit the hatchback. I am currently awaiting roadside assistance to tow my vehicle. When I closed the hatch after installing the bike rack, the rear windshield shattered. Should have sprung for the Audi bike rack.

Too many strings. Not.recommended

Bending my trunk severely. It is not right for even 2 bikes, let alone 3. Maybe 3 unicycles. Wish I wouldn't have been so cheap. Just get a couple hundred dollar one from a reputable brand, not on here. Trust me I've got a 1,200$ bike I should have known

Disappointed!!!! At first I thought it would be perfect. Easy to assemble and it held the wait for 3 bikes yo the local park. BUT then I tried to make a trip to a bigger town park...only 3 miles away. It bent the roof of my car!!! BENT!!! It's not worth it!!! The latch could not hold the same bikes ( 2 children and 1 adult bike) for 40 miles an hour for a 3 mile drive. Pissed!!!!

Eh. I should just bite the bullet and pay the money for a trailer hitch bike rack as opposed to a hit or miss contraption like this. It said it would fit my car, and it does. But not safely. I didn't even bother with the bikes. It wasn't safe enough to even go driving with it. It's on its way back. I'll eat the cost of the digs in my paint job, but I'll take the cost of this back thank you very much.

Although the item states compatability with 2007 Honda CR-V, the top and side clips do not lock in bc the contact is metal on metal. Hitch rack seems to be my best bet.Amazon was accommodating for a refund but it was not their fault the item was misinforming.

I purchased A 2017 1/2 Nissan rogue and went shopping for the bike rack before I leased the car with the understanding that this bike rack could hold my two race bikes. Now out of the box, watching several videos, and going to my local bike store I realized that the clips on the side are too narrow to fit on the door and when the bike store owner looked it up in his manual it says it does not fit! Thanks a lot for misrepresenting your product!!!!

I thought this was good bike rack but after few months of owning it the back pin that holds bike support in place popped off and I have to fill with a nail.

I recently used this to mount two bikes for a charity race. While I followed the instructions, and the bike rack seemed very secure, the rack shifted and drove the inner most bike into my car as well as the outer most bike. One of the bike grips had shifted while driving, causing damage to my car. What makes me even more upset is the fact that the warranty doesn't even cover the damages to my car, even though it was entirely the faulty design in the rack itself. I will never use this rack again, and I wouldn't even try to give it to someone, as it would more than likely damage their vehicle as well.

Very unstable when loaded. Difficult to get the arms to line up properly to screw in the wing nut. Returned item and bought an Allen Premier rack. It is 100% better.

This product is a disappointment. I expected more because it was a Thule product. I cannot get my bike to sit properly and securely in the mounts. While driving, the bike shifted and came further out of the mount on one side, but luckily since I secured the bike with extra bungee cords and rope, I didn't lose it. It was nerve wracking though. I bought it to bring my daughter's bike home from college, and had to drive 400 miles worried that I would lose the bike. I tried calling customer service for instruction, read the instruction manual again and again, and just can't figure out how to make this thing work. Sad face!

Do not buy for a Honda Fit. Although it says it can be used on this car in the manual, the side clips do not stay in place, regardless of how tight it is pulled. They just fall down due to the design of the hatchback, greatly destabilizing the rack.After several minutes of wrestling and frustration, I finally got them to stay for a minute. I put my bike on, but not 10 feet from my house they fell off again. I do not know if it is just hatchbacks it has this problem with, but it definitely does not fit with my car. The manual should not say this one will work if it does not.