Thule Outway Trunk Mount Bike Rack

Goodnperformance and quality. I hope last many years. Easy to install, fit perfectly. I went for the “used like new” option, I will recommend you can save money and have a good quality product.

9/2022 UPDATE: BIke rack’s operation is dependent on attaching to the car/SUV with tension wires and straps. The tension wires “lock” once secured with a ‘key”. This lock and key was difficult to operate from the very beginning, but just broke completely on it’s last use. We had a struggle getting it off the car without being able to unlock the tension adjustment for the straps/cables holding it to our car. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!!
Awful instructions both in the written instructions packed with the bike rack, as well as the You Tube they recommend. Drawings and slick videos do not replace useful instructions. I needed a rubber mallet and lots of patience to get the uninstalled arms attached. There are locks on this bike rack for reasons they do not explain. They might lock adjustments you might make to the rack to fit your car after the 2 hour set up process-but I cannot be sure as one of the locks stays locked, one wont lock at all and the other locks but I cannot figure out what it actually locks. Nothing clear in the instructions. They have a tag saying one adjustment, which they only show a lame drawing of, says “1st time installation”- but you have to do it each time you attach the rack to your car. It is sufficient at carrying 2 or 3 bikes on a hatchback Subaru-so that is why it gets 2 stars. It performs-but you need tons of patience each time you use this rack, and you are on your own to figure out all the part choices for your auto type and model. I would estimate it takes two people about 10 minutes to attach the rack if you have a rear hatch spoiler, maybe a couple minutes quicker if no spoiler. Once you get familiar with how this fits your model car, it will safely carry your bikes. I would return based on the price for the Thule name is 100% not worth it, but since I spent a morning and afternoon deciphering their coded instructions- I am now too lazy to return it to Kohls. 😉

Einmal konnte der untere Bügel nicht bewegt werden. Ein Feststellen war nicht möglich.
2 mal funktioniert die Drehschraube nicht.
Ein 4. mal werde ich diesen Artikel nicht bestellen.

It took us several attempts to locate a bicycle rack which would fit both our bikes (festooned with bicycle racks which make them wider than normal, and one of them is a step-through). We did not have an enormous budget for this. Methods which would have definitely worked was a platform style tow hitch rack, or a roof rack. Both would have required purchasing and installing hardware onto our car which ultimately with bicycle racks would cost in excess of $1000.

We had initially avoided the the Thule Outway Platform rack because we weren’t certain it would fit on a Toyota Corolla (2014), and its price tag was higher than we wanted to pay. Ultimately, we exhausted other options, and purchased this rack.

We are extremely glad we did. It raises the bikes up above our license plate, keeping us from running into legal problems by obscuring our license plate. It also keeps both bikes high off the roadway, which we were struggling to do with hanging style racks with the step-through bicycle. Initially we were concerned about the rack’s ability to hold the bikes over long distances, but we took a 1600 mile round trip across the multiple states with both bicycles in tow, (including over a very windy bridge) and had no issues with stability.

We did not leave our bikes on the rack overnight. Though it has security features, they are in the form of cables similar to cable bicycle locks, which will not keep out someone prepared to steal a pair of bicycles with a set of bolt cutters. The locking mechanism is good for leaving your bikes unattended for brief periods of time in areas you can assume to trust, which is ultimately all it needs to be given the format of this type of rack. The rack when fully loaded also significantly impacts fuel economy, but that’s what you get when you haul items a car is not typically designed to carry, so I don’t mind that.

The instructions include details on how to install the rack on both minivans and SUVs (full size and crossover), and I suspect it would fit nearly any type of car which is not a pickup truck. The assembly instructions are easy, and once you’ve done it a few times extremely quick. It takes me less than 3 minutes to fully assemble and load bicycles onto the rack at this point. Great product, sturdy enough for the job, and flexible for most needs.

Thule website has not tested on my Civic but it fits perfect no issue. Great option if you don’t have a hitch but want a platform rack. If you have a carbon bike be sure to buy the carbon frame protector.