Most Popular Thule for 2012 Ford Transit Connect

Very easy to use (once you do it a couple of times). I have ebikes and they handled the weight (48lbs each). The biggest issue I have with this racking system is wishing there was a left and right models of it...unless I didn't see one when ordering.

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Basically, bolt it to your rack and you're ready to go. Easy to use once you do it a few times. My only complaint is for $200 they could throw in a lock core. Also, this etrailer response is incorrect, it is actually pretty simple to swap the operation of the rack to work on the driver's side (without having your bike face the wrong direction). Two plastic locks hold the main assembly together, unlock, take the hook out and put in the other way. The loop thing at the front is held in by one allen bolt on the bottom; take it out, swap the direction. Finally, the rear tire strap slides out the back; reverse it and slide it on. It takes longer to put the carrier on /off your rack than to swap the direction (not more than 10 minutes).

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The good: I like the way the bikes are held in and the ability to add the upright adapters to the bike frame holders. The straps are quality too. For a jeep with a spare tire, this is the perfect length to clear it. This rack is 5 stars from the bike holders to the base of it. The bad: the 2"receiver adapter and bolt are insufficient. I wish they made this in a solid 2" hitch. The entire setup is held into the receiver by a very short bolt. It only goes about half way into the receiver tube. So your hitch is only "secured" on one side. A hitch pin or bolt should go through the receiver tube completely imo so it can be secured on the other end with a retaining clip or nut. Because this only goes in the one side, the entire weight of the rack plus bikes are held tight to one side of the receiver by the undersized bolt and washer. A few bumps down the road and that bolt loosens. Now instead of distibuting the weight of the rack and bikes on the receiver and post, it's completely up to the bolt to keep you from losing the rack. The bolt threads get damaged too. I took this down a dirt road and nearly lost everything. I had to buy my own bolt with hd fender washers and lock washers to correct this. Thule should've provided this from the start. The current short bolt design where only one side of the receiver secures the rack is unacceptable. This rack is 1 star at best for the connection to the receiver.

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I bought this bike rack back in April but wanted to make sure I used it to give the best review. First I want to say I did a lot of research on bike racks and found this one to be the best one to fit my needs. The best price I found was on etrailer.com, at the time it was When I called the customer service to place my order, I spoke to Dan. He was very pleasant on the phone and took the time and listened to what I needed and understood my concerns. I ordered the bike rack and also ordered the Thule Snug Tite Hitch Lock and Anti-Rattle Device and the Thule Cable Lock w/ One Key System Lock. Dan suggested I also get the Thule Bike Adapter Bar, which I never even thought of getting. Delivery was in about two business days, which was really fast and at the time of order they were running a special free delivery over $99. When I went to put it together I noticed I was missing the flat cap screw M6 x 16mm, part number #853-5787-02. I emailed Dan and within 24 hours received an email that the part was sent out and also in the email their was a link to track the order. After I received the part I did notice that the flat cap screw was actually in the 2 inch adaptor sleeve. The instructions were very easy to read, and it took me about 20 minutes to put together. I did have an issue when I positioned the stinger into the cradle, with the 8mm locking nut, it was not staying tight and when I took it off I noticed the threads inside were gone, so I ended up going out to Lowes and buying a new one and its holds perfectly fine. I also had a question about that part because it is not a locking part and was worried someone would try to steal the rack. I contacted etrailer.com to find if they make a locking device for this and they said no but I can contact Thule to double check, I'm still waiting for an answer back from Thule. The weather finally broke and we installed the rack onto my hitch, tightened it and it doesn't rattle. When I finally used the rack and put my bike on, it did sway a little but at 50 mph I was very happy with it. The trailer comes out just enough away from my car that I do not have to fold completely out and I can open my trunk with no issues. I am very happy with my purchase and had a great customer experience with Dan. Would highly recommend ordering from them to anyone.

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The Thule Elite Van XT2 Bike Rack is just what I expected but the install instructions leave something to be desired. Nothing but pictures trying to describe the install. Even a few poorly worded sentences would have been helpful in some places. I have seen this noted in other reviews and [online]. Otherwise a quality product and I have been able to integrate it with my Kuat swing arm and bike rack that we were already using. I wanted to be able to add a 3rd bike to our setup without extending the length and still be able to open the rear doors without removing a bike. This all worked out with just a little modification. I did move the Thule bike rail install point 1.5" above the center install position to allow clearance over my wife's ebike. See photos.

The bike rack arrived within 2 business days as promised by Melissa. Install was straight forward. We drove with two bikes 4000 miles and had absolutely no issues. We used the adhesive recommended in the instructions and had absolutely no problems with dispensing the adhesive (as sometimes mentioned in the reviews).

Expensive, but worth the cost! Easy to install with clear instructions. Folds away cleanly when not in use, you can use the shorter bike latch to secure the folded rack in place more easily than the included strap. The only problem I've had is that if you're about 6' tall, with the rack in the highest position it's just above your sightline but squarely in "crack you in the forehead" range, so keep that in mind when deciding which height to use.

Great product, poor sales and delivery execution. The good: This bike rack appears to be of typical Thule high quality However, at the time of this writing, I had not installed the rack on my 2021 Promaster. The rack arrived on time with decent tracking data. The bad: The installation process for this rack is far (FAR!) more involved than installing a roof rack or hitch mount. ETrailer made no mention of needing specialty adhesive in order to install per Thule’s requirements. Neither Thule nor etrailer provided this adhesive, and it’s very hard to find in bricks and mortar stores. I suggest ordering the required Sikaflex 252 on Amazon immediately after ordering the rack so the adhesive will arrives before the rack. It appears etrailer sold me a returned item, because the rack appeared to be thrown in the delivery box with loose parts and no protective packing materials; $XXX bike rack and that’s how much etrailer cares! UPS sucks; there’s no reason to candy-coat the performance of their deliveries (yay for union protected job apathy). Every (yes, literally every) box I receive from UPS arrives with varying degrees of damage which often impacts the condition of the contents of the box. I suggest buying this rack at your local bricks and mortar bike store.

order was quick. the packaging was not great. it appeared to have been opened at one point and placed back in the box. it looks like it slid around abit in transit. the bit that retains the cable lock was broke when i opened it up. bright side is that thule offers replacement parts. so i'll just order it when its back in stock. the rest of the rack seems to function fine so all in all im still satisfied. the lock was just an added bonus.

Received the product in good condition and install was quite straightforward. The rack is solid and the fact that all critical points allow for adjustment and tightening via knob vs needing tools is indeed a plus. It fits snugly in my receiver and tightens down for zero movement on our Subaru Ascent. I’ve yet to load bikes but I can already tell its much better than our previous Saris rack. There was only one install issue - make certain you place the right locking mechanism into the proper lock. I don’t know why but it uses two separate keys - and the single key lock is the one that goes into the hitch receiver knob - and the instructions were slightly ambiguous on cautioning for that. Overall it’s heavy duty and should last year’s.

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T2 Pro bike rack was delivered in a very timely manner. The rack was as described, extremely easy to assemble and is super user friendly! Exactly what I was looking for so my wife can use it by herself. Thanks

Great product, great company to do business with. etrailer is the best. Friendly, helpful and they made sure the bike rack was shipped immediately and it was delivered on time.