Thule Bed Rider Pro Truck Bed Bike Rack for 2 Bikes - Fork Mount - 74" Long - 9-mm Skewer

Video Transcript for Thule Bed Rider Pro Truck Bed 2 Bike Rack Review

Hi everyone, Aidan here with etrailer. Today we're gonna be taking a look at the Thule Bed Rider Pro truck bed bike rack for full size trucks. This is going to be a great way to carry up to two bikes with you mounted by the forks of your bike. You're gonna have to take the front tire off, but it'll work with a variety of quick release skewers and through axles. It comes with the different adapters to get them mounted up and it's going to hold them very secure. So if you've got a truck bed, you maybe don't want to use a tailgate pad or a hitch mounted rack.

This is gonna be another option you have. Let's check it out. Now, personally, I really like tailgate pads for trucks just because they're relatively inexpensive, easy to set up and you can take 'em off just as easily when they're not in use. But if you're looking at an option like this then that might be because a tailgate pad isn't something you want whether it be that you've got something in the hitch that's maybe getting a little too close for comfort, maybe a trailer or a camper and you don't like the tires hanging out over the back of the tailgate here, or we just want free access to lower down our tailgate or see out the backup camera without bikes sitting in the way. We can do that with a bike rack like this because it has all the bikes towards the front of the vehicle.

We get full room to open and lower the tailgate and we don't have to take our bikes off to do so. Now we have two bikes in here right now to demonstrate one, the full capacity of the bike rack. You can put a add-on fork block in the middle if you wanted to and had a third bike to carry. But also just to show you the different types of bikes it can support. Our larger mountain bike here uses a through axle and you've got in one of the adapters to accommodate for that axle.

And like I showed you before, it's a very solid fit. And then to my right, we've got our quick release which with that one, just throw the lever and maybe loosen it up a little bit if it's a little tight. And you can just pop that up and out. So very quick and easy to get installed or uninstalled. And then flip that lever to get it secured down again.

Now these fork blocks attach to what is essentially just a crossbar it makes it very solid and sturdy, clamps onto the bed rails. And the fork blocks can be slid back and forth anywhere along this crossbar. So we've got both of ours set to the outside edges of the truck bed right now. So we can easily load from the side depending on your height obviously, and what the truck is like. But you could also set these off to maybe the passenger side. So from the driver's seat, we can maybe see back through the rear view mirror a little bit easier by offsetting them. And then the other side of our bed can be dedicated towards some cargo like duffel bags for camping gear. Really the possibilities are endless. And with the 74 inch crossbar here for the full size truck beds, you've got room in the middle where again, you could add an add-on bike. This installs by clamping onto the bed rails. And like I mentioned before, it's a very solid fit. It's gonna help you support a weight capacity of 40 pounds per bike. So even for our mountain bike on the other side we've got plenty of room to spare in terms of weight capacity. And then on the ends of the bars here we're going to have what are essentially towers like you'd see on a roof rack that are locking. So the locks do come with the kit, which is really great but when you pop those out that'll reveal the hardware that we use to tighten all of this down. So the crossbar in these tower pieces clamp to the bases and that tightening is controlled by that bolt there. So with it locked up no one can mess with it when you're not around. And then there's a separate bolt that's used to clamp the actual base here onto the bedrail. And those clamps are pretty universal for a variety of different full size trucks. Even if you have something like the utility track that you might see in some Toyota trucks like a Tundra, it'll work for that. And on the other side there is a locking mechanism to secure that bolt. So even though this one is accessible, the other one isn't. So you shouldn't be able to get the whole thing removed from the truck bed. And I know I mentioned before something like a tailgate pad is very easy to remove whenever it's not in use, giving you back full access to your truck bed but so is this. Those points that I mentioned earlier for clamping the crossbar in place, just loosen those up on both sides enough to get these hooks undone from the base pad. Remove that and get it popped out. And once that's disengaged, just lift it up and remove it from the truck bed, leaving behind only the base pads giving you full access to the bed of your truck. So whether you've got a gooseneck like this truck does or you just need to haul something larger and you don't want that crossbar in the way you've got that back and you don't have to worry about moving the clamps because those are still installed ready to go for whenever the next time your biking is just drop that back in place, tighten it down and load up your bikes. And forgetting these clamps installed and doing all the initial setup it's gonna be really straightforward. So check out how we did that now. The installation process is gonna be really straightforward and be pretty much the same for most all trucks. We're starting off in the bed with our clamp, our base pad here that sits on the bed rail and then the long bolt that comes in our kit. And one of the washers, one of them will be a typical flat washer. And the other thicker one here, will have a bit of a lip on it where our lock can attach to. And the only thing we really need to identify that differs between different trucks is which side of the clamp we use. The ends are both threaded for that bolt. The longer U here is gonna be for pretty much most trucks just clamping up under the bedrail there. But these smaller and shorter end here can be for trucks that have a utility track system, maybe like a Tundra where that can hook into the track system. And you don't have to need an adapter it just comes with the kit and you just use the other end. So find what you need. Take whatever washer you're using whether it be the locking section or the flat washer set it on top and then pass your bolt down through the hole of the washer and the base pad that's sitting on top of your bed rail, threading it into the clamp. This has quite a bit to thread in but you can get pretty much all of it by hand. And what I'm doing to make sure that both sides of the truck bed are evenly spaced it's just setting it as far forward as it can because the shape of this bed, I'll get a point right about here where it just hits an obstruction and I can't push it any further. So I know it's gonna be the exact same on both sides. But if you don't have that or you want to have it somewhere positioned further back use a tape measure on both sides to measure it out. And then use the included Allen key to tighten it down fully. Outside the truck bed we can take our crossbar, our towers and slide the two together. We've got this track that'll slide into the underside of the crossbar right here with the Thule logo facing out. And then pop on an end cap where the tapered end here is going to be face down or towards the top of the crossbar. It's a bit stiff. So once you get it partially started just give it a good hit and then we can take it up to the base pads. And before you do that, just take the cover plate off because it's probably gonna fall off once you start moving it anyway. So it can help to have an extra set of hands for this part but we're just setting these down on top of those base pads and we can get both sides secured where the clips clip into these slotted holes right here. At this point, slide your crossbar back and forth to get it even on both sides. You can measure the overhang if you want to get scientific with it, but you can also just eyeball it. It'll work perfectly fine. And then use the included tool to tighten down this bolt on the outside that will tighten down the crossbar and the clamp right here. And it's got an integrated torque setting so once it's fully tightened, it'll click on both sides. Once everything's tight, you can install your covers. The lock cores don't come pre-installed but pop the covers in place. Use the key to insert the locking core, twist it to the lock position and repeat that on the other side. That lock process is the exact same for this piece right here, which goes over the thicker washer that we mentioned before. Can sometimes take a little bit to find the right spot to get the lock core to pop in. But once you find it, you can pop this in place over that washer and get that locked up too. The final piece of our puzzle is the fork mounted blocks. The actual fork mount will sit on top of the crossbar and the catch plate here will go underneath the crossbar. So set the plate in place roughly where you want it. Slide the top fork mount into position. Either way is fine. And then take the two provided screws with washers drop them down through the aligned holes and thread them into that bottom plate on both sides. Tighten it down and repeat for the other fork mounting block. And once everything's tightened down, you have your bikes installed, you're good to go. The installation process is really straightforward and regardless of what truck you're installing this on it should be pretty much the same process for whatever truck it is. You just have to find the right place to mount it up and get your bikes spaced out properly. But that'll do it for our look at the Thule Bed Rider Pro for full-size trucks. Thanks for watching.