Most Popular Thule for 1979 Chevrolet Suburban

After returning a rack to a local shop due its wobbly and difficult-to-load bikes, I went to good old etrailer.com where I have bought numerous items previously. Our Thule Hitching Post Pro showed up promptly and within 30 minutes I had it attached to my Suburban. The rack is strong, ridged and very well constructed but what stands out in this purchase was the customer service at E-trailer, especially Rebecca N. We bought the 4-bike rack to have for a planned trip and I had concerns about having it on time, but the Customer Service people stayed right on top of our order and we had it in plenty of time. Thanks Rebecca & associates in CS!

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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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Fits perfectly on our Lexus CT200h. Only on the old LS400, the side straps have to be fastened to the wheel arch edge, since the upper trunklid gap is to narrow for inserting the strap hooks. Mounting of two bikes is (with some routine) quickly done, and they stay safe even for longer and faster routes. For transporting three (mountain) bikes, though, the design doesn't seem big and robust enough. Nevertheless, the price-benefit-fun ratios are way better than reasonable.

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The side / bottom straps are seriously lacking. It has those straps you would find on a backpack, making it difficult to securely tighten down because of the angle. I'd usually have to pre-tighten them to a certain length, then forcefully shove the whole rack until it clipped onto my car. They really just need to be ratchet straps. Even then, one of the side straps came off while driving after hitting a small pothole and the whole thing dangled to one side - Luckily I was in a parking lot. I've also never been able to fit 3 regular bikes, only 2. It's really only a capacity of 3 if you have 2-3 slim bikes. The rubber is so wide that it makes it nearly impossible to slide certain bikes on. If you have a step thru bike with one of those crossbar adapters, I wouldn't even bother with trying this. Unfortunately I don't use this anymore since I'd be constantly worrying the whole thing will come off whenever I drive.