Thule Parkway 2 Hitch Bike Rack Review

Review of the Thule Parkway 2 Hitch Bike Rack

Today we're going to review part number TH958 from Thule, the Parkway bike carrier. A few things to know about this bicycle rack that is designed for two bikes only. The cradles that hold the bikes are cushioned and are soft and it protects the paint jobs of the bikes and also prevents them from scratching and getting beat up. It has soft rubber straps to help keep the bikes secured to the cradles and also helping prevent bike to bike contact. These cradles can rotate on their own and also move back and forth to give you proper adjustment to give room for your bikes. This bike rack has dual arms to help support the bike and their nice and neat for bike adapter bars, however some bikes with full suspension, like some womens bikes, may need an adapter bar.

The pull pin at the bottom of the rack that you can use to tilt the bike rack out of the way to get access to the back of your vehicle. It does come with a safety strap that you can run through the frame and wheels to minimize movement on the bicycle rack. Also right below the pull pin you'll notice there's a loop, you can use that loop for security purposes. Use your favorite locking cable, run it through your bike and through the loop so you can secure your bikes to the rack. To secure your bicycle rack into the hitch this uses an anti-rattle bolt.

Now to replace that anti-rattle bolt with a locking bolt as well and that's part number, THSTL2, the Sub-tight Hitch Lock. We'll use the receiver part of the hitch to show how the bolt interacts with the hitch. At this point we'll go ahead and try the bicycle rack out on an actual vehicle. We'll go ahead and install it into the hitch and then tighten it down with the anti-rattle bolt. With the bike rack in place let's go ahead and tilt the bicycle rack out of the way so we can show access to the back of the vehicle.

Now at this point we can go ahead and show you how a bike is loaded up onto the rack. We'll take our bike and we'll balance it out on the cradles. Then we'll run our straps over the top tube of the bike. That's really all it takes to load up the bike. Now at this point you can see how the bike can move back and forth a little bit.

To fix that problem we can add an anti-sway device. When we demonstrate this part we're going to load the bike up on the end of the bike rack where it's easy to see, but it's always a good practice to load your heaviest bike closest to the vehicle and then work with your lightest bike on the way out. With the bike in place we'll go ahead and install a safety strap now. Again this will go around the bicycle rack. We're going to use the security cable loop. Then go through the wheels and around the frame and then use a cam buckle to take up the slack. That'll finish it for our review of part number TH958 from Thule, the Parkway bike carrier.