Mini Review: Thule G2 EuroWay 921 Towball carrier

dynamis_dk

I just got the net MBUK last night and had a quick flip through to see they have done a little review on one of the Thule cycle carriers.

I've just bought the Euroway G2 2-bike carrier and i thought i'd just give me thoughts on the 921 model i've bought.



Basically It's a well made, sturdy carrier which is very easy to use. I've moved from a Xpress 970 carrier which was ok but i found it put the bikes a little close to the rear of boot on o Focus estate. This new 921 carrier have ratchet straps to hold the wheels into 2 adjustable plastic cups (for want of a better word) so the wheels are held in place. Then the frame is held with a arm which pivots into place and secures with a nob (1 of which is lockable). It only took my 5min to do the initial setup and the number plate holder is very easy to setup and doesn't require drilling or screwing the plate.

All in all i've been very impressed and since i did a fair amount of digging around for reviews I thought i'd give a little outline to start off, then in use i'll get some photos and give a more practical review of how its shaped up to be.

Word of warning regarding Thule products, don't let the crazy rrp prices put you off as (like most things) its available much cheaper online. At an rrp of over £400, i just got mine delivered for £207 which i don't think is too bad given how nice the product is looking to be.

solsurf

Good review, I've had mine a couple of years now and it is so easy to use takes less than 2 min to put on and I've done thousands of miles with it on. Very neat product.

Where are my stabilisers?

I find it a bit heavy and hard to move around (uneven weight, big, awkward shape), but I'm a girl and that may be why!

Once I've put the thing on the car though (and got over the backache), it is indeed, a very good stable rack. I only use it if I'm taking more than one bike anywhere though, because it is much less effort to put one bike in the back of the car, than to heave the rack out of the garage and on to the car first.

I have a love/hate relationship with bike racks :twisted:

CraigXXL

I have the 3 bike version and find it faultless. It is a bit heavy so can see how some people and the fairer sex may struggle to fit it but it so sturdy that it can be forgiven carrying my bikes securely and damage free. Only gripe is they should make all the knobs on the arm grips locking.

dynamis_dk

Very glad to hear other have similar good results with it. I do agreed it could be a little lighter but I think in the long term that might translate to a long hard wearing life (fingers crossed).

My main reason for buying is over winter riding I don't want the mud and filth in the car or on the roof.

Hopefully gonna get to do a few miles with it tomorrow so I'll see what u think o it in action tomorrow

jonnyc2420

just out of interest how does it grip on the towbar? is it bolted to the towbar plate or resting on the ball somehow? - reason i ask is ive got a stupid detatchable swan neck towball with no bolts either side so am limited to what i can use.....

CraigXXL

I have a Westfalia detachable swan neck and it fits perfect. You basically drop the rack onto the towball, pull down the arm which clamps it onto the ball securely then lock the arm in place with a key, connect the electrics and job done. It is a 2 minute job like Solsurf said.

dynamis_dk

Yeah simple drop on, push arm, lock - job done.

That's one of the reasons I went for this towball design in the first place. Nice n quick to fit, once there quick to remove and throw in the boot. It is lockable bt am not sure I'd trust kids not to mess with it while I'm off riding

Andy!

I quite fancy the non-bike-specific one - easybase or something. You then put bike racks on it - works out about the same if you shop around and you can use it for other things like the boxes and bags they do.

Tesco was actually selling them very cheap. Actually a lot cheaper than getting a roof rack and some 591s

deckelite

I was happy with my THULE Euroway G2 too, untill recently...

The small hooks closing the carrier platform or allowing its opening for rear door access broke.
No shock, no accident. All it took was a child to step on the pedal. Of course, the pedal was not meant to step on it, but...







In fact, the part of the hooks that broke is the eyelet where the linkage to the pedal mounts. Wer're talking about a 5 sq/mm cross-sectionnal area on molded plastic parts. The hooks are probably not worth more than 50 cts each.
Nevertheless, you can't use the bike carrier without them because the closing spring beeing attached to the linkage, the hooks themselves are totally free once the eyelet is broken. That means that even if you are under the impression the carrier is closed, it may suddenly open on a bump or at full speed on the highway...







Not a big deal you think ?

That's what I thought too.

Except THULE strictly refuses to provide replacement hooks due to "safety issues" they say !
Ok, but they even don't propose to have them replaced by a retailer. Those hooks are simply not meant to be replaceable so if/when they break, you're good to :

a/throw your 400 euros bike carrier away
b/try to tinker a fix to keep it closed (probably a good point for safety, as I can't see anyone coming up with a worst design than THULE's in that matter)

In fact, their only offer was a 30% rebate for a new bike rack !!!! And that's after 15 days of intense negociations and numerous mails and pictures sent. What a joke.

The fact that a broken 50cts plastic part can make a 400 euros bike carrier absolutely unusable is clearly a design failure.
The fact that Thule doesn't offer any way to repair it is a customer service failure.

We're not talking about a cheap import bike carrier, but about a Thule product, accordingly expensive, and supposedly high-end and totally serviceable.

The hooks are supported by a steel bushing riveted on the aluminium frame. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to replace them.
It's an operation that anybody with a minimal mecanical background can perform and THULE thinks it is too difficult to guarantee the riveting quality, it would perfectly be possible to provide a "repair kit" with M5 stainless bolts and and washers instead of the rivets. Easy.

So do THULE think their customers and retailers are definitely too dumb to proceed to the replacement, or that it would be normal to throw away the complete bike carrier just because of the failure of those two small hooks ?

This is totally UNACCEPTABLE

- From an engineering standpoint, there clearly should be some sort of mecanical fuse preventing the hooks from breaking. The load my carrier had to face before the hooks broke was ridiculous, and the carrier show absolutely no trace of shock anywhere
- From the customer standpoint, all this show a total lack of respect and consideration
- From a safety standpoint, refusing to provide the required spares parts can only lead people to try hazardous fixes, because of course no one will accept to toss a complete bike carrier for such a problem. So even the safety issue is not a good reason.
- From an environmental standpoint, the non serviceability of the bike carrier is a total non-sense.

Here's the THULE G2 parts list if you want to check for yourself and see if you can find those f**king hooks

Bishbosh10

If your number plate only clips in I would suggest screwing it in with some grip fill or similar behind it as number plate theft is common place. May as well make it as hard as possible for them to pinch it!

sanchez89

iv just bought a Thule 9502. the budget version of the G2 and to be fair i cant fault it. everything looks very sturdy, no fiddly small plastic clips to break or snap (unfortuantly like above) and the mounting onto the towball is very secure.

it does require holding in place while you tighten a nut but once tight it isnt going anywhere.

and best of all it only cost me £97 from tesco. winner.