Thule Proride 591 released in transit

davie_g

Should a Proride 591 ever release when in transit?

This has occurred to me twice now. Thankfully on both occasions it occurred on a quiet road. The grip released and it was only the wheel straps that kept my bike attached to the car and prevented it from slamming into the car or the road. The bike was hanging off by 90 degrees and was glad no one was passing. Still must put a fair amount of stress on the wheels though.

On both occasions, I had hit a pot hole so assumed this was the cause. I can't say I hit the pothole particularly hard as I was driving very slowly and had locked the grip. I have a Pitch Pro so the downtube is slighty square, but should the carrier have released? Has anyone else experienced this or should I be speaking to roofbox / Thule?

Had no other problems and still totally rate the prorides.

Thanks
Dave

DHA987S

I used a Thule towbar mounted carrier for the first time at the weekend. The clamp released too, I think it wasn't tight enough but I didn't want to damage my carbon frame when clamping the bike to it. The wheel straps also kept my bike attached (thank f**k).

Worrying all the same.

welshkev

i've used them for about a year now and have never had any trouble with them....*touches all the wood i can see

Davy-g

I have 2 x Proride 591 on the roof and never had any probs with them yet..(touch wood), I always triple check that everything is secure before I set off... but I would email roofbox/thule and let them know what has happened to you with their products.. as it could be a faulty one...

Northwind

Are you locking it once tightened?

welshkev

Davy-g wrote:

I have 2 x Proride 591 on the roof and never had any probs with them yet..(touch wood), I always triple check that everything is secure before I set off... but I would email roofbox/thule and let them know what has happened to you with their products.. as it could be a faulty one...

wow, that freaked me out then..are you the same person as the OP?

weeksy59

i use the fork mounted Thule Outride instead, never once had an issue. Bargain and obviously as you lock in the forks, it doesn't touch your frame.

Davy-g

welshkev wrote:

wow, that freaked me out then..are you the same person as the OP?

naw.. I am a different person... 8) 8) LOL

davie_g

Northwind wrote:

Are you locking it once tightened?

Tiightened and then locked.

davie_g

Davy-g wrote:

I have 2 x Proride 591 on the roof and never had any probs with them yet..(touch wood), I always triple check that everything is secure before I set off... but I would email roofbox/thule and let them know what has happened to you with their products.. as it could be a faulty one...

That is what i am thinking. It was slow speed and can rationalise it being a pothole, but thules are pretty much rock solid. Had no other problems with it, but if it is faulty, I'd hate to find out on a motorway.

Good name BTW.

lostboysaint

Just a matter of interest, how on earth can you still "totally rate them" when they've failed, spectacularly, to do what they were designed to do twice?

I looked at them and decided that I didn't like the possibility of precisely this happening so went for the cheaper, more industrial looking, Thule Freeride 530. This grips the frame either side so there's support to either side, even if it's slightly loose. Again the wheels are strapped firmly in place.

Northwind

There's no way it should ever loosen once locked, unless the mechanism is faulty... Only other thing is, are you 100% sure the frame was properly in the clamp? We've done this a couple of times with bigger tubed bikes, the bike was squint meaning that the clamp was tight, but then the bike shifted and came loose.

Richie63

I use the 591 system and have done so for the past 4 years.

A good tip is when tightening the system up to gently rock the bike to sit it properly in the clamps, as you can tighten off-centre which leads to it feeling secure but will work its way loose with as you drive along.

Otherwise I am well satisfied that my bikes are going to stay put.

cat_with_no_tail

On the way down to BikeRadar Live last year in another forumites car, we were heading down the motorway when we heard a BANG! Then another motorist pulls along side and starts frantically signalling at the roof.

Turns out we'd not locked the front part of the Thule down properly (was a brand new car with a brand new rack, never used before) which resulted in my bike heading down the Motorway on the roof of his car pulling a wheelie. Still, could have been worse, at least it didn't come off.

Mu bike currently just gets thrown in the back of the car, but when I change motors, I have been ordered by her who must be obeyed to get a rack for the bike. If I can, I'll be getting a 591, they do seem to work well if you secure them properly

Daz555

davie_g wrote:

Had no other problems and still totally rate the prorides.

Hang on. Your bike almost fell off. I don't see how having "no other problems" really matters much after that.

davie_g

Thanks for the responses.

lostboysaint wrote:

Just a matter of interest, how on earth can you still "totally rate them" when they've failed, spectacularly, to do what they were designed to do twice?

Daz555 wrote:

davie_g wrote:

Had no other problems and still totally rate the prorides.

Hang on. Your bike almost fell off. I don't see how having "no other problems" really matters much after that.

After 3 years of using them and 1000+ miles travelled, I still rate them. Given that the failure occurred twice with the same carrier and bike and a pothole has been involved, I am happy to consider that it may be a faulty device. Or, whilst I am always sure that the bike is centred and locked down, I can understand what Richie63 and Northwind are saying. Had no problem with the other carrier which usually has a smaller - rounder downtube inserted in the clamp.

nicklouse

sounds like you are not using the ratchet quite right.

in a few years of use and some very long drives never had it come lose. But i do drive for a mile or so and then check it is all fitted correctly every time.

ricardo_smooth

I always click until tight, then give it an extra click to make it 'proper tight'. Driven countless miles and had no issues

Broonster

I have a couple which I've used for around 3 years without issue. I must admit though, I am considering a couple of simple velcro straps, or similar, as an extra security measure to fit round the downtube and the 591's clamp, just in case! Think it would just be enough to hold the bike in place if the clamp ever did fail or come loose.

Raymondavalon

+ Potato

Have two 591's and have even had one of my bikes hit a tree branch in a parking lot while mounted on the 591 atop of my Landy Discovery and it stayed put.
I've also driven with the bikes on top of my Golf over some seriously shoddy, rutted and potted dirt roads and they've remain put.

If you have a suspect ratchet get it back to Thule, I wouldn't trust it, the ratchets are basic, wind them up, double, triple check and lock them. If the ratchet's releasing from pothole impact, there must be an issue

lovewales

I had a similar issue with the 591 I hit a bump in the road and the next thing I know is i have a bike cartwheeling down the road. We were just at the start of a 400 mile drive home and we checked all 4 carriers twice before setting off and again about 3 miles in. In the end we just thought that we must have doubled checked one of the others instead. I have continued to all 4 of the 591'a for the last 4 years and have had no problems since.

MuddyFunster

I transport my Spesh Enduro SL in the same rack - similar frame to the Pitch. Two things could have contributed:
1) If the clamp doesn't cross the downtube at 90deg, then it wouldn't have to slip much for the clamp to be loose, even though the ratched hasn't moved.
2) The downtube cable / hose routing doesn't help - both the frame tubes and the 591's clamp surface are pretty square and I never felt great about torquing up the clamp over the cables and brake hose.
I bodged a solution with some bits of rubber and zipties - effectively making the clamping surface more rounded and creating somewhere for the cables to sit without being subject to any clamping force.

The only issue I've ever had with Thule racks was forgetting to tighten up the clamps holding the roof bars onto the cars roof rails. One side was left totally undone and as sson as I hit the B-roads, the whole bike / rack / bars assembly was left flapping around on the roof. Fortunately, the only loss was some paint from the roof rails.

shx8000

Use mine a fair bit, never had an issue. Got to make sure it can't slip to a narower part of the frame, took me a while to get it spot on. Bikes a trek remedy with a strange shaped tube.

Stu 74

Got a Marin Wolf Rdige. Was coming out of the LLandegla car park one day and as I drove into a crater the bike popped out of the clamp. Fortunately the wheel straps held the bike on to the carrier and the only damage was a bent spoke where the front wheel landed on the roof bar.

The ratchet mechanism hadn't failed. I think the problem is that, due to the design of the bike frame, the clamp does not sit squarely on the frame. In this case I guess I hadn't tightened the clamp up enough.

The procedure now is to tighten the clamp up, give the bike a wobble and then tighten it up further if I can. Then I strap the frame to the clamp arm in such a way that even if the clamp opens, the bike will still be secure.

Had no problems since (this happened about 18 months ago).

Stu

Briggo

In regards to making sure theyre fully tightened, what I do is tighten it up as much as I can, give the bike a hell of a shake side to side and then that forces the frame to sit better in the clamp which usually gives room for an extra click to make sure its reeaaaally tight.

Stevo_666

My pair of 591's have been faultless every time.

shoddy

I would get in touch with Thule to ensure you havent got a faulty unit.
I use 591's and have had no problems.

As stated above, i have some small straps that i always fit around the clamp so that if it were to fail the bikes would remain in place.

snod_donley

davie_g wrote:

Should a Proride 591 ever release when in transit?

I had the same problem yetserday.. 2 bikes fitted as normal. double checked all was fitted ok and the ratchet was locked with the keys. After around 5 miles just about to get on the motorway one bike fell off the clamp and was just held on with the wheel straps. Roof now dented and scratched so not happy. Bike survived ok but now very worried about using them again. I had to tape the clamps together to complete the journey...... i will be getting some straps to put around the clamps to stop them doing it again

ricardo_smooth

sometimes it's because the downtube isn't seated in the mount properly, another thing i do is tighten it until it feels tight then wobble the bike side to side, this then centralises the bike in the holder and if it is off allows you to tighten it properly.

Raymondavalon

I've been using Proride 591s for years and have never had an issue, I used them on my Discovery and used to clamber up and over some rough/uneven terrain without any issues.
I agree with Ricardo, tighten the ratchet and give the bikes a shake to make sure they're secure.

jon1993

Could be worse I lost a bike of the back down an a road at 60 nice new bike in pieces XD insurance job haha