Thule

Revert 6-Bike Hitch Rack

Solid rack with nice features

Ive taken this out on three multiday trips so far. We have a four person family, but wanted some extra capacity for friends or to take our gravel and mountain bikes on longer trips. This is a great rack - solid, simple to put on the vehicle with all the high quality components you’d expect from Thule. Nothing is chintzy. It’s slick and runs smooth and probably the best rack you can buy for 6 bike hitch set up - who doesn’t want a little pneumatic “help” to lift bikes after a long day of riding? This rack could be perfect (to me) with a few minor tweaks. Take my opinions below with a grain of salt: - it’s super solid, but this quality means it’s HEAVY. Well duh, you say, it holds six bikes! Yep, you’re right but that doesn’t mean it’s any easier for me to get on/off a vehicle by myself. It’s probably doable, but I always get help to avoid any catastrophic back-window-smashing. I get the solid construction = weight, but if the bright minds at Thule devise a way to shed any kilos in the future it’d be a bonus. - the arm controlling the pneumatics could be longer. Yep, that’d mean more weight (see above) but I find it can be tricky to reach through six L/XL frame bikes on there. The pad on it is ergonomic and really helpful, though. Maybe I’m just a t-rex. - the pneumatic lock out pin is not reachable from the rear position you’d be in to use the lowering arm. So many times Ive gone to lower the rack, realize I forgot to remove the lock pin and have to walk around the rack to get between the vehicle/rack, and then walk back around to the back of the rack to use the lowering arm. Not a huge deal, but if there was ever a way to devise a location for the pin on the same face as the lowering arm it’d be nice for the small-brains like me. - not fatbike compatible unless you purchase separate kits. Sucks because you just spent a wallop of money on this rack already and also at time of purchase the kits weren’t available (think they are now, and that’s why I’m on the site today). Luckily we still have our Pro XT we can use for fat bikes, but an “everything” rack is what all consumers lust for. Now that those are out of the way, these are some bonuses you may not appreciate unless you pull the trigger and actually use this: - my 7/9 year old can remove their own bikes from this once rack is lowered. They’re not quite strong enough to lift them on yet, but what a bonus for parents used to doing all the work in the lot (adult bikes can be rolled straight on with no lifting depending on the height of your hitch) - the rubberized tie downs are a dream. We also have a ProXT and the ratchet straps on that can be cumbersome, especially in the cold. The straps on this are easy to do with shaky or cold hands. Even the kids can do them up. - compared to the Pro XT, this holds the bikes higher which means we get less road salt and gunk kicked up on our cassettes. Love me a rack that loves my bikes. - Speaking of crud, we find it’s faster and easier to spray off the bikes in the wand car wash because we can get them from 3 sides - with the ProXT we had to be cautious about clearance. Not an issue with this one as the rack slopes up from the hitch so much. We’ve taken this to Rec Sites and up logging roads with zero issue - the van will bottom out long before the rack will - the addition of the pneumatic “help” to lift the rack is amazing. Seriously. Game changer. I can lift six bikes with *very little* effort. Cheers to Thule for this, my end of day shaky arms thank you. - no, our bikes do not rub together. I just bought a Specialized Turbo Levo and I am PRECIOUS about its beautiful lavender paint - zero concerns with this rack with a mix of youth/adult bikes. We’ve yet to have 6 all adult bikes on it. So there’s the straight goods. If I had to buy a rack again I’d go right back to this one.