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At almost half the weight of traditional hitch racks the new Helium carrier brings an all new meaning to the term “ease of use”. Now you can put your strength and energy into riding instead of installing and removing your rack.
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Technical Details
- Thule 970 Helium 3-Bike Hitch Mount Rack offers secure, protected transport for all types of bikes on 2- and 1.25-inch hitches- Up to 40 percent lighter than steel counterparts with high-grade ultra-lightweight aluminum alloy construction
- Tool-free installation with Stinger Swinger mount with a tightening knob; fold down arms; and Hitch Switch quick release lever to tilt the rack away from the rear hatch
- Close spaced T3 cradles fit all bike types and sizes; No Sway Cage eliminates bike-to-bike contact; and integrated anti-theft locking mechanisms secure bikes to rack and rack to vehicle
- Limited lifetime warranty
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By K. Conover (Carnegie, PA United States)
Over the past 40 years, I've either owned or regularly used about 10 different brands and types of bikeracks. While I can't give this rack five stars due to one minor problem, it is by far the best bikerack I've ever used or even heard about. I have it on the back of a 2006 Scion xA. (Did have to get a hitch put on the Scion, but this is very much worth it to be able to use a rack like this rather than some sort of a strapon kludge.)
As with all Thule racks (compared to several competitors), the stretchy rubber straps that hold the bike on the bikerack are easy to use, indeed even better than an older Thule rack I have on my Land Rover. (For instance, the Softride rack we have has straps and posts that are much more difficult to use.)
The posts that stick out the back are close together, so mountain bikes and kid's bikes fit on easily, without having to use the lower post of the bike as one of the attachments to the rack.
It really is light, though quite sturdy - you'll notice this especially when you pull up the little latch to let the rack come down so you can open the back of your car, or tilt it back up with one finger.
The integrated lock cable (locks with the same key that locks it into the hitch) is an elegant design. One cable comes out of the (as you look at it) left horizontal post, and another cable, with a lock on it, comes out of the top of the vertical post (yes it has a little cover on it to keep rain out of the lock, and the one in the horizontal post has a little keeper to keep it in place when not in use). You simply lock the two of these together (they're really quite short) over top of the bikes. This won't save your front wheels from being stolen, you might want another cable lock for that.
My only complaint is that, when I wanted to spread the saddles on the horizontal bar apart a bit to better accommodate three mountain bikes with lots of stuff on them (handlebar extensions, etc.), it was very, very hard. I do 250 pushups every morning and I couldn't get them to move by using my hands. I tried to use a large pair of Channelock pliers, which scraped up the saddle but didn't move it hardly at all. I then used an oil filter wrench, the type that has a length of nylon webbing that you wrap around the object (the saddle in this case), attach a 3/8" socket wrench. I twisted the saddle around the horizontal bar 2-3 times while gradually moving out or in as the case may be. That's really a minor problem, I figured I'll do this once and then never move them again.
Everything else in the installation is a snap. Everything is well-engineered, and you'll find lots of little details where Thule's experience and engineering expertise show - many incremental improvements over earlier Thule racks.
If I had to give this rack a grade using the US grading system, I'd give it an A-. I would give most of the other Thule and Yakima racks a solid B or B-, and some of them, like our Softride rack, a C+. And I was pretty happy with my Thule rack before, so this rack really raises the bar.
Final impression: best bikerack ever, if you just need to carry 3 bikes. Highly recommended, and worth getting a trailer hitch put on your car just so you can use it.
By Claudio S. Ribeiro
it was very easy to assembly and to mount. The disapointment was that for carying a woman's bike need to order a separate part from Thule
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