Thule Velocompact 13-pin Platform Towbar Bike Rack Black/aluminum, 2 bikes

Thule dose quality stuff, and this one is not exemption. Solid, well build, quick to set. I’m very happy with the product

When I received this item and unboxed it I found that one of the rear light fittings had broken off. It is only secured by a small piece of plastic that is very easily broken if the heavy carrier is set down on its corner during transit. I returned the damaged item to Amazon and ordered a replacement. When it arrived the light fitting was broken off in exactly the same way. I have returned it to Amazon as well. The light fitting is very poorly designed and likely to break off if the carrier is set down on the lights. No wonder this item is now heavily reduced as it is a poor design and likely to be replaced soon. Do not buy.

You just knwo when it is Thule it is going to be brilliant, out of box very easy to assemble, fitting to car is so easy, adjustable arms and light pods make it easier to store as well. Love it.

For such a reputable company as Thule, a little more money spent on the instruction details wouldn't break their bank. The step where you come to drop the rack onto the tow bar involves some adjustment by turning a knob left or right (+ or -). It is not explained very well what the purpose of this is actually for, yet it appears to be quite a key step, as far as quality of fitment on the tow bar is concerned. So Thule, come on, please give us some 'details'. After fitting the bike rack to the tow bar, I activated the operation of the foot pedal to see how the rack tilted. Well I didn't expect it to come towards me with such speed and force- whacking my cheek bone as I tried to get out of the way which left me with a bruise. If I had kept looking head on, it would have easily have broken my nose. So after sitting down for a bit, we then decided to load 2 Raleigh E-bikes on to it, which as quite straight forward. My wife's is a low step frame and I thought I had to purchase an additional arm adaptor to secure it to the bike rack, but to my delight, this bike rack comes with a connecting arm which is designed for low step bikes. So I put my wife's on first, then mine last. So away we went, driving cautiously and smoothly. About 3 mins later, (periodically looking in my mirror to make sure all was ok in the back), I thought I witnessed the bikes leaning backwards more so than when we left. I stopped the car and got out to check, sure enough, the U- shaped frame (that bikes are attached to) was moving, yet the frame was bolted in place (weird). So we went back home (slowly and carefully) got the bikes off the rack and disassembled the U shaped frame from the bike rack then -refitted it. This time no movement. I'm not sure why / how this happened but the U shaped frame couldn't have been properly engaged- so make sure that when you engage the U frame that it is fully in position and check it doesn't tilt forwards or backwards. When installing the U shaped frame you screw on a big turning knob and then afterwards a small hex fitting. When using the Allen key to turn the hex head fitting, the more you turn it, the less room you have to push in the Allen key and you may think there is a problem, but there is not. So we got the bikes back on the rack , drove for 15 miles without any issue and enjoyed our bike trail. It's a very sturdy piece of kit has quality written all over it, but it is very expensive , too expensive to be honest and if it wasn't for my wife persuading me to by this make/model, I may have went for another brand at about £150 less. I suppose when you think you have about £5k worth of bikes being transported , its maybe best not to skimp on quality.

I’ve been sceptical of tow ball racks for ages but finally took the plunge. Wow this rack makes life so much easier than before! Initially I had to take the time to work out which bike goes where, especially as we have big mountain bikes which have awkward frames. This took me about 45 minutes to work out but after getting it right and taking a few photos, I can fit the carrier to the car and put the bikes on in 5 to 10 minutes. The carrier is super solid on the tow ball. The bikes are super solid on the carrier. The tilt function is brilliant and allows loads of room for boot acces. I have wide bars but there is loads of room between them and the car boot so no need to rotate them. However it is necessary to put some padding between frames in certain places otherwise you could end up with some rubbing or paint damage. My only observation is that the arms could be a inch or so longer to give a slightly better reach if fitted at any angle other than at 90 degrees from the cross bar of the carrier. This would also allow for slightly better bike spacing too.

Quality item used for 2 e-bikes

I had the carrier professionally attached to my new towbar. The bike was sturdy for a few days of use, after using extra straps as the clasp wasn’t completely safe and secure with my E mountain bike due to the slight downward angle. The tilt is a good idea to make it easy to access the boot. Unfortunately after going over a couple bumps in the road, the carrier bar and bike fell down whilst travelling at 50mph on an open A road, with nowhere to stop. It left me in a distressed and panicked state. The main bar had come out of the fixture. Other than a few scrapes on my handle bar of my brand new bike, I had a lucky escape. Thule themselves said that this is a common problem after going over bumps, after trying to imply that I was at fault, when it was professionally set up and fitted, which has now left me terrified of taking the bike out on the carrier after spending all that money on new towbar, carrier and bike. If it can’t cope with a few bumps in the road and going very slow over speed humps, then it’s far too much money. Very unhappy and disappointed.

After receiving this very expensive bike carrier our car had to go into the garage for sometime to be fixed and wait for parts. Just got it back and gone to fit the nice new bike carrier to find one of the light clusters hanging off in the box. Now out of return time I am stuck with a very expensive broken bike carrier. Not very happy.

Niente da dire sul prodotto..solo un po piu costoso di altri competitor…facile montaggio e buona robustestezza Facile la apposizione della targa e la maneggevolezza. Non do 5 stelle perche primo invio era rotto per verosimile danneggiamento durante il trasporto, una delle plastiche era incrinata….operazione di Reso velocissima Poi comprato su altra piattaforma perche Amazon proponeva consegna dopo sei mesi e tutto ok.consigliato

Leicht zu montieren...nicht zu schwer...und preislich auch super 😉