Thule Speedway Bike Carrier
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I had no problem installing the carrier on either of my mini vans and from what I read on the internet from other customers it installs easily on many makes of vehicles. The straps hold the carrier tightly against the rear bumper but it does not push the top part of the frame hard against the glass of my rear window.
This was one thing I was worried about with the carrier but another was placing my bike on the carrier with the wheel hanging so far down. When I installed one of the bikes on the carrier its front wheel hung down a bit low, I moved the bike to a new position and it worked out fine.
The real nice thing with the Thule Speedway is the wide range of positions you can place the bikes using just the carrier and the no sway cages. The small plastic cages clamp onto the frame of the carrier allowing you to clamp the bike frame to the frame of the carrier using the cages and rubber straps. They create a cross brace so the bike does not rock back and forth on the bike carrier.
The same type of rubber straps also hold the bike to the carrier for a secure and quick way to clamp the bikes down to the frames. You can use the rotatable pads to also figure out different ways to secure the bike to change the height of the tires from the ground when your bike has an odd frame and it does not sit well on the carrier.
Sometimes you have to adjust or figure out a different way to have the bikes sit on the carrier due to the frames not being the same. On my bike the top frame is at an angle so the frame sits a bit low on one of the frame bars and I needed to move the bike around on the carrier to get it to sit properly.
Thule also sells a bar that fits from the bike seat post to the handle bar post to add a bar to set your bike onto the carrier if you need to. The bar, called the 982 Frame Adapter, costs about $35 from several internet sites creates a bar from the seat post to the handle bar post to place your bike on the carrier.
I had no problems fitting this carrier on my mini van and watching a video on the internet from a website that sells the carrier I can easily see how it fits on a car as well. The top frame pads would rest on the trunk of the car while the bottom would again rest on the bumper. On some models of cars the Thule Speedway Bike Carrier may interfere with the trunk being used while the carrier is on but many will not.
I had no problems with opening and closing my rear door on the Town & Country mini van with the bike carrier in place and strapped down. You may want to move the carrier arms that the bikes attach to before opening the trunk or when there are no bikes on the carrier.
To swing the arms so they are toward the bottom frame you simply press in the two buttons that allows the arm to rotate and because the arms are bent at an angle the arm will swing in toward the frame. This allows the carrier to be left on the vehicle and you can travel without worry for somebody driving into the arms or even walking into them. When the arms are out the entire arm sticks out about a foot and 9 inches but with it swung in it sticks out less than six inches from the frame.
The Thule 962XT Bike Carrier is the easy and convenient way to transport up to three bikes without having to add any extra hardware like a hitch or mounts to your vehicle. This is the modern and safe way to attach a carrier without interfering with the normal operation of your vehicle and an easy way to hit the trails or take your bicycles on vacation.
I highly recommend the Thule 962XT Speedway bike Carrier for a fantastic bike carrier; it costs about $130 and is available from many sporting goods stores and internet sites.