Thule Epos

Really nice setup. Wouldn’t change a thing. The quality, design, and ease of use make it worth the price. A little heavy, but well-built and I expect it to last a very long time.

Decided to get a hitch mounted bike rack. This is compact since it folds up and under 40# so easy to carry and has 2 wheels you can roll it on. I have a 2" hitch receiver, need to be sure you tighten the adaptor in the hitch so you don't get any sway as you drive. With the steel enforced attachment straps hope that distracts anyone from trying to cut a bike off the rack. There are locks, to lock the rack to the hitch receiver and the bike to the rack for security. Easily carried an ebike, hybrid, or mt bike. Bike rides solid in the rack and have had no sway or movement. Only downfall so far, is the rack doesn't fold up on the car so it sticks out too far when the car is in the garage so have to take it off. But, so easy to remove and put on. As a senior I wanted a bike rack I could handle to move around based on its weight and ease of use into the future.

So easy to use and VERY well made. Perfect solution to transport our e-Bikes........and compact enough to take us very little space when not in use.

This review is specifically for Tesla owners. I had Tesla install a tow hitch after I bought the 2023 Model Y. I had gotten this bike rack (with the lights package) specifically because the bike rack has taillights. The bikes obscure the car's taillights and make backing up at night a bit dicey. The rack connects to the car's trailer plug for electricity. Unfortunately, the Tesla has a round plug and the bike rack a rectangular one. I bought an adapter at the local Walmart and it didn't seem to work. I took the car to a U-Haul store, thinking their adapter might work. A technician there plugged his tester into the car and it indicated there was no current at the outlet. Out of frustration, I a different this adapter from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0049MTHP4). I plugged it in and plugged the bike rack into it and everything worked great!As for the bike rack, it seems incredibly well built. The installation instructions, which were just diagrams, was difficult to understand in a couple places, but I made my way through it. You can download a larger version here: https://www.thule.com/-/s/approved/std.lang.all/78/58/1397858.pdf?rev=3.4Our two e-Bikes weight 65 lbs. each, which is the maximum capacity for both the Tesla hitch and the bike rack. In fact, this was the only rack I found that could carry two heavy bikes like these. We plan to carry the bikes' heavy batteries in the car, increasing the safety margin a little. Once mounted, the bikes seemed very stable on the rack, even on bumpy roads. I added a bike anti-theft chain to tie both bikes together, to make stealing them seem even more daunting.Tilting the bike rack to allow access to the car's hatchback is relatively easy, once you get the hang of it. I especially like the way the rack folds up and the suitcase-like handle provided for carrying it. The important thing is the downward press on the release pedal just releases the latch. It's NOT how you tilt the rack. To tilt, grab your bike near the top of the frame and pull back. The bikes will tilt, but the release pedal stays where it is.One disconcerting thing is a couple illustrations from the manual that are provided here. The latch is shown "clicking" into place doesn't click. The hole in the sleeve that adapts the rack for a 2" receiver does not line up with the hole in the hitch. I don't know if this is safely attached or not and have a call in to Thule Support to ask about it. (They're closed on the weekend.) In case this is a design flaw, I plan to add a safety chain to secure the rack to the hitch's chain attachment points. I may do this anyway as a second theft-prevention tactic. There is also an image of the torque specification for the collet-like expanding mechanism that grips the inside of the hitch's receiver. It shows a person's arm with a bulging bicep and "7.5 lb ft" as the torque spec. How are you supposed to measure the torque??? The crank for this mechanism has a lock so no one else can loosen it to steal the rack.Overall, this is a premium product with a premium price tag and my first impression is that it will do the job.

I grabbed this to accommodate my family's 3 bikes, one of which is a 60 lb. e-bike with tire fenders. As far as I could tell, this is the only rack on the market that could both handle the heavy bike and not use a "tire grabber" like most do (you can't use those on bikes with fenders). I've driven multiple long trips through the Colorado mountains with this loaded up and never had any issue with stability, etc. I also maxed out the weight capacity one day with 3 heavy e-bikes and had no problem whatsoever. It is really well designed and I love how it magically kicks back to swing the bikes out of the way with no effort. Bikes are locked up really well to the rack and the rack locks to your hitch with the same key. I've never felt the need for an additional cable lock but you can use one if you choose. I did add the lighting kit which I'm really glad I did. The peace of mind knowing your brake lights and blinkers are visible on I-70 is well worth it. That kit also includes a mount for your license plate on the very back which keeps police happy. Side warning with the lighting kit: be very careful when installing it to follow the directions exactly when routing the wires underneath. You have to do it in a very specific way with slack at the correct points to make it work right and Thule uses wordless illustrations in their manuals... It just requires some patience and focus to interpret each step properly. Beyond that, I didn't plan on spending over $1000 to get bikes on my car but am really happy with this overall. I actually look forward to using it, its a really cool piece of gear.

My Thule EasyFold XT was wearing out after carrying e-bikes around for about 3 years. I felt it should have lasted longer than that, but when I looked around for a replacement, the Epos rack seemed to be the only one that could handle the weight of our 2 bikes. It’s definitely an improvement over the EasyFold XT, particularly with the arms that stabilize the bikes -- they offer more flexibility and connect to the bikes more reliably. But generally speaking, its build quality is similar to the EasyFold, so I’m not holding my breath that this will last longer than the EasyFold.

It is worth the extra money.

At first this seemed like the answer to our challenge. Both bikes fit and seemed secure. Unfortunately, the latch popped while driving down the road, at which time the jolt from the weight broke the cable that holds the bikes up. They drug behind the car as we quickly navigated to the side of the road. Unfortunately both bikes were badly damaged. Now the broken rack and bikes are strapped the the back of our car. Our e bike riding vacation is ruined and we’re not yet to our destination. I’m beyond discouraged.