Help! Best Fold-Up Tilting Bike Carrier - Thule EasyFold XT vs Buzz Rack E-Scorpion vs Atera Genio Pro?

[stringsonfire]

I'm struggling to choose a bike rack to hold two eBikes, a Wisper 705 (heavy low-step) and a Merida eOne-Sixty (full suspension with chunky 2.8" tyres). I'm pretty sure it needs to be a tow bar mounted carrier to be able to hold a heavy low step. We're (always) short on space, so a fold-up carrier is a must for us, but less important if you can hang yours on a garage wall.

Worth noting that a typical tow bar nose supports 75kg at most, so whatever the specifications for a bike carrier say, it's always 75kg minus the weight of the carrier.

	Atera Genio Pro	Buzz Rack E-Scorpion 2	Thule EasyFold XT2 933/ XT3 934
Best Price	£474.95 from RoofBox	£309.95 from RoofBox	£461.65 / £546.20 from PF Jones
Weight of Carrier	19.6 Kg	18.1 Kg	17.9 Kg / 23.1 Kg
Remaining Weight Allowance for Bikes	55.4 Kg	56.9 Kg	57.1 Kg / 51.9 Kg
Number of Bikes	2 + 1 (Extension Kit 022 781, £70)	2	2 (XT2) or 3 (XT3)
Dimensions (Open) (cm)	124 (w) x 65 (d) x 70. 5 (h)	134 (w) x 57 (d) (measured from centre of tow ball) x 70.4-95.7 (h)	123 (w) x 63 x 68 / 123 (w) x 83 x 86
Dimensions (Folded) (cm)	38.5 (w) x 65 (d) x 70. 5 (h)	26.2 (w)	31 (w) x 63 x 68 / 31 (w) x 83 x 86
Bike Ramp	Drive-Up Rail 022 782, £47.50	E-Ramp, £34.95	9334, £39.95
Warranty	3 Years	3 Years	2 Years, covers wear and tear 5 Years if you buy direct
Tow Ball Clamp Mechanism	Press a single lever down once	Twist wheel then lever (ratchet?) until secure	Press a single lever down once
Bike Holder Type	Wrap-around straps with sprung streel core	Jaw type clamp	Jaw type clamp
Max Tyre Size	4", may need a set of longer straps? 022 730 up to 3", 022 735 up to 4"		4.7"
Other	Straps are "quick-release" Unique folding mechanism protects the lights and keeps the dirty bits inside	Number plate is easy to remove Adjustable max. height to fit large/tall bikes	All Thule products can be purchased with keys matched to your existing Thule gear, see RoofBox

All of the above have these features:

• 13 pin electronics connector
• Tilt for boot access
• Locks onto the tow ball with key
• Bike holders lock onto the bikes with key
• Integrated light board

I'm leaning towards the Buzz Rack new, as it's by far the best value for money, or the EasyFold XT2 used, as it does look slightly easier to fit to the car and it folds up a little neater. The Atera is probably the best feature-wise, as it's got 2 years of development on top of the EasyFold XT (which was released in 2017), but it's currently pre-order for August 2019, and I'm not sure I want to be one of the first people to buy it.

Any thoughts on which to go for, or any experience/recommendations having used them?

 

[Woodnut]

I had the same decision to make in April of this year for our two Giant Entour bikes, the weight of the bikes is not given by Giant but I would guess with batteries removed probably a total of a little over 40 kg combined. I looked at various towbar carriers both online and in a local dealer. The Altera/Buzz carriers did not come up so I ended up looking at Thule and ultimately the Easyfold carrier. The non folding are big beasts with a large footprint so I went for the folding type and after a lot of traveling around for a Volvo branded version of the earlier model the Easyfold 931 .It is pretty much the same as the XT2 except it doest have wheels for dragging around,no great hardship and it was £375 though you don't get the Thule warranty.

It was easy to put together and In use its great,much more secure than the old hang on carrier I had previously. It has a nice small footprint when closed for garage storage and fits in the back of the car, no problem. The instructions for use are not great so I looked online for a video review which made things clearer. There is a knob you have to adjust to get the correct fitting for the clamp which confused me for a while but once I'd worked that out, it was fine. The ramp is useful, but you need a lot of width on your driveway to use it.The carrier is not too high so lifting the bikes on isn't too difficult.

Though I can't speak for the other two carriers , I can certainly recommend the Thule from my experience to date. Hope that helps.

 

[pjr10]

I'm struggling to choose a bike rack to hold two eBikes, a Wisper 705 (heavy low-step) and a Merida eOne-Sixty (full suspension with chunky 2.8" tyres). I'm pretty sure it needs to be a tow bar mounted carrier to be able to hold a heavy low step. We're (always) short on space, so a fold-up carrier is a must for us, but less important if you can hang yours on a garage wall.

Worth noting that a typical tow bar nose supports 75kg at most, so whatever the specifications for a bike carrier say, it's always 75kg minus the weight of the carrier.

	Atera Genio Pro	Buzz Rack E-Scorpion 2	Thule EasyFold XT2 933/ XT3 934
Best Price	£474.95 from RoofBox	£309.95 from RoofBox	£461.65 / £546.20 from PF Jones
Weight of Carrier	19.6 Kg	18.1 Kg	17.9 Kg / 23.1 Kg
Remaining Weight Allowance for Bikes	55.4 Kg	56.9 Kg	57.1 Kg / 51.9 Kg
Number of Bikes	2 + 1 (Extension Kit 022 781, £70)	2	2 (XT2) or 3 (XT3)
Dimensions (Open) (cm)	124 (w) x 65 (d) x 70. 5 (h)	134 (w) x 57 (d) (measured from centre of tow ball) x 70.4-95.7 (h)	123 (w) x 63 x 68 / 123 (w) x 83 x 86
Dimensions (Folded) (cm)	38.5 (w) x 65 (d) x 70. 5 (h)	26.2 (w)	31 (w) x 63 x 68 / 31 (w) x 83 x 86
Bike Ramp	Drive-Up Rail 022 782, £47.50	E-Ramp, £34.95	9334, £39.95
Warranty	3 Years	3 Years	2 Years, covers wear and tear 5 Years if you buy direct
Tow Ball Clamp Mechanism	Press a single lever down once	Twist wheel then lever (ratchet?) until secure	Press a single lever down once
Bike Holder Type	Wrap-around straps with sprung streel core	Jaw type clamp	Jaw type clamp
Max Tyre Size	4", may need a set of longer straps? 022 730 up to 3", 022 735 up to 4"		4.7"
Other	Straps are "quick-release" Unique folding mechanism protects the lights and keeps the dirty bits inside	Number plate is easy to remove Adjustable max. height to fit large/tall bikes	All Thule products can be purchased with keys matched to your existing Thule gear, see RoofBox

All of the above have these features:

• 13 pin electronics connector
• Tilt for boot access
• Locks onto the tow ball with key
• Bike holders lock onto the bikes with key
• Integrated light board

I'm leaning towards the Buzz Rack new, as it's by far the best value for money, or the EasyFold XT2 used, as it does look slightly easier to fit to the car and it folds up a little neater. The Atera is probably the best feature-wise, as it's got 2 years of development on top of the EasyFold XT (which was released in 2017), but it's currently pre-order for August 2019, and I'm not sure I want to be one of the first people to buy it.

Any thoughts on which to go for, or any experience/recommendations having used them?

Hi, cheers for the review of the 3 bike racks, very useful.

Can I ask did you buy the Buzz Rack E-Scorpion 2 , how are you finding it? Cheers

 

[pjr10]

I had the same decision to make in April of this year for our two Giant Entour bikes, the weight of the bikes is not given by Giant but I would guess with batteries removed probably a total of a little over 40 kg combined. I looked at various towbar carriers both online and in a local dealer. The Altera/Buzz carriers did not come up so I ended up looking at Thule and ultimately the Easyfold carrier. The non folding are big beasts with a large footprint so I went for the folding type and after a lot of traveling around for a Volvo branded version of the earlier model the Easyfold 931 .It is pretty much the same as the XT2 except it doest have wheels for dragging around,no great hardship and it was £375 though you don't get the Thule warranty.

It was easy to put together and In use its great,much more secure than the old hang on carrier I had previously. It has a nice small footprint when closed for garage storage and fits in the back of the car, no problem. The instructions for use are not great so I looked online for a video review which made things clearer. There is a knob you have to adjust to get the correct fitting for the clamp which confused me for a while but once I'd worked that out, it was fine. The ramp is useful, but you need a lot of width on your driveway to use it.The carrier is not too high so lifting the bikes on isn't too difficult.

Though I can't speak for the other two carriers , I can certainly recommend the Thule from my experience to date. Hope that helps.

Hi, I'm currently looking for a bike rack and had come across the Volvo one, which I think you purchased? Could I please ask how are you finding it? Any noticable difference to the Thule XT 931, apart from only 1 year warranty from Volvo?

Volvo Folding Towbar Mounted Bicycle Carrier

Standard Delivery For UK Customers 2-4 Days For International Deliveries Please E-mail Us For a Quote An exclusive and extremely compact bicycle

www.volvopartshop.com

Cheers