Thule released the Eurpower 916 carrier at the start of March - Mussels posted a thread about it, and I decided to take the plunge. I said I'd write a review for it, so here it is...
The cycle rack clamps onto a towbar ball. The clamp feels extremely robust and well made and gives me every confidence that it's going to stay attached. The black plastic bit in the middle of the clamp is a sliding sleeve which pushes down towards the towball to lock the clamp in place. Once it's locked you get a green indicator in the little window and you can then remove the keys.
The instructions say you should check your towball rating and only load up with 60KG of bikes if you have an 80KG towball. It turned out that mine was 210KG, so I reckon it should be plenty strong enough.
The bikes sit on the back in two plastic troughs which keep the wheels aligned. Nylon ratchet clamps lock the wheels into the troughs. The frames of the bikes are held by two clamshell clamps. The clamps can fit anywhere on the support bar and the heads of the clamps swivel round to grip different frame parts. One of clamp locking knobs has a locking mechanism to prevent it being undone, but disappointingly, the shorter clamp arm is not lockable.
I found that loading the bikes was pretty easy. The troughs that the wheels sit in are quite deep and have a tendency to hold the bike upright as soon as you drop it into place. I know that Thule sell a loading ramp for £30, but I'm a big strong lad so didn't bother with it. I don't really see it being much help anyway. The Agattus sure big bikes, but the carrier locked them into place securely enough.
And now for the party-piece.... The whole carrier can fold down to let you open the boot/tailgate. As shipped, the carrier only folds down to 50 degrees, which wasn't enough for my van, but you can move the bolts for the fold-down arms to two alternative holes to allow it to fold all the way down to 70 degrees - Hooray.. I can open the boot.
Well... so far, I like this carrier very much - I haven't actually driven anywhere with it yet as the towbar elecrics aren't quite finished yet, but as long as it down't fall off when I'm driving, I can't see my opinion changing too much.
Conclusion - This carrier is very good, but very expensive.
The cycle rack clamps onto a towbar ball. The clamp feels extremely robust and well made and gives me every confidence that it's going to stay attached. The black plastic bit in the middle of the clamp is a sliding sleeve which pushes down towards the towball to lock the clamp in place. Once it's locked you get a green indicator in the little window and you can then remove the keys.
The instructions say you should check your towball rating and only load up with 60KG of bikes if you have an 80KG towball. It turned out that mine was 210KG, so I reckon it should be plenty strong enough.
The bikes sit on the back in two plastic troughs which keep the wheels aligned. Nylon ratchet clamps lock the wheels into the troughs. The frames of the bikes are held by two clamshell clamps. The clamps can fit anywhere on the support bar and the heads of the clamps swivel round to grip different frame parts. One of clamp locking knobs has a locking mechanism to prevent it being undone, but disappointingly, the shorter clamp arm is not lockable.
I found that loading the bikes was pretty easy. The troughs that the wheels sit in are quite deep and have a tendency to hold the bike upright as soon as you drop it into place. I know that Thule sell a loading ramp for £30, but I'm a big strong lad so didn't bother with it. I don't really see it being much help anyway. The Agattus sure big bikes, but the carrier locked them into place securely enough.
And now for the party-piece.... The whole carrier can fold down to let you open the boot/tailgate. As shipped, the carrier only folds down to 50 degrees, which wasn't enough for my van, but you can move the bolts for the fold-down arms to two alternative holes to allow it to fold all the way down to 70 degrees - Hooray.. I can open the boot.
Well... so far, I like this carrier very much - I haven't actually driven anywhere with it yet as the towbar elecrics aren't quite finished yet, but as long as it down't fall off when I'm driving, I can't see my opinion changing too much.
Conclusion - This carrier is very good, but very expensive.
