Smorgasbord42

Thule T2 vs Saris Cycle-On Pro: More than you really want to know. OK, much more - this is a long post.

I finally got around to unpacking my Saris Cycle-On Pro, and have not yet returned the Thule T2 that I borrowed when my Saris shipment was delayed, so I took some time to make a side by side comparison. Both are 2” receiver units.

These are “high-end” (ie, expensive) bike carriers of similar design, sometimes called "platform racks": The wheels of the bikes sit in trays, with a ratcheting arm coming up and over the front tire with another mechanism (strap or mini-arm) to hold the bottom of the rear rim to the track. They are quite pricey (around $350), but for the money you get a rack that won’t damage your carbon fiber top tube (since they don’t contact the frame), and don’t make you remove your front wheel and/or lift your bike onto a roof rack. Loading and unloading bikes is very easy (see Thule Video and Cycle-On Pro Video).

Off the Car
The Saris is bulkier and heavier. In the arms-stowed position (minimum size) the Saris is almost 6’ across while the Thule is a tad over 5’ (see Bike to bike clearance, below). The Cycle-On Pro weighs over 51 lbs, the T2 is about 46 lbs. Bottom line is that the Thule is easier to deal with off the car, or to install on the car.
Winner: Thule T2

Hitch Attachment
Thule and Saris have taken different routes when it comes to minimizing play in the hitch receiver. Thule has a threaded hitch pin hole in the square tube that goes into the receiver, and a hitch pin that’s really a half threaded bolt. Tightening the bolt pulls the square tube to one side of the receiver. It effectively stops left to right play, although there is some up and down play. You need to use a 7/8” wrench (included) to tighten or loosen the bolt.
The Cycle-On Pro uses a standard hitch pin, but has a mechanism inside the square tube that you hand tighten with a knob that’s at the end of the tube. It pushes the tube against the hitch pin to reduce wobble. It also works pretty well.
Note that the non-Pro version of the Cycle-On uses a design very similar to the Thule,. It has the advantage of having two hitch pin holes so you can choose how far from the car the rack will be.
Winner: Cycle-On Pro(for not requiring tools), or TIE for regular Cycle-On

Ground Clearance
Both Thule and Saris units have a similar design: a heavy square tube coming out of the receiver that has vertical plates at the far end to support another horizontal tube which holds the racks. In the carrying position, this upper tube is 7” above the bottom tube on the Thule, and 8&1/2” for the Saris. On the Thule, the end of the upper tube is 35&1/2” from the hitch pin centerline, while it’s 31&1/2” for the Saris. Thus, the Saris upper tube end is both closer to the car and higher up. Here’s a diagram (to scale) showing that at 6” both racks will hit at the same slope, but at 10” the Thule hits first.


Winner: Saris Cycle-On Pro

Note: If the bottom of your hitch receiver opening is less than 6” above the ground (which I think is only the case for some cars having an aftermarket 1.25” hitch attached), then the Cycle-On’s longer bottom tube (19&3/4” versus 16”) can hit before the longer upper tube of the Thule. My truck’s 2” hitch receiver bottom is 14” above the ground, my SUV’s receiver is 12”, so the Saris clearly wins for my applications, but might not for yours.

Bike to Bike Clearance
The obvious measurement is that Thule has 9&1/8” between tracks while the Saris has 9&1/2”. More important, however, is that Saris offsets the two tracks (and hence offsets two bikes) by about a foot. With 2 road bikes mounted, I had no clearance issues at all with the Saris, but with the Thule I did. The ratcheting arm holding the first bike down contacted the seat stay of the second bike. Luckily, the tracks of the Thule are adjustable left and right, so by moving the front track towards the driver’s side and the rear rack towards the passenger side I was able to create just enough clearance. Doing this increased the length of the rack from 5’ to about 65”. Note Thule’s adjustment only gives about a few inches each way, so you can’t get to the full 12” offset provided by the Cycle-on.
Winner: Cycle-On

Car to Bike Clearance
The first thing to note is that Thule is set up with the closest to the car’s bike handlbars on the driver’s side, while the Saris is set up with the handlebars on the passenger side. If you have an external spare tire, having the handlebars on the other side of the car as the tire will give you the most clearance.

Also, the centerline of the first track of the Thule is 19&1/2” from the hitch pin centerline, while on the Saris it’s 16&1/8”.
Winner: Thule, unless your external spare is on the driver’s side.

Storage Position
On both units, the upper arm pivots 90 degrees upwards to minimize how far the unit sticks out when not in use. On the Thule, the innermost part of the rack is 5&3/8” from the hitch pin centerline, on the Saris that dimension is 10&3/4”. This means the Saris is less likely to hit the bumber or external spare tire, but it also is less compact.
The Thule has a little lever you push down and then you can lift the rack up. On the Saris, you remove a pin, lift the rack up, and then replace the pin. While the lever sounds easier, in practice I found the pin both easier and simpler. On the Thule, you have to lift and even jiggle the rack in order to be able to press the lever in, to take the weight off the mechanism.
Winner: Personal preference.

Holding the Bikes
Both units use a similar design – the front wheel sits on plastic trays and a ratcheted arm comes down over the top of the wheel to hold it in place, while the rear tire sits in a long groove and has a hold down that goes over the rim to hold it in place. That said, there are some differences: The T2 has a single wheel tray for the front wheel, the Cycle On has two smaller pivoting trays. The T2’s arm locks lengthwise only while the Cycle-On’s arm locks both lengthwise and at a fixed angle.
There are advantages to both set-ups: The Saris’s two trays cradle the wheel fore and aft, thus preventing movement even before the hold downs are attached, while the T2’s single tray only stops aft movement. However, if you’ve got kid’s bikes with 20” wheels, you’ll have to remove a couple of bolts and move the Saris’s wheel trays closer. If you will need to sometimes hold 20” and sometimes hold adult size bikes in the same tray sometimes, having to unbolt and rebolt the trays on the Saris will be a serious disadvantage. If you don’t have 20” bikes to carry, or can dedicate one of the positions for 20” bikes, then the security of the Saris trays is an advantage.
Next we come to the ratcheting arms, and here is where I found the biggest difference to be. When the Saris arm locks, it not only locks “in and out” but also radially. The Thule arm only locks “in and out.” Saris is able to lock the angle the arm sits at since the two tray design keeps the center of the wheel in the same relative position to the arm at all times (downside, as above is moving the trays for 20” bikes). On the T2, the tray only positions the back of the wheel, so the center of the wheel changes depending on the wheel’s size. With the two trays, Saris’s arm really just needs to hold the wheel down, but with it’s literally open front tray, Thule’s arm has to hold the bike down and towards the rear. But, since it has to handle wheels in size from 20” to 700mm, the locking angle can’t be fixed. As a result, Thule’s instructions (see link below) say to have the arm contact the front fork.
Frankly, I was shocked when I read this. The whole point of these expensive racks is to avoid rack to frame contact by holding the bikes by their wheels, so the last thing I expected was having an arm that needs to contact something other than the wheels. With my road bikes, the T2’s arm contacted the front brake of the bikes. This necessitated re-centering the brakes every time I took them off the rack. I don’t have a front suspension mountain bike, but one on-line reviewer did say that after some use, the T2’s arm did leave marks on his forks, despite the built-in padding on the arm.
Front hold Winner: Saris. The only advantage to the Thule design is the ability to handle any size wheel without moving the trays.

Both bikes have a long tray in which the rear wheel sits, with a sliding attachment to hold the bottom of the rear wheel to the tray. With the Thule, there’s a plastic strap that you thread over the rim into a leveraged hold-down lever. Saris has a short arm that pivots over the rim and locks in place. While Thule’s strap can really hold the rim down tightly, Saris’ short arm doesn’t click down enough to hold the rim down without some play. My road bikes have moderately deep rims (Mavic ES/Shimano R-561), so it would be even looser for shallow rims. For really deep rims or with mountain (high profile) tires, it’d be fine. In practice I’m not sure whether this looseness is a real issue or not since the front is held so well.
While the T2’s rear hold down is tighter, it’s also a bit scary to release – the lever literally can snap up with enough force to make a knuckle bleed. Maybe I’m making it too tight, but it only took one skinned knuckle for me to be careful flipping the release.
Rear hold Winner: Thule (but note that front hold is more important to stability)


Bottom Line
The design of these racks has two big advantages, and lots of little disadvantages. If you can live with a rack that either holds bikes by the top tube or via the front fork (with wheel removed), then you should probably choose one of those designs: they will be cheaper, lighter, and not have the same level of ground clearance issues. But, if you’ve got a carbon fiber bike, and/or can’t lift bikes onto your car’s roof, or just don’t want to chance scratching your bike’s paint, and/or want the quickest bike on/off of any rack design, then one of these racks might be the right choice.

These two racks are more alike than they are different. That said, Thule’s quality control/packaging appears to me to be better (my Saris arrived with a broken plastic end cap, a broken plastic cover, and the two metal tracks aren’t perfectly parallel), and the unit is smaller and lighter. But, considering the typical main reason to deal with all the expense and off-car handling of these racks is to carry bikes without the risk of damaging them, that the Thule’s design forces the arm to contact the front fork and/or brake is, to me, a serious disadvantage. If Thule’s arm had the same rotational lock down that the Saris has, it’d be the winner, but as they stand now, I'd chose the Saris mainly for its bike holding ability and almost guaranteed bike to bike clearance, despite its other minor issues.


Thule instructions

Saris instructions

Bontrager

Wow. I'll definately come back and re-read this thread when I'm buying my next bike carrier.

I have a Thule 4 bike carrier and one thing I like about the hitch/screw-pin thingy is that mine came with a lock that goes over the hitch pin/screw so that it's a little more difficult to steal. I just throw the wrench that it came with in the Jeep in case I need to take it off.

Another thing with some of these carriers if you have a SUV is that you have to make sure you can still open the tailgate with the carrier in the down position. Also, if you have an exterior tire, the hitch or the carrier's tube has to be long enough so that it doesn't hit your exterior tire before the holes are aligned.

I have a CF bike and my Thule rack seems to work fine and hasn't harmed it at all from what I can see.

nitropowered

You can change the orientation of the bike holders on the thule rack. Its a pain but you can slide off the two racks from the main beam.

Also a side note, the release mechanism on the Thule rack is rather underdesigned (the lever to let down the rack when its folded up). You really have to pull it straight back or you will bend the lever (over time) and the release mechanism will fail. I had to warranty one T2 rack (and its a pain to get Thule warranty claims) But in fairness to Thule, the customer is rough on equipment so it might not totally be Thule's fault

Smorgasbord42

I should have mentioned that both Thule and Cycle-On Pro include a similar hitch pin lock.

I didn't really talk about security since all these designs eventually depend on cables to protect the bikes, and cables are pretty easily cut. The Cycle-On Pro also comes standard with a locking cable that uses the same key, so that's convenient. Even if you get locking cables for your Thule, it's not quite as secure since the rack bolts together and so someone could unbolt it to steal the bikes with a portion of your rack. The Cycle-On Pro's design has an opening in the two plates welded to the bottom tube, but since the bottom tube is locked via the locking hitch pin to the car, unbolting doesn't help. But again, cables are pretty easily cut.


Yeah, if you've got the type that has two widely spaced hold-downs for the top tube, then you're holding the top tube near the joints where it's strongest. My old rack just held the top tube in the middle, where it's weakest, so I didn't want to chance it, particularly at 70 MPH on bumpy roads (Hwy 5 in CA).

There's also the issue for sloping top tube designs that holding the bike by the top tube puts the bike at an angle. How comfortable that is depends on a lot of factors.

ScrubJ

Good post. Love my T2 and would more than likely buy one again. No one I ride with owns the heavy Saris, all use the lighter model so I'm not familiar with them.

Smorgasbord42

Yeah, from looking at the rack I thought that would be possible, but the instructions actually tell you which side to put where (without explanation as to why). Good to know you can swap sides on the Thule if you have the need (can't do this on the Saris).

One thing that occurred to me is that in the orientation Thule instructs, the chain side of the bikes, with its derailleurs, face away from each other, whereas in the other orientation (the way the Saris is setup), the chain sides face each other. Since the Thule doesn't offset the racks as much as the Saris, it's possible that you might get the rack arm of the one bike hitting some part of the other bike. The interference I had on the T2 was at the chain stay at first, then my first offset try put it at the skewer - which might have been the derailleur had the orientation been swapped - and then creating more offset cleared everything: but it took going almost the full offset amounts to get that. Non-compact geometry bikes or just larger bikes (mine were 58cm and 57cm, both compact/sloping geometry) might be different. So, all I'm trying to say is that the orientation Thule instructs has the advantage of avoiding drivetrain contact, and swapping sides makes that a risk.

foresthill

One thing that's worth mentioning is that you can get a two-bike add-on for the T2 so that it can carry 4 bikes.

I've had a few parts warranteed on mine over the years, and Thule has been extremely responsive, not even asking for a receipt or the broken part.

JayC

Thats interesting.. Ive owned both and IMO the Thule was much heavier. Maybe its been revised?

Also for ground clearance, my Saris drags CONSTANTLY.. my Thule never did.

Smorgasbord42

Or maybe you didn't have the Pro model for the Cycle-On. The hand screw hitch tightening mechanism is actually pretty heavyweight - it's got a long screw and metal wedges inside the bottom hitch bar. I measured both units fully assembled using the same scale. The Cycle-On Pro is brand new (model 4018), the Thule T2 is at least a year old.


Do you have the 2" hitch or the 1.25" hitch models? How high is your hitch receiver from the ground when the car is on level ground?

JayC

I do have the Pro model and the knob is about grenaded from dragging the ground so much.

I have the 1.25 model.. and I have no idea how high my hitch is.. I just know the Thule never dragged.

R900

We have a Thule swing away hitch mount in addition to our roof rack. It's great for vacation and allows easy access of the rear hatch on our minivan - even fully loaded. However, if I was looking for a hitch rack, I would go with one of these:

Smorgasbord42

Actually, a 2-bike add-on is available for both Saris and Thule racks. Interestingly, there's also a single bike add-on available for the Saris (but no, you can't stack two 1-bike add-ons or actually stack anything onto any add-on).

Smorgasbord42

In looking at the photos in your Thelma review post, it looks like you have a pretty low hitch - aftermarket, below the bottom of the bumper on a low-slung sports car. I also don't know the dimensional differences between the 1.25" and 2" models of either rack.

One thought I had for you is that the Cycle-On Pro, since its hitch tightening handle sticks out the back a few inches, probably has worse ground clearance than the regular Cycle-On. I know you've dealt with Saris before - perhaps they'll send you the non-Pro hitch bar (and threaded bolt) to swap into your rack. That might improve ground clearance a couple of inches.

foresthill

Hmm. I didn't know that. That's cool. Tho I see that the 2nd two bikes are limited to 35 lbs. That's cutting it pretty close with some mtn bikes, especially once you're looking at bouncing around on a dirt road (or not-a-road.)

JayC

Yea.. it probably would.. they actually sell that piece separately. I was going to buy one and have it cut and welded to raise it up a little but never got around to it. Ive been really happy with the CycleOn other than it dragging. Personally, I think the 1.25 version of the Cycleon sticks out farther than the T2 but I need to get the T2 back and measure it just for my own information. A friend of mine has it so Im sure he'd let me use it to take some measurements. I know I had to trim the wheel trays on the T2 to get it to fold up and the CycleOn has a ton of room folded up.

Something else.. and they may have changed this too.. the T2's locking pin is worth the money of the locking kit just for the pin alone. It uses a smaller wrench size and sticks out much farther and is just easier to work with. Other than the whole "hold down sitting on the fork" issue, the T2 was superior to the CycleOn in almost every way.. again, though, I thought it was heavier. Maybe I imagined that too tho

Smorgasbord42

Actually, weight capacity is similar.

Thule's specs say that the per tray capacity is 60 pounds, but total overall (4 bikes) is 160 lbs - that's an average of 40 pounds per bike.

Saris's specs say that you can put 60 lbs per bike on the main 2 trays, and 35 lbs per tray on the add-on trays. That's 190 lbs total.

Note also that Thule won't let you do an add-on with the 1.25" hitch model, but Saris will. Of course, you better be sure your hitch is rated for the necessary tongue weight capacity of 300 lbs. BTW, both Thule and Saris say their racks are for on-road use only.

kk4df

The video does not describe the Thule hold down arm contacting the fork, and in fact tells how NOT to make contact with the fork. And the instruction manual seems to leave about 1" of room between the arm and fork as well.

Smorgasbord42

The videos are sales tools, not instruction manuals. They do not describe a lot things you need to know to properly use the racks. The videos were not made by Thule nor Saris.

Thule's actual instruction manual says: Thule's instructions say to start the arm lock process about an inch from the brake or fork. The mandatory end result is that arm is contacting the brake or fork. Here's a picture from the owner's manual:


Since Thule's arm doesn't lock rotationally, if the locked arm isn't contacting the brake or fork it can still rotate towards the brake or fork and thus the bike becomes loose in the rack. You're then also relying on the rear holddown to stop the bike from rolling forward, since Thule wheel cup doesn't prevent that (Saris's twin wheel cups do that very effectively).

If you've got the T2 rack, try it. With my road bikes (100 psi and smooth tires), that's what happened when I tried it.

JayC

Youre 100% correct.. you have to be touching the brake when you use their hold down else the bike isnt secure.

Small price to pay.. on Shimano brakes, you need to open the brake release up clearance.. SRAM brakes I think can stay closed. You also have to recenter the brake when you remove the bike from the rack. Again.. just a minor annoyance and becomes second nature after a while.

Smorgasbord42

If you get that piece, you might not need to do any welding. If it's like the 2" version it has 2 hitch pin holes and the close one will not have the bar sticking out as far, which increases effective ground clearance.

If you look at the diagram in my first post, for the 2" version, the bottom part of the Cycle-On sticks out further than the bottom part of the Thule. I wouldn't be surprised to have that be true for the 1.25" versions as well. That's really only important for low hitch receivers, but it's more likely that smaller hitches are lower since they're used on smaller and lower suspension cars, versus larger wheeled SUVs and trucks for the 2" hitches.

Here's another review mentioning the fork contact issue of the T2, for mountain bikes, saying: Overall, the units are close enough in design and quality that things like the vehicle you put it on or even the type of bikes you have affect which is the best for you. For instance, the Cycle-On has more ground clearance with high hitches, the Thule has more for low hitches. The Thule is more compact, but the Cycle-On has better bike to bike clearance and car to rack clearance when stowed. The Cycle-On holds the bikes more securely without touching anything except the wheels, but the Thule handles 20" wheeled bikes without using tools to reconfigure the rack.

So, what works best for you depends on your situation, which is why I wrote such a detailed review to begin with.

BillyBob1

Since the line before the warning states to put the arm one inch from the brake or fork, the two statements are really contradictory.

Since I have a carbon bike, I worry about stresses on the bike with the arm firmly against the break. Any experiences with carbon and following this warning is appreciated.

Billy

Carbon Unit

I started a new thread on this subject, but I probably should have just responded to this thread, I didn't because of the age of the thread.

So, I have copied my comment below.

Thank you for reading.


I am researching buying my first bike rack to go on my BMW wagon and have narrowed it down to the Thule T2 or the Saris Cycle-On Pro. In the next year or two my BMW will be replaced with some little fuel efficient car which will probably only be able to accept a 1 1/4" hitch.

There are a couple of very good comparisons of the Thule T2 and the Saris Cycle-On Pro on this forum. However, I do have a couple of specific questions on the two racks that were not answered in the comparisons.

I starting out thinking that the Thule T2 was the rack I was going to buy; I have now changed my mind and really like the Saris Cycle-On Pro better. I like the design of the Saris better and that it will not scratch bikes or make contact with the front brake caliper. Also, I can carry 3 or 4 bikes with the Saris on a 1 1/4" hitch which the Thule can not do.

Here are my two questions:

What appeals to me about the Thule T2 is that it will tilt away from the car so I can have better access to the car's hatch. How much access does the Saris allow? Is this tilt feature useful?

One review I read said that the Saris Cycle-On Pro wiggles around in the hitch more than the T2, has this been your experience; If so, is it much of an issue?


Thanks,

JayC

The Saris has no tilt whatsoever.

The Saris does sway around in the hitch more.. the Thule was solid as a rock with the locking hitch pin.

Carbon Unit

Do you have enough room with the Saris to get to access to the back of your car? One more question, do you find the play in the Saris hitch to be a problem?

Thanks,

JayC

I do but I have a trunk. If I had a hatchback, I dunno. I THINK you'd be okay as the bikes sit farther back than the Thule but Im guessing.

The sway doesnt bother me any. I thought it would be an issue but its not.