As Seen Behind Old Dog

While demonstrating the Thule EasyFold 9032 to complete strangers in the Old Dog parking lot I thought, “Hmmm. Maybe I should write about this.”

The things that make this rack different from many others are its high weight capacity (122 lbs!), ability to fit either a 1 1/4” or 2” receiver and distinctive good looks. The EasyFold was designed to haul heavy E-bikes (v. popular in Europe, dontcha know), a feat which I recently attempted with great success.

The jury is out on the looks. My wife doesn’t like it at all and says snide, hurtful things about poor EasyFold. I, on the other hand, think it looks sleek and modern. I also don’t spend lots of time looking at my car in traffic, so who cares?

So you start with this thing that looks like a Zero Halliburton briefcase on a platform behind the car/truck/thing. First thing you do is fold down the two sides so it begins to resemble a bike rack.

Now that it’s unfolded, you can put bike number one on the rack. The bike is secured with the shorter of the two arms-with-claws, and the wheels are strapped down nice and tight.

Here comes the cool and different part. You now remove the longer arm-with-claw from the rack and position it as required. Super sweet.

Once the arm is positioned as needed, securing the second bike is very easy. Technically the shorter arm may also be repositioning if needed, though it’s typically the longer guy that requires more fiddling. Once you have a system for your bike(s), it goes very quickly, though there could be a small but satisfying bit of problem solving the first time the rack is used.

Those claws aren’t used to squeeze the heck out of the tubes. Instead, they just keep the bike in the vertical plane. Bikes ride VERY securely on this rack and bike-to-bike contact is small, bordering on nonexistent. I appreciate that the entire rack sits quite a bit above the receiver on the car, which makes it very unlikely that this thing will drag on the ground, even when attached to smaller, lower cars.

Does it fold down so you can put the stuff you forgot to pack into the back of the car even after you’ve loaded the bikes? Yes! EasyFold has a very slick tilt mechanism, designed to work fully loaded. The pivot point is in just the right spot, so it never feels like you’re lifting a lot of weight.

Though I have yet to use this feature, I cannot help but keep one of the extra parts in the car with me all of the time. I’m speaking of the ramp. Yup. Not everyone wants to lift a 66 lb. (max, thank heaven) bike up onto a car rack, so Thule integrated a cool extendable aluminum ramp.

We have never sold one of these, perhaps because I haven’t been able to bring myself to stock a rack that carries two bikes and retails for $700 and, hey, the T2 is one heck of a rack. And yet… I like this thing, and though I have not personally used the ramp, I think the EasyFold could be just the ticket for people who have a hard time lifting their bike, regardless of style.

Testing will continue, with any breakthroughs reported here.