Introduction

Having a simple and secure way to transport our bikes to and from the trails can be a bit of a challenge! Back of the car is great but can result in a lot of dirt making it’s way from the trail into your boot! Roof top mounted racks work well but can be difficult to load and aren’t the best for those concerned with fuel economy. Rear mounted racks without wheel supports often don’t work that well with full suspension frames and often need lots of foam to prevent frame rub.

Towbar mounted rear racks with wheel supports are generally regarded as the ‘best’ solution for transporting bikes and most of the main manufactures, including Pendle, BuzzRack, and Altera, have a wide range of these types of racks, but we’re testing the Euroway G2 923 rack from Thule.

The Specs

• Stylish Scandinavian tow bar mounted rack for 3 bikes (there’s also a 2 bike option – the Euroway G2 921)
• The rack folds pretty much flat for storage and is small enough when folded to fit in the boot of a car
• The main frame of the Thule Euroway G2 923 is aluminum so it’s relatively light weight
• Bikes are secured with detachable frame holders that can easily be removed for ease of loading. The holders will fit all bike frames up to 80mm.
• The holders use a rubber coated clamps which are easy to use; one of these clamps comes with a lock pre-installed (additional locks can be purchased separately)
• The wheels of the bike sit in adjustable supports and are ‘locked’ in place by plastic ratchet straps; these supports are extendable
• The Thule Euroway G2 923 can be tilted – even with bikes loaded – to allow access to the boot of your car; and a built in stop prevents the bikes touching the ground
• The rack can be locked in place on the tow bar (using the same key as for the clamp lock) and all the locks are compatible with the “Thule-One-Key-System”
• The integrated rear lights are also movable / extendable to accommodate bikes with different wheel-bases
• Lighting adaptor is 7 PIN
• The Thule Euroway G2 923 can be adapted to work with cars with spare wheels on the rear door (using the Thule Off-Road adapter 9202; but this does reduce the capacity of the rack to only 2 bikes)
• Thule also sell a loading ramp (Thule 9151) to help load the rack whilst avoiding having to lift the bikes
• Full product details are here: http://www.thule.com/en/jp/products/bike-carriers/towbar/thule-euroway-g2-923-_-923
• There’s a good overview video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgy63IFLTqg
• Retail price is c. £338

Design & Features

• The Thule Euroway G2 923 comes in a large box with some simple Ikea style instructions and only minimal assembly required, including adding your number plate, before it’s ready to use.
• Build quality is first rate – all the parts look and feel ‘just right’.
• Design quality is high – the use has been well thought out and developed.
• The weight of the Thule Euroway G2 923, I’ve been using is 15.1kg.
• It’s pretty compact when folded up – it easily fits in the back of my car There’s a neat little tension adjuster that allows you to fine tune how tight the coupling is onto the tow bar mount.
• Despite the high quality of build and design it is still in the same price bracket as other similar offerings.

• The instructions don’t explain that the wheel support straps can be moved – a quick web search helped me figure it out but think that Thule could make this clearer. its a good feature. We have had a few questions on how to do this. See this thread for more info.
• Having to buy extra locking clamps and then buy the 4 lock one key systems as extras is really annoying – for the money Thule could provide locking clamps for all 3 bikes as standard with the one key system.

Usability and durability in the field

• The Thule Euroway G2 923 is easy to pick up, maneuver and install on the tow bar.
• The light connector is very solid (unlike others I’ve used).
• Bikes can be quickly and easily loaded – lift ‘em on; connect the support arm and clamp; tighten it up; tighten the wheel straps; repeat for the other bikes and you’re good to go!
• The wheel support straps ratchets are a great feature – really easy to use and ensure that the bikes are well supported.
• The Euroway G2 923 is very secure and stable whilst driving – even when bumping around ‘off road’ the bikes do not ‘bounce’ around too much.
• Once the bikes are off it’s really easy to take the rack off, fold it up and store it in your boot. This helps stop anyone trying to steal it or generally fecking around with it whilst you are riding (as happened to me earlier in the year on a Surrey Hills jaunt) – but maybe I’m just paranoid! On a recent city break to Bristol, this was brilliant when we were trying to park in a very compact NCP car park after we’d first unloaded at the hotel.
• That said, the locks seem ok – certainly a good deterrent and has made us feel comfortable about leaving the bikes on the rack whilst stopping at service stations.
• The Mrs loves it: “I can use it easily and load bikes; I think it is in a different league to other bike carriers we have used”.
• The Thule Euroway G2 923 Carries 3 trail / all mountain bikes reasonably well – can be a bit of squeeze depending on the size of the bikes and design of the frames but I’ve not had any real issues.
• The foot operated tilt mechanism is really easy to use and works a treat giving easy access to the boot
• Build quality is excellent – inspires a lot of confidence that the rack will work but all the parts are readily available as spares (check out http://www.thulespareparts.co.uk).
• Changing light bulbs looks to be pretty straight forward (but I’ve not tried yet!).

• The Euroway G2 923 Doesn’t work great with 3 big DH bikes – 2’s probably the max as the gap between the bikes will be too narrow with chunky forks like Fox 40s.
• Not really a specific problem with this rack but tow bar mounted racks do interfere with rear parking sensors.

Test Info

• Tested – Winter 2012-13
• Car tested with – Hyundai Santa Fe
• Driving style – increasingly like my dad
• Towbar – Witter
• Bikes Tested with – 26” Childrens bike; Womens and mens Hard tails; XC full sussers; Enduro Bikes, Downhill Bikes