Thule Load Bars

I've had an old set of Thule load bars for about 6 years now, and they have held up very well, just a bit of rusting around areas where the coating scraped off, but I recently bought a set of new bars. Much thicker and the coating is much, much better, and these bars are really heavy duty - can't go wrong with these. I like the rectangle shape better than the Yakima round shape simply because nothing will "slip" on a square pole.

Two thumbs up Thule!

My only complaint is the noise they create. These whistle a bit. I added a fairing which reduced the whistling, but the fairing houls.

These bars are super easy to set up with a variety of Thule pieces. I have put a box and my bike racks on there. The Thule stuff is super stable! My old Yakima stuff doesnt even compare! If you are buying a new rack, buy Thule, super easy to install and easy to figure out and order.

I have the 78" bars. I think my record so far is 10 whitewater boats, standing eight across with two on top of those. I have a Thule Mountaineer box up there now and I can still fit three boats and a bike or four boats straight across. I've rallied around the Northwest fully loaded and stood on the bars trying to tie awkward loads down. The bars haven't warped or seemed stressed yet. Just make sure the weight limit concept is understood.

I was initially worried that they'd be too wide for my Pontiac Vibe and I'd knock my head on them! But they are perfect. They do not extend too far at all. I am using them with the Thule Big Mouth bike racks which by the way are too long for a Vibe. I cannot fully open the hatch back so I have to be careful. Or I could re-install them backwards and move them forward. But the load bars... excellent fit.

When I went to pick up the canoe from the store, the guy helping me commented "nice rack - I wish we sold those here". I'm assuming that wasn't a pick-up line.
Once these bars were on the roof, I was convinced that if I was involved in a rollover accident, these bars would be one of just a few things left on the frame of the car.
Solid feel and easy to install - two thumbs up.

I got the 78 inch bars. They actually measured about 80" but I didn't mind because I wanted them long. They seem to be coated well and appear very durable. The bar endcaps did not fit very securely though. For peace of mind I put black aquarium silicone inside each cap before jamming it on the bar. I think the caps should fit better out of the box.

The 50 inch bars fit my Prius perfectly and they are very solid. The maximum load is like 165lbs which is way more than I will ever need to put on the roof of my car.
They do generate noises though once you drive faster than 30mph. So you can either go with fairing (not cheap) or wrap a bungee cord around them a couple of times.

I had a set of Thule bars that were given to me that were so long (75"!) that they hung way over the edges of my car & were a danger to any unsuspecting passengers. I finally purchased the correct length for my car, by going to Thule's website, (50") & now all is well in Scooby Land.

The are very stable racks. Mine have not even budged in years, and I carry many skis in my cargo rack. The bars show no signs of wear and tear. All the Thule racks that I have put on these bars have worked great. I definitely trust hundreds of dollars of gear riding on these babies.

The designers at Thule are fantastic. I have these attached with the Crossroad Railing Foot Pack. This keeps my load bars close to my roof keeping my MPG at a maximum. They are impossible to steal which is also comforting. If you want a great rack for your road bike, try the V2.