Thule Outpace Review

Thule, a Swedish brand known for making all things convenient, has made hitch bike racks since 1992. Over the years, we've tested dozens of Thule products and always found them well engineered and well supported. The Outpace looks like the most accessible and easy-to-use bike rack yet, and Thule packed it with cool technology.

Ease of Everyday Use

The Thule Outpace is lightweight and simple, making it an ideal choice for those who don't want a bike rack on their hitch full time. You can install and remove it with no tools and carry it with one hand. Unclipping it from the back of our vehicles took seconds, and the design lets you store it in more places than just the garage floor.

Mounting the Outpace to your hitch is quite simple. This rack uses Thule's “Tool-free AutoAttach” lever that makes popping the rack on and off a quick job. You don't have any loose parts to deal with, and there are no special tools- heck, not tools at all required.

When you approach the rack on the back of your car, Thule provides a unique rubber strap that allows you to unlock and deploy the rack to the loading position with one hand. This is an important design consideration as you often have a bike in one hand when you initiate the loading process.

Once in the flat position, you unfold each side of the rack to place the wheel trays and extend the frame clamp arms, which you can also do with one hand. This is when the rack's origami unfolds, and you realize it's actually quite large.

The rack employs individual, telescoping arms that hold your frame. Each arm has an articulated clamp and strap at the top that can rotate to sit perpendicular to the tube you're clamping. These clamps have locks that let you secure the (plastic) strap around your frame. It's the type of security that will keep honest people honest but do little to discourage an actual bike thief.

Loading and unloading bikes is straightforward, but keep a hand on the bike until the frame clamp is in place. Once the frame is clamped, move to the wheels and attach straps to each. Aside from lifting your bike onto the rack, this process is easy. Some of our testers are quite particular about their bikes and didn't love that the plastic straps could damage their frame's finish.

The wheel straps create a similar concern. Since the wheel trays don't articulate to different positions, the strap angle isn't perpendicular to the wheel, which may scratch your rims. Most of our reviewers found this to be a non-issue, but the bike geeks balked at the archaic way their 2-wheeled children were being treated.

We generally recommend tire-hold-style racks to people who don't want contact with their frame or wheels. While racks like the 1Up Super Duty and Kuat Piston Pro-X are incredibly effective, they're much heavier and more expensive than the Outpace.

While not really made to live on your vehicle full time, sometimes you just need to get into the truck / hatch / rear while the bikes are on your vehicle. The same strap that lets the rack drop from the folded position also lets you tilt it away from your car, giving you plenty of access.

Ease of Removal and Storage

It feels like Thule designed the Outpace just for this part of our testing. Simply put, this is the easiest rack to remove and store we've ever tested, and that's a really important consideration for riders who don't want the rack as a permanent installation on their vehicles. Instead of just piling the Outpace on the warehouse floor, we could stash it up on a shelf, hang it from a hook, or stow it in the truck of our cars.

To remove the rack from your hitch, you unlock Thule's AcuTight handle and loosen the hitch within the receiver. This typically takes about three turns, and the handle can be articulated separately from the tightening mechanism, allowing you to essentially ratchet it on or off.

Once loosened, the integrated hitch pin is pulled from the hitch, but importantly, it doesn't come apart. This Thule innovation may or may not be as strong and secure as a standard hitch pin and lock, but it's far more convenient.

Want to know if the Outpace will fit on your chosen space? The folded dimensions are 30" x 24" with a hitch that extends 10" vertically or can be folded down, giving it a footprint of 30" x 34" and about 6" tall.

Versatility

The general design of these telescoping arm bike racks makes them amongst the most versatile. The wheel trays can carry tires up to 3" wide, which shouldn't be a limiting factor, as bikes with larger tires than that are generally exceeding the weight restrictions of 55 pounds for each position.

The frame clamps use long straps that can accommodate tubes from 20mm to 90mm in diameter. Again, this should be sufficient for all but the largest tube e-bikes, which would also exceed the maximum weight. The longest wheelbase you can mount on this rack is 1250mm or 49.2". If you're a tall rider or ride a newer trail/enduro-style mountain bike, you might want to measure your wheelbase before committing to this rack, and MTB wheelbases seem to be growing each year. This measurement is from front axle to rear axle.

Since the rack grabs only part of each wheel and the frame, it doesn't need adjustment to accommodate bikes with different wheel sizes or odd-shaped frames. If you want to carry more bikes, you can not add additional mounts to this rack, but it is available as a 3-bike version. That rack uses the same hitch mount and mast, so it retains the same overall 110 lb. weight limit, for a maximum of 36 pounds per position.

Security

The Thule AutoAttach system keeps the rack locked to your vehicle, keeping it safe when unloaded and adding an extra layer of security when bikes are loaded. The AutoAttach system works. by locking the handle to the rack, preventing it from being turned and thus loosening the rack. It's not the most robust system we've seen, but it certainly gets convenience points.

The same key that locks the rack to your vehicle locks the straps that secure your frame. This is a nice feature to have built into the rack, but they realistically offer minimal security. The locking straps are plastic and contain no metal. So, a motivated person with a pocket knife could make off with your bike in about 30 seconds. Since the rack is a continuous loop, it's a prime candidate for a cable or U-lock to increase security.

Ease of Assembly

Thule earns a perfect score here with no assembly necessary. While most bike racks don't take long to put together, we often encounter racks that were put together improperly or bolts that weren't properly torqued. Thule gets ahead of these issues by shipping the rack ready to use. You can literally be using the rack within 2 minutes of unboxing it.

Durability

We're not too fond of how much plastic is on this rack, but it's not designed to be on your car full time. When installed permanently, the rack is subject to inclement weather, harsh UV, and icky road grime. The intended occasional or weekend use of this rack nullifies some of our concerns about its long-term durability. We still don't like the all-plastic trays, straps, and connectors, but they feel appropriate on the Outpace.

After 5 months of use, the Outpace has some war wounds but nothing that hampers its ability to carry our bikes effectively. The rack uses clever tricks to tuck the straps in, which seems to help keep them clean and avoid introducing extra dirt and debris into the ratchet mechanisms.

Should You Buy the Thule Outpace?

If you're an occasional bike rack user looking for a lightweight, easy-to-use rack that won't live on the back of your car, the Outpace is pretty attractive. Take it from someone who usually has 4 or 5 bike racks on the floor of his workshop; the ability to stash this rack away on a shelf or hang it from a hook is almost reason enough to recommend it. If you're finicky about your bike's finish and don't want straps rubbing dirt and dust into your paint, the Outpace may not be your cup of tea. But we suspect many riders could benefit from a hitch rack's functionality, don't want to spend a fortune, and don't want to leave the rack on their vehicle permanently. If this sounds like you, put the Outpace on your short list.

What Other Hitch Bike Racks Should You Consider?

While nothing is quite as lightweight as the Outpace, the Kuat Sherpa 2.0 is a slightly fancier, more durable, all-metal rack that really impressed our testers. It weighs a touch more, only holds 40 pounds per tray, and costs more, but feels incredibly well-made and doesn't clamp your frame. If straps on your frame and wheels make you nervous, the 1Up Super Duty and Kuat Piston Pro-X are excellent premium options.