Durability
I’ve used this rack for about eight months now, carrying my Santa Cruz Blur LT2 along with other trail and all-mountain bikes to and from many local trailheads. I would say my usage is around average to slightly above average for most cyclists; I try to get in two to three rides a week during prime riding season.
To date, I have absolutely nothing to really complain about in this department. Most everything on my rack still looks and performs like new, the exception being that the support arm has gained a slight bit of twisting play where the ratchet system is located, which has made the arm the slightest bit finicky to slide up and down.
To my delight, when everything is locked down, the rack has remained “tight” through my period of use. Even on bumpy roads, or off-roading in Moab, the rack doesn’t make a peep of noise, which is something I have noticed being an issue with some other racks.
Since I did not have many (or any really) complaints with the T2, I reached out to fellow Blister bike reviewers to see if they had experience with the rack and encountered any problems.
Marshal Olson had the heaviest amount of use and was the only one to respond with durability complaints. He had the 2” receiver, four-bike model, and after “shuttling 8-10 laps per day, 5 days a week, 30 weeks a year for 3 years,” (that’s 1,200-1,500 loads and unloads) Marshal noted, “all the buttons on the tire holders kept breaking; the limiter for the (support) arm when it was not in use broke, so they would drop down to the ground; and the tire ratchet straps got torn up….”
Obviously Marshal’s rack received substantial use and probably saw more heavy DH bikes than my rack, but I can easily see how the areas he points out are susceptible to wear and fatigue over time.
My experience tells me that the numerous plastic and multiple moving parts of this rack will be points of failure and wear at some point, based on how hard the rack is used. My recommendation for people using a rack to the extent that Marshal does, especially in a four-bike configuration (which is not available with the 917 1 ¼” model), is to perhaps lean toward purchasing a rack that is much simpler in design than the T2 or other support arm style racks. An example of such type of rack is the North Shore Racks NSR-4.
Recommended Tweaks
I mentioned in the opening of this review that there are a few new designs available from competing rack companies that are going to force Thule to make upgrades to the T2 to keep it a valuable option. Those are: (1) Folding front tire trays that collapse when storing the rack (on or off the vehicle) so the rack takes up less room and potentially shave a few lbs. (2) Attachable bike stands. (3) A truly bomber design that won’t develop slop or use small parts that can potentially break with heavy abuse, and therefore handle use by the most rigorous of riders (and drivers), shuttling heavy bikes on bumpy roads.
Bottom Line
The more “aggressive” you are with your gear, the more that person may want to steer toward a rack with a stout two-bike rack with repair stand. If a customer plans on using a four-bike configuration, I highly suggest the North Shore Racks system, which is very sturdy, and offers a much more compact carrying option, with more ground clearance.
But the Thule 917XTR T2 is a great option as a two-bike carrier for the majority of people out there. I honestly can’t say anything negative concerning my use with the rack.