Thule Big Mouth bike rack bending

Just installed and used a second Big Mouth upright bicycle carrier.

Like the first one, it bends at the base plate that connects to the cross bars and is the pivot
point of the aluminum arms that carry the big mouth assembly which clamps to the down tube of
the bicycle.

That means when I turn a corner fast the bicycles begin to lean, as the base plate bends near
where the arms attach at the pivot point. Once it bends, a fast turn in the opposite correction
doesn't correct the lean. Through time the lean gets worse. I can manually correct the lean by
pushing the arms and thus bending the plate near the fulcrum, but am afraid of metal fatigue and
ultimately failure.

I called Thule and got an answer that was strange. The tech person said that a bolt is not tight
enough. Well there are no bolts.

Anyone know what I am talking about, and if there is a fix?

Gary Jacobson Rosendale, NY

 

In article <[email protected]>, Gary Jacobson
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
>I called Thule and got an answer that was strange. The tech person said that a bolt is not tight
>enough. Well there are no bolts.
>
>Anyone know what I am talking about, and if there is a fix?

The fix is to take it to the Thule dealer and make them figure it out. Sounds like either a badly
designed product or some kind of assembly problem.

 

Since this is the second Thule Big Mouth you've had this problem with, I would tend to suspect pilot error. I have two Big Mouths installed on my car, and haven't had that problem with either one.

 

"dennisg" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Gary Jacobson wrote:
> > Just installed and used a second Big Mouth upright bicycle carrier. Like the first one, it
> > bends at the base plate that connects to the cross bars and is the pivot point of the aluminum
> > arms that carry the big mouth assembly which clamps to the down tube of the bicycle. That
> > means when I turn a corner fast the bicycles begin to lean, as
the
> > base plate bends near where the arms attach at the pivot point. Once
it
> > bends, a fast turn in the opposite correction doesn't correct the
lean.
> > Through time the lean gets worse. I can manually correct the lean by pushing the arms and thus
> > bending the plate near the fulcrum, but am afraid of metal fatigue and ultimately failure. I
> > called Thule and got an answer that was strange. The tech person
said
> > that a bolt is not tight enough. Well there are no bolts. Anyone know what I am talking about,
> > and if there is a fix? Gary Jacobson Rosendale, NY
>
>
>
> Since this is the second Thule Big Mouth you've had this problem with, I would tend to suspect
> pilot error. I have two Big Mouths installed on my car, and haven't had that problem with
> either one.
>

His second? Perhaps he's not adjusting his driving when he's got the bikes on top. The Thule stuff
is built solidly, but like it or not, you can't rip around corners with *anything* on top your car.