With a lightweight design and maximum bike stability, the Thule Helium Pro Hitch Mount 3-Bike Rack is easy to install and reliable. Each bike is placed 7” apart for protection and secured tight with the ratcheting straps and integrated anti-sway buckle. The HitchSwitch lever tilts the rack away for access to the trunk of the car.
FEATURES:
Lightweight aluminum construction
Integrated anti-sway buckle prevents bike to bike contact and be removed when not needed
7” of distance between each bike for safety
Ratcheting cradle straps secure the bikes
Compact cradle design accommodates a wide variety of bike sizes and frame styles
SnugTite stinger makes it quick to install and easy to lock the rack to the car
Integrated cable lock locks bikes to the rack
Arms fold down when rack is not in use
HitchSwitch lever tilts the rack down allowing access to the rear of the car
Replace The Straps And You'll Have A Great Carrier
I bought the Helium Pro 2 about 5 years ago. I love the light weight. Easy to put on and take off. Lock built in. The attaching plastic straps were awful!! Hard to open. I replaced them with canvas straps with cam buckles. Works great. Holds the bikes and easy to get the bikes off. Easy to thread the straps thru the slots. Improvise and you'll have a great carrier. Also, use pipe insulation where the straps are to protect your bike frame from scratches. You'd have to do that on lots of carriers. Just writing the review to get these suggestions out there. :)
Justme
8 months ago
Wanted To Like It……
Lovely light bike rack, but very disappointed. The “holders” slide around on the arms of the rack. Whether there is 1 bike or more on it, there is sliding that happens.. I know another person with this same design of the Thule rack that ha the same issue. Had to rig better ties to transport bikes. Ended up purchasing another rack. When I brought it to my local bike shop (where I bought it) to get some advice, they were stumped too.
JBLB
9 months ago
Pluses And Minuses!
I have always counted on Thule for many racks etc. over the years and when I picked this rack I was looking forward to using it instead of my old roof racks because my current car is higher and a rear rack is so much easier to use. Although the assembly instructions weren't the best I figured it all out and got the rack together. It was easy to put onto my car and it was easy to get my bike on (I started with just a single bike, in the forwardmost position). This is where the trouble began--I started on a long drive at highway speeds and after about an hour when I looked back it looked like my bike was cockeyed, so I pulled over and took a look. What I found was that the cradle on the left (the "rear cradle" which holds the seat post and the rear of the top bar) had (due to wind on the rear tire presumably) moved about 2" backwards. Picture attached. I had a heck of a time getting it back in place because the round-head screw that is supposed to keep it from doing that was there (this is a star screw and I don't carry star bits or drivers with me) so I had to force it back over that (which I was able to do using a handy stick I found by the side of the road as a punch and a rock as a hammer). Luckily I had some bungee cords with me which allowed me to connect the seat tube tightly to the vertical section of the bike rack above the trailer hitch to keep the rear of the bike from moving; but when I got to my destination I found that the cradle at the FRONT of the bike had moved forward over the round head screw that's supposed to hold it in place (presumably having been leveraged by a twisting motion centered on the now "locked" rear cradle). Picture attached. So this is just a very bad design flaw: a round headed screw is like a ramp, and you can't stop something from sliding with a ramp, you stop something from sliding with a wall! The screws are 8-32 so I stopped at the hardware store and bought some 8-32 x 38" socket cap screws (which have vertical sides on the head rather than a round head) as well as some longer 8-32 screws and some 1/4" aluminum spacers and put them on and they of course prevented any further movement of the cradles because the offer a positive vertical "block" against movement. Pictures attached. I have no idea why Thule isn't using this type of setup in lieu of the round head screws which just can't hold the cradles in place. I would have trouble recommending this product unless this design flaw was fixed. NOTE- I spoke with Thule about this and was told that, given that my bike does not have a completely horizontal top bar (which results in the rear wheel being higher than the front wheel), the rear wheel somehow will catch more wind than if the bike had a horizontal top bar which may be what caused the movement, and that the resolution would be to buy the Thule Frame Adapter which would get the bike to be level. But whether or not that is the case, it just seems obvious to me that using round headed screw to stop the cradles from sliding horizontally is absolutely the wrong approach and that they should be using some sort of vertically -sided screw (like a socket cap screw) to provide an absolute positive lock against sliding.
Kenzo
Verified Purchase
1 year ago
Light Weight- Easy To Assemble
I purchased this a month ago and can’t wait to go mountain biking
Big Daddy
1 year ago
Nice,just More Detail..
Nice rack,just need the bike to be more stable on rack,plastic brackets??
Steve WS
Verified Purchase
1 year ago
Mission Accomplished - Light Weight Rack
I was looking for a light bike rack that I could easily install and take off by myself. The Helium delivers against this objective. It is very light weight and easy to manage. The bike(s) seem secure. The only issue, which is minor, is related to the strap. I assume the primary purpose is to keep the front wheel from swaying/moving. The strap is too long, especially when only hauling one bike. Three short (1 for each bike) would be far more manageable. Again, this is a small point and overall I am very happy with the product.
JPRU
1 year ago
Thule Missed The Easy Part
Overall design i think is good, but the ratcheting straps, as others have noted, are TERRIBLE. I spent 45 minutes trying to get them off. They were not overtightened, just snug, but the tab you push down doesn't go far enough to liberate the ratchets. This strikes me as the easiest part to engineer, but they flubbed this one big time.
MarlinSpike
Verified Purchase
1 year ago
Secure, Safe, & Rad Looking
Works perfectly for three bikes, highly recommend!
West coast joe
Verified Purchase
2 years ago
Great Lightweight Bike Rack, But Straps Need Work.
I have a Saris two bike hitch rack, which worked great but was very heavy and cumbersome to install on my 2 inch receiver. I wanted something more lightweight for my solo rides. The aluminum hitch rack is great; well engineered. The supports tilt down out-of-the-way when your bike is not mounted, and the vertical part can tilt away from your SUV so the hatchback can open, which are all nice features. Also, there is a significant weight savings which I appreciate. I had read the reviews prior to purchase and realize there were numerous complaints over the straps. This is all true. The straps are suboptimal. They tend to jam, especially the one that goes around the seat post. I think the key is to keep them lined up perfectly and not tighten them on any sort of angle. If they get jammed, they’re extremely difficult to remove. I could foresee a situation where you may need to actually cut one. I guess that’s why they sell strap kit separately. I think Thule should do their homework and design a better system that will be retrofitted to the existing racks that are out there. Sort of a shame to let the crummy straps take the luster off of an otherwise great bike rack.
dilosa
Verified Purchase
2 years ago
Nice Structure And Looking
Overall the structure , stability and good performance of the system is a good indicator of the quality materials used to make it .
Dr. Tom
2 years ago
Great Rack
We've had a Helium rack for about 5 years. Easy to install and remove. Holds bike firmly. The only issue is the rubber straps deteriorate over time, but are fairly easy to replace.
Montrealer
Verified Purchase
2 years ago
Great Specs!
Light, strong, well made, lockable... Everything I was looking for...
dave s
Verified Purchase
2 years ago
Thule Helium Pro 3 Trailer Hitch Bike Rack
[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] It did the job of hauling my bike 200+ miles. No damage. Less expensive than Thule's or anyone's flat platform-hitch racks. Spacing between bikes are pretty good.
Benny2929
Verified Purchase
2 years ago
Awesome Bike Rack
Great bike rack , easy to put on and take off . Love the locks so can’t steal rack or bikes . Super fast delivery.
Qwerty
Verified Purchase
2 years ago
Redesigned And Not Better
We had no choice but to replace a Helium 2 due to a broken part that Thule could not replace. The new model is higher and has a better hitch mechanism, but has awful ratchet straps instead of the very easy to use rubber straps. Why the dumb redesign I don’t know.
