I started mountain biking when I was in high school, and during that time I’ve never felt the need to own a bike rack. Getting my mountain bike to the trailhead meant tossing it into the back of the truck, or taking the front tire off and wedging it into the back of the Pathfinder. Spending hundreds-of-dollars plus change just to get my bike from point-A to point-B? No thanks. But then came marriage, and a dog, and suddenly those three-day-weekend camping/biking trips meant no room in the back of the car to fit two bikes among the rest of the gear (and the dog.) The need for a bike rack had hit code red.
After shopping around and nearly fainting at the price of a decent roof-mount setup, I discovered the
Thule Prologue Pack.
A roof rack system that includes two fork mount platforms with locks for under $200, the Thule Prologue Pack was everything I needed at half the cost of other roof racks.
After an easy installation on my ’99 Nissan Pathfinder, I drove our bikes all over the state and beyond, and the Thule Prologue Pack worked great. Driving on city streets to trailheads in the Wasatch, gunning it to 80-mph up Parley’s Canyon to Park City, and even on a long drive to Fruita, Colorado, the Thule Prologue Pack kept the bikes secure and got them to the trail in one piece.
I have only one gripe about the Thule Prologue Pack, and that concerns the cinch strap that locks down the back wheel. The strap is made from a cheap-feeling plastic and after only a couple uses, it no longer ratchets down. Manually pushing the strap through the ratchet will still keep the wheel tight on the platform, but it’s disheartening to find such an important part could have problems so quickly.
The Thule Prologue Pack includes two 38 inch load bars with universal mounting hardware, locking skewers and clamping levers that fits all standard and carbon forks, wheel trays that fit tire widths up to 2.6 inches, and a One Key System lock that secures the bikes to the carrier. All of this only costs $199.95.
The downside of the Thule Prologue Pack is that it only mounts directly to a vehicle’s factory roof rack, which is why it costs less. The Prologue Pack takes away the need to buy a Thule base rack that can cost more than $400 alone. Unfortunately, unless you already have a factory roof rack on your car, the Thule Prologue Pack doesn’t provide the same amount of savings. But if you do have a roof rack, there is no better system you can buy at this price.
Purchase the Thule Prologue Pack here.
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