[Ronnie]

Does anyone know if I can use my Thule Big Moth with Yakima bars? I'm going on a road trip with a friend and he has Yakima on his car which are round bars. The Thule car bars are rectangular shaped and the bike carrier clamps on with an L-shaped bracket and a T-bolt. Does anyone know if there is any kind of adaptor? Thanks,

Ronnie.

 

[bvibert]

The newer Thule racks bolt onto Yakima bars just fine, with no adapters. The L-shaped bracket has a curve in the middle of it to go around the round bars. If you have one of the newer brackets then you shouldn't have a problem, if not then I imagine you can get new ones to use with your existing racks. I have two Thule Big Mouth racks on my Yakima bars, so I know from experience that it works just fine.

 

[Ronnie]

The newer Thule racks bolt onto Yakima bars just fine, with no adapters. The L-shaped bracket has a curve in the middle of it to go around the round bars. If you have one of the newer brackets then you shouldn't have a problem, if not then I imagine you can get new ones to use with your existing racks. I have two Thule Big Mouth racks on my Yakima bars, so I know from experience that it works just fine.

Great, thanks for that information. My rack is a few years old and my "L" brackets are flat and don't fit around the Yakima bars. I'll try and get hold of a set of new ones. I actually phoned Thule and was told there is no solution.

Ronnie.

 

[bvibert]

I actually phoned Thule and was told there is no solution.

Really? There's some great customer service. I looked on Thule's site earlier and it seems they're sold out on the L brackets, hopefully you can get them through a bike shop or something.

 

[Ronnie]

Really? There's some great customer service. I looked on Thule's site earlier and it seems they're sold out on the L brackets, hopefully you can get them through a bike shop or something.

I just got off the phone with Thule again and spoke to someone different. The guy didn't seem to know what I was talking about when I mentioned a "curved" section in the "L" bracket but he did say that they should fit Yakima bars. I also looked at the current parts list on the Thule website and I must say that the brackets shown look exactly the same as mine. Maybe it is an older drawing. Anyway, I ordered a few and hopefully they will fit. If they do, cool! He said I should get them in two to three business days. Thanks for your help.

Ronnie.

 

[bvibert]

I just got off the phone with Thule again and spoke to someone different. The guy didn't seem to know what I was talking about when I mentioned a "curved" section in the "L" bracket but he did say that they should fit Yakima bars. I also looked at the current parts list on the Thule website and I must say that the brackets shown look exactly the same as mine. Maybe it is an older drawing. Anyway, I ordered a few and hopefully they will fit. If they do, cool! He said I should get them in two to three business days. Thanks for your help.

Ronnie.

Yeah, I noticed the pictures on the website looked like the old ones. Hopefully you get the correct ones. Let us know how it works out.

 

[Ronnie]

Yeah, I noticed the pictures on the website looked like the old ones. Hopefully you get the correct ones. Let us know how it works out.

bvibert,

Again thanks for your help. If you didn't mention the "L" brackets with a curved section I would not have found a solution. They arrived today and they indeed have the curve to fit the round bars. I can't see it not working, even if I haven't tried them on my friends car yet.

I love it when a plan comes together!:thumbsup:

Ronnie.

 

[bvibert]

Glad I could help. It's puzzling that Thule wasn't more helpful. I can understand that you're putting their rack on a competitor's system, but it's not like you're going to buy a whole new base setup for your buddies car or something if you can't it to fit. Plus, they have an easy solution.

 

[Ronnie]

Glad I could help. It's puzzling that Thule wasn't more helpful. I can understand that you're putting their rack on a competitor's system, but it's not like you're going to buy a whole new base setup for your buddies car or something if you can't it to fit. Plus, they have an easy solution.

I think it's more a case of lack of knowledge. The people I spoke to seemed to be fairly young and inexperienced, especially the first time. The second guy seemed to know that the brackets "should" fit the Yakima bars but not about the changed fittings or that the drawings were out of date.

Ronnie.

 

[tjkm]

I was going to say, "yes, it should work" but you guys already worked it out! That is suprising Thule staff was not up on a common (I think) quesiton about parts. I have a Thule Pheloton (sp?) on my Yakima bars and it works like a dream.

I am looking to add a Fairing, I think I do need to go Yakima based on some diagrams I saw on Thule's website, but I like the Thule one better. A little more research will be done as I get closer to purchasing.

 

[longman]

if you have yakima bars you have to use the yakima fairing,
if you have thule bars you have to use the thule fairing