Life In The Saddle

The new year is going to signal the start of many new adventures for me; including a dive into the world of expedition sea kayaking. The change has created a demand for some new transportation kit — the Thule Evo WingBar Roof Rack and Thule K-Guard Kayak Rack are two of those investments… I have previously reviewed the very well designed  Thule ProRide 598 Bike Carrier on the blog, and praised its practical and durable design for transporting bikes on the roof of your car. Ever since owning that bike carrier I have been keen to try one of the innovative T-track slide roof racks from the Swedish brand, to see if they truly deliver on their promised fast access and ease of use when combined with Thule's roof-top rack accessories. A change of family car meant that a new roof rack was in demand, and so it seemed a logical choice to go for the new Evo WingBar from Thule. The exceptionally strong aluminium bar is super light, but also super strong — easily capable of taking the lo...

Back in the summer, I reviewed the Thule ProRide 591 ; a roof-top bike carrier that is very well recognised on UK roads, and renowned for being superbly built and functioning faultlessly. Indeed, Thule confidently claim that the 591 is the " world's most popular bike carrier ". At Eurobike this year, the Swedish brand announced that they would be launching a new roof-top carrier, which would have improvements on the 591 in multiple aspects. The 598 has now arrived, and I've been testing it over the last month, and seeing how beneficial these new "marginal gains" are in the real world. Improved Roof-Rail Fitting Thule started from the bottom up with the new 598, and have made some significant improvements on how the carrier mounts to the roof rails of the car. Similar to the 591, the 598 will fit multiple roof rails, including square section rails and Thule's aerodynamic Wing Bars. It is really designed to work best with the latter of these two ty...

The more you get into cycling, the more you are likely to want to take your bike with you, wherever you go. Every country lane you drive down, will look like an appealing spin; every valley climb, starts to look like an attractive challenge. Unless you're lucky enough to have a van though, having enough room to take a bike away with you in the car, can be difficult. You'll do well to invest in a good bike carrier, and the Thule ProRide 591 is certainly that... Thule are famed for their quality roof racks and bike carriers, and a very high percentage of those found on UK and European roads come from the Swedish brand. The ProRide 591 sits towards the top of the brand's line-up of bike frame-clamping roof carriers, and it is a feature-packed option that performs faultlessly. The Thule ProRide 591 is fairly easily identifiable by other road users, due to its unique frame design; with a distinctive curvature of the base rail. Whilst this might look like one of those innov...