The Thule 598 - Criterium upright bike carrier offers a modern, sleek design and innovative engineering to transport one bike confidently on your Thule roof rack.  The Criterium is preferred by those who would rather not remove the front wheel of their bicycle in transport.  In general, the fork mounted style of bike carriers offer superior aerodynamics, however, the Thule 598 Criterium has the lowest wind resistance of any upright style bike mount.  The carriers tray is extremely low profile extruded aluminum which is both nice to look at and very stiff and strong.  The bicycle support arm nests down low when not in use.  When it's time to load a bike, the support arm rotates up and grips to the bicycle's frame all from the easy to reach handle.  A notable feature of the carrier is the rear wheel hold down strap that can slide on the tray right over the top of the load bar, this is great for those who carry adult with long wheelbases and kid's bikes with short wheelbases on the same carrier.  The frame clamp has rubber surfaces to grip and protect the bicycle's finish and the clamp will accommodate very large diameter frame tubes up to 3-3/8 inch.  The wheel straps secure tire sizes from thin 20mm road bike tires up to 2.5 inch wide mountain bike tires.  Excellent security can be achieved with the purchase of two Thule lock cylinders for each Criterium, one is use for a locking handle to lock the carrier to the load bar and the other is use to lock the frame clamp release button.  The crossbar mounting hardware that is included with the carrier will allow mounting to Thule standard square bars and also Thule's Rapid Aero bars.  If you want to mount the rack into the T-Slot channel of the Rapid Aero bars or the Thule Xsporter Truck Rack than you'll need to purchase the special hardware set for this which is called the Xadapt8.  This is a nice attachment method which enhances the clean lines of the Rapid Aero roof rack system and will actually provide more mounting positions on the bar since you can potentiality mount the carrier right over the top of a Rapid Foot.

Award Winning Design

Thule, the world leader in products that make it easy for people to transport their equipment safely, securely and in style, has emerged as the winner of one the world's most prestigious product tests for cycle carriers with its Thule 598 - Criterium roof mount upright bicycle carrier. The tests were conducted by the German Stiftung Warentest in co-operation with the ADAC and ÖAMTC motoring organizations in Germany and Austria.  The carrier received high scores in all three tested areas - safety and durability, ease of handling and comfort while driving. Thule 598 - Criterium, a smart and stylish way for transporting your bikes, also emerged as the winner by a correspondingly large margin.

It also scored highest of all tested bike carriers in the category of cycle transport on the car roof.

The Thule 598 - Criterium is an iconic product in Thule's portfolio and has previously won the test in both 2004 and 2009.

“This is one of the most extensive and rigorous testing programs in Europe,” says Christian Ludwig, International Product Manager for the bike segment at Thule. “We see this as clear proof that it pays to work with quality and high standards in every detail - from development to finished product.” says Christian Ludwig.

The tests were conducted in the spring of 2011 and included a total of 14 different bike carriers within the price range and $89 - $160.

Product Technical Information