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This bike rack works well once it is mounted. The description of the item did not mention that it needed to be mounted on the Thule roof rack adapter. I ordered only the bike rack. I hoped that the rack would mount directly to my Toyota Rav4's factory roof rack. I've since been looking at other factory roof racks, and have noticed that most of them have airplane wing-like bars which go from side to side. These bars are about three inches in width, and the hardware on the Big Mouth Bike Rack is set up to fit the Thule adapter, which has bars little more than an inch in width. Instead of ordering the adapter, I spent a day tooling my own mounting hardware. This gives the bike rack a much cleaner look, and sets the rack and bike closer to the roof, making it easier to load and unload. The second problem is that the end caps come off much too easily. Other than these problems, the rack works well, and is easy to load and unload.

This item was purchased, because I already have 1 Thule upright bike carrier and like it. It is an older style, but similar. The thing that I like about the upright roof carriers is that if someone hits your car from behind, your bikes are not destoyed too. Also, the upright ones are secure and "stay" there, and the front wheels do not have to be taken off and reconnected and brakes readjusted. A lot of bother if wanted to just take the bikes off and ride. I do have to have a little stool to reach my Jeep roof, but it is claspable and stores in my Thule carrier box. So, yes, the Thule box and 2 upright bike carriers fit on a Jeep Cherokee.

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[ASIN:B0001HACDM Thule 599XTR Big Mouth Upright Rooftop Bicycle Carrier]

I've had this on my car now for about a year. It's little stiff now to open/close. I usually have to grab the clamp part and open it myself. Take it, in the last year I've traveled about 30,000 miles on my car and rarley wash it, so that might be the case too. I also have a 29er and it fits it just right.

It's nice to be the guy that has his bike off the car the first before the ride and on the car first afterwards. I'm not a big fan of the racks where you have to take off a tire.

Great rack that fits my Volvo V70 removable sport bars. This rack is well built, very easy to operate from the ground. It securely clamps the oversized aluminum tubes of my son's trek. I have noticed a slight decrease in fuel mileage over using a wheel off bike rack.

Great bike rack. We just drove all the way to Bend Oregon and back home, a 10 1/2 hour trip each way. The rack held our bikes securely and kept us worry free the whole trip.

This bike rack was easy to install, and it is easy to use. No need to take off a wheel, the bike is very secure up there.You do need to have the thule roof rack to use this bike rack. It's just the bike rack, not the roof bars.

This bicycle carrier is awesome. It folds down when not in use. It is very easy to attach a bicycle to it. We like our a lot.

I've had the Criterium for a few years, and noticed that I lost a bracket, so I got a replacement. The reviews for the Big Mouth was even with the Criterium (I didn't consider the 594XT Sidearm because the arm mounts to the front tire which meant stealing the frame is easy). I live in a major city, and don't leave my bike on the carrier for a long time without supervision. I found that the Big Mouth had many problems and a few advantages over the Criterium. I'll outline the Pros and Cons of this carrier here:

Pros:
- Lightweight compared to the Criterium (Couldn't find actual product weight, but shipping weight was 8.6 lbs for the Big Mouth (Amazon Product Description says it's 10.5 lbs which is incorrect) as opposed to Criterium's 10.4 lbs)
- Easier to install than Criterium

Cons:
- Single cylinder lock means that bike is secured on the carrier and is hard to be stolen, but carrier is not secure on the rack when not in use. Carrier can be stolen easily in less than a minute. Criterium can be fitted with cylinder locks to prevent carrier and/or bike theft.
- Mounting bike means that you have to place bike on the rack, rolling it backwards until you can raise the arm up. Once arm is raised, a lever needs to be pulled with another hand in order to open its jaws to accept the bike frame. Doing it by yourself can be challenging. Criterium is easier as you don't need to roll your bike too much as raising the single arm to the frame's height is all you need to do.
- Locking bike frame into the clamp is a three step process as specified by Thule, where Criterium is a dial that you crack to tighten its jaws.
- Smaller foot print on the front load bars mean that the my bike swayed a little more on bumps as opposed to Criterium which has a slightly bigger footprint.

All in all, I would not recommend this carrier to anyone.

Thule 599XTR Big Mouth Upright Rooftop Bicycle Carrier If you are considering buying this Thule 599XTR Big Mouth Upright Rooftop Bicycle Rack, as I did... be aware that this bike rack DOES have a place for ONE lock cylinder that locks the "arm" onto your bike frame when it is mounted in the rack, if you would like a bit more security from thieves. You can buy a pack of locks which all use a single set of keys, depending on if you are buying/using more than one rack (as I am). The lock cylinders that you can buy separately are available in the following:

Sold in the following sets:

* 2 Pack (Thule 512)
* 4 Pack (Thule 544)
* 6 Pack (Thule 596)
* 8 Pack (Thule 588)
* 10 Pack (Thule 510)
* All lock packs come with two keys

"You can choose how many locks you need and have one key for all of your carriers! When purchasing lock cores for your vehicle, it's best to forward think about what other types of Thule accessories you may wish to purchase in the future, so that you can have all of your Thule core lock accessories keyed alike."

Warning: If you have the Thule Aero load bars or VW factory roof bars (the thick, aluminum ones), you will NEED the Thule Xadapt2 kit to attach this bike rack to your car. You'll want to order the kit when you order your Bigmouth rack, because you won't be able to find the Xadapt2 locally -- trust me!

I wanted a good quality rack, but didn't want to spend more than my bikes cost on them. I read enough reviews that I was sold on the Bigmouth. I really didn't want a fork mount, because I drive a subcompact car, and didn't want to have to carry the front wheels inside the car. I had a hitch-mount bike rack, but it was pretty cheap, and the bikes and car were getting scratched as they moved. Also, I frequently tow a small trailer, and I couldn't use the hitch rack and tow at the same time.

Once I got the Xadapt2 kits to allow me to attach the racks to by Aero roof bars, they went on easily. It is actually easier to get the bikes on and off of the roof rack than it was on the hitch rack. Mainly because I dodn't need to use bungees and straps to try to secure them.

The bikes seem very secure up there. The Bigmouth clamp makes it easy, because it is spring loaded and "wants" to grab the bike frame. Once it grabs the bike, you can let go and the bike will stay upright. Just pull down and close the clamp lever, then tighten the wheel straps. Super quick and easy!

I bought one of these when they first came out and i still have it. The first seems slightly longer.. the end caps stay on don't pop off like these do. I noticed on the newer ones the straps that you ratchet down might slip if you have them to tight. The older model will not slip no matter how tight you have it. The older models have a rear plate built onto it resembling the front plate.. newer ones just have two bolts now clamping the rear down. It does get the job done but would have been cool to have them built like the first models.

I just need to figure out a way to keep the end caps on.. Super Glue should do it.

I gave two stars because I've had to make modifications to two Thule products to make them all work together AND you have to keep on shelling out money for everything to work as you want them too. Obviously, the engineers at Thule haven't tried putting combinations of products in play to see their compatibility. I have the Big Mouth, the Thule roof supports that it sits on, and the Thule fairing. I bought the supports, then the Big Mouth so I can haul my road and off road bike, and then I had to shell out for the fairing because of the howling wind noise. The major issue is that when you combine all three you have to begin modifying. Due to the straps from the fairing, the long levers that hold the Big Mouth and the long bike strap levers all get in the way of each other. To solve this issue I had to cut off half of the bike strap lever AND (since that wasn't enough) I had to cut off the lever that secures the Big Mouth to the supports. In the end, it's a good product made less than average because Thule obviously didn't try it with different combinations of their other products (which you'll be forced to buy - ugh) and that's frustrating...for a product to be great it comes down to the details and no need for the customer who paid $$ to put in extra work to make things work...Thule has yet to figure this one out.