Product Description

A heavy duty two bike spare tire carrier that adapts to off center tires

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11084 in Sports & Outdoors
• Size: One Size
• Color: One Color
• Brand: Thule
• Model: 963
• Released on: 2007-08-04
• Dimensions: 4.70" h x 18.60" w x 36.00" l, 16.20 pounds

Features

• Spare-tire mount rack that carries up to 2 bikes at once
• Durable powder-coated steel tubing construction
• T3 cradles easily protect bikes; includes locking knob
• Improved wing knob makes it easy to raise bike arms
• Comes with heavy-duty strap to secure bikes

Amazon.com Product Description
Designed for convenience and durability, the Thule Spare Me spare-tire mount rack holds up to two bikes at once, making it an ideal accessory for camping trips and cross-country drives. The Spare Me offers an updated, high-tech look that matches Thule's successful hitch line, so it won't look out of place on modern cars. More significantly, the rack's T3 cradles easily protect your bikes without sacrificing the fit of the frame or the rack's adjustability. And thanks to the improved wing knob, it's easier than ever to raise and lower the bike arms. Made of powder-coated steel tubing and designed to fit a wide range of tires, the Spare Me comes with a heavy-duty strap to secure the bikes and a locking knob that's compatible with Thule's 583 cable lock system. The Spare Me carries one or two bikes and handles up to 75 pounds.

Customer Reviews

Works Great on my Jeep
Some other reviewers have good points about the downsides of this rack.
Even though for myself, it has worked great so far, I have to give the bike
rack 4 stars because the downsides are real.

I've got an 05 Jeep Wrangler with a stock 30" spare and the rack fits great.
If the diameter of the spare was much bigger (couple inches), I could see
that being a problem.

Also, my spare tire is centered well, and my bikes still stick out a little on each side.
So be wary if your spare is very off center (the rack can be adjusted to compensate
for maybe 6" to either side).

The bars are about 18" apart (measuring to the outside extremities). For me,
so far it fits our smallest bike. But if you don't have at least 18" of space
within the frame of your bike then you'll be in trouble.

If the above concerns don't apply to you, then you'll probably love this rack.
We took 2 bikes on a 500 mile trip this weekend and the rack worked great.
It feels sturdy, and the bikes didn't bounce around at all. It's really great
that you can lock the rack to the car - and in turn, lock the bikes to the rack.
All in all, for the money, this is a terrific little bike rack!

Bikes hanging off to the side of the car!
Great and simple rack IF you have a spare tire that is reasonably well centered on the back of your car. I have a Honda CR-V, the spare is on the right side - and even with the rack adjustment for non-centered spares, my bikes hung 8-10 inches off the side of he car. If you get this rack with a non-centered rack, get some orange visibility flags!

Solid product & installed on 08 RAV4
For owners of '06-'09 RAV4s, getting a bike rack that fits onto the spare tire isn't straight forward. As others have mentioned, getting a bike up on the roof is difficult and eliminates other roof storage. For me, I sometimes take my bike to work and ride from there, which is problematic since I park in a garage and height clearance also makes a roof rack not practical.

I initially heard about the difficulty of installing this rack in a newer model RAV4 because of the metallic flange on the spare tire mount (see Customer Images above). I decided to try the Yakima Spare Joe 2-Bike Spare Tire Mount Rack, but found that it rubbed against the rear windshield wiper and long-term use of a loaded rack would have probably broken the wiper eventually. I was also not impressed with the "strap-on" systems which appeared a bit flimsy and easy to steal. I returned it to Amazon a bit disappointed and worried that I would have to buy a hitch mount for the RAV4 ($150 from ebay) in addition to a hitch-mounted bike rack ($100+). For some reason, I didnt really like the look of the hitch bike racks that are currently available (some of the single arm ones (Surco BT300 Spare Tire Mount Bike Rack, Up To 3 Bike Capacity) make the car look like it has a tail). RAV4 owners also know the problem of having a hitch-mounted rack is that it makes it difficult to easily open the rear door with bikes mounted.

So, I took a tip from one of the other posters on here and decided to just remove the metallic flange to allow for the Thule 963 to fit on my car. I liked the look, two support arms, easy tie-down w/ grooves for my bike cables, locking mechanism to prevent theft, and the fact that it mounts to the spare tire rack for a secure fit. It also allows me to open the door with the bikes mounted.

Instead of using a hacksaw, I took it to a local auto-body repair shop with the mounting bracket and explained that I wanted them to cut it off and file it down to be flush. [Note: the bracket doesn't support any weight of the spare tire and wasn't even on models '05 and earlier. Also, I own the car, so I don't mind making modifications.] For about $30 bucks and 10 minutes of their time, I was able to have it removed. They even put a little paint on where it was cut off, so you can't even really tell it was ever there in the first place. From there, it was simple to install - etrailer.com has a great demonstration video online. I posted the pictures of the final product here on Amazon. It fits great and feels very sturdy, not to mention looks good. I'm looking forward to a full season of riding!

Hopefully this helps some other RAV4 owners out there!