Deluxe

I have had this rack for just a couple of weeks but I have traveled nearly 1000 miles with it already. This is my first bike rack that attaches to a hitch but I have a few friends that have one that I can compare it to. First of all, it took about 5 minutes to bolt together by looking at the picture on the front of the box. It then took just a few more minutes to attach it to the hitch with the "no sway" bolt that was included. A good size socket wrench is the easiest and best way to get it good and snug. Compared to other hitch racks, I immediately noticed there was nearly no sway at all on the hitch. The pins that hold the arms up and the main post from the hitch fit easily and snug. I like the unusual safety pins that keep the larger pins from sliding out. Because the larger pins fit is so snug, the safety pins are nearly unnecessary...no fear of the pins coming out. The pins are easy to grip and remove when you want to lower the arms that the bikes fit on or the main post coming up from the hitch. The main post lowers slowly and easily with or without a bike on the rack to gain access to the back of your car. We had my sisters dog in the back of our car on our way to N.C. So we had to access it regularly to let her out and it was a lot easier than I expected. Even though it fits 4 bikes, I have only had one bike on there so far. It was very easy to secure to the arms with the 4 holders/straps. It appears that there is adequate room to secure 4 bikes...aboutmthensame as other racks. Compared to my sisters bike rack where you have to use big metal clamps and screw them down, this is much easier. Also, on my sisters rack, if you want to use the back holders, you have to remove the covers on all the others. On this one you don't have to do that. I like to keep my bike in the holder closest to the car so my bike isn't hanging out there. The only down side on this rack after looking at some in a bike shop the other day is that it isn't quite as cool looking as some of the other name brand racks. That being said, those cooler looking racks were all 3 to 5 times more expensive than this rack. I have absolutely no regrets buying this rack and high recommend it. I have the utmost confidence that this rack will take care of my GF Superfly just fine!

Okay, so I wanted a Thule or Yakima carrier, but as I'm only a casual biker and a college student, I really couldn't justify the expense. After a lot of research on different carriers, I opted to get this one. I use this carrier to take 3 (and sometimes 4) bikes from Maryland up to Connecticut and back. The rack is surprisingly sturdy and doesn't budge. I also bought a 10ft cable to wrap my bikes and help prevent sway or theft. After reading some other reviewers' comments, I fully understand what some of those cons are with this rack. I have a 2-inch receiver with 5/8" holes for my pins. This rack has 3/8" holes. If you use your own locking pins (as I do to prevent theft of the rack), you're required to use a 3/8" pin in a 5/8" hole which means that whatever's attached to that hitch is going to rock because of that gap. The pin that comes with this hitch does not have a locking mechanism. Instead it's a 3/8" screw/pin with an upper part that's 5/8". When you attach the pin and tighten it to your 2-inch receiver using a wrench, you're pressing that 5/8" segment firmly against that 3/8" hole in the rack preventing it from moving a millimeter. The downside is that as it does not have a locking mechanism, it's entirely possible that any individual with a couple wrenches can come along and steal your entire bike rack. In addition, connecting and disconnecting your rack with a couple of wrenches is inconvenient in the extreme. So my solution was to use a 3/8" locking pin. Without any modification, the rack will shake and be completely unstable. However, I purchased a 5/8" washer (a pack of 3 cost me 68 cents at Home Depot) and inserted in the tiny gap between my receiver and the insertion rod of the carrier (not along the sides, but at the top where there was more space). I used a small hammer to gently lodge it in there, just allowing a tiny sliver of the washer hole to be visible. I immediately tested it out and the rock was minimal, and certainly dramatically less pronounced. I placed three bikes on my carrier and drove a couple hours into West Virginia at a variety of speeds and could not see a single shake or tremor. This carrier was rock solid. Then to remove the carrier and the washer, I just used a regular key or handy flat head screw driver and inserted the business end into that tiny sliver of space visible on the washer and gently tugged. It came out without any fuss. It can be the slightest bit inconvenient if I'm nitpicking, but for the price, I'm more than happy with my decision and what little effort at modification is required of me. If you have the tools, you could drill a 5/8" hole through the 3/8" hole on the rack, and then just use a 5/8" locking pin. But if you don't know how to do that, or can't be bothered, my above suggestion is a really quick and cheap fix. Regarding the horizontal support beams of the bike, they seem to be perfectly strong enough to handle the task. I've only carried adult hybrid bikes (17-19"), but I've had no problem doing so. I am very happy with my purchase, and even though I really love the look and functionality of a Thule, I just can't afford that right now. Thule's are much better designed with swing arms that allow you to easily shift your bikes down, or out and around to the side of the vehicle allowing you access to the rear gate of your vehicle. But if you don't want to spend that kind of money, this is a solid no frills rack that gives great performance and feels surprisingly durable, given its low price tag. I would strongly recommend this to a casual or occasional cycler. For a road warrior, or someone who needs more convenience and bells and whistles, don't be cheap. Remember that you get what you pay for! Cheers!

The first thing I noticed when it was delivered was, "wow, this box is wicked heavy". When I took the rack out of the box, right away I could tell it was a well made, quality product. It is contructed out of heavy duty boxed steel with thick welds. It was easy to put the upper half together with the lower half by installing two bolts. It comes with a 'no wobble' hitch pin; which is a slightly thicker 3/8" bolt with a locking nut. Kind of a pain, because I am used to using a through bolt with a cotter pin to lock up my hitch; so having a bolt/nut is a slight inconvenience for needing a wrench to hitch it up...but it is very secure once installed. 5 stars for the price and heavy duty construction, you're not going to find anything in this price range with better quality. We carry two kids bikes and two adult bikes with no trouble, nice and secure. There are no locks, but we use it mostly right in town going back and forth to the park. Once again, big pionts to Amazon for an amazing delivery...ordered Saturday afternoon, in my driveway on Monday morning. ***Update*** July 10, 2013 I felt like I had to update after using this rack to take the kids bikes to the park over the holiday weekend. As I stated earlier, with the no-wobble bolt properly installed the rack is very secure. The problem came with the safety bails that latch over the pins that keep the rack upright. There is no traditional cotter-type pin, instead there is a wire bail attached to a braided metal rope...and the bail simply wraps around the rack and clips over the end of the pin going through the rack, and locks into a detent on the pin. But it does not lock securely and had come unclipped by the time we got to our destination; which was only a few miles. With that said, the pin was still secure because the weight of the rack holds it in place, but I would be nervous on a long trip that vibration could indeed allow the pin to wiggle out, causing the rack to swing down while I'm driving down the road. I will correct this myself by getting a more traditional pin that will lock onto the detent without relying on the rather cheaply made bail system. The second complaint would be the swing-down system itself. While the pin can be pulled and the rack can swing down to allow access through the tailgate with the rack loaded...the rack is heavy without the bikes, and with the bikes it is obviously much heavier, and now very ungainly to manage. I am a large 6' 2" man, and could not hold the rack up with one hand, while trying to wiggle the bolt through 4 holes to pin the rack back up with the other. I needed my wife to assist in holding the rack up, and then slowly rocking the rack in a figure 8 motion in order to get all four holes to line up right so the pin would slide all the way through. She would never be able to do it on her own, and after witnessing my difficulty, wont even attempt it. With all of that said, I will take back one star for the rather ineffective safety bail that will have to be replaced with something after-market or home-made that will be more reliable. As for the difficulty of actuating the rack loaded with bikes, not a flaw per-se; just difficult, and will be corrected by taking the bikes down before locking the pin back into place. Still a great system for the price....just wanted everyone to know what my experience was.

I’ve been really happy with this bike rack so far. I chose it because the price point and features were hard to beat, and it’s worked great for what my family needed. I’m currently using it on a Ford Explorer to carry one adult bike and three kids bikes. I was able to put this together in about 15 minutes out of the box. It’s not very heavy so it’s easy to get on and off my vehicle. One thing to note if you have smaller children’s bikes: my smallest bike was too small to fit properly on the rack. For us it wasn’t a huge issue because I can still fit that bike inside the Explorer, but it’s definitely something to double check before purchasing. Also worth mentioning — a standard 5/8” hitch pin does NOT fit this rack. I ended up purchasing the “TowWorks 79661 Keyed Unique 1/2" Trailer Hitch Lock” from Amazon and it works perfectly. The pin included with the rack requires a hex screw to tighten/remove, and I personally didn’t want to deal with tools every single time I used the rack. Overall though, this rack has been a great purchase with solid features, easy setup, and exactly what I needed for family bike trips.

I have a 2002 Jeep Liberty, and was really hoping people would indicate their vehicle when reviewing this item. This is important, as my big question looking at this rack was: Will it extend past my spare tire hanging off the back? The answer: no. I ended up having to buy a hitch extender. I bought an 8-inch, but turns out I measured wrong and could have gotten away with a 6- inch extender. Keep this in mind should you have a spare tire on the back like me. My drawback to this item is vehicle specific as well. It has a pin system to lower the rack. However, it doesn't lower it enough to get out of the way of the spare tire when the door swings open. So once on, I can only access my rear compartment via the glass hatch. The bike rack doesn't swing out of the way like some Thule models. The rack itself is awesome. Well made and well constructed. Very strong (could easily support 400 lb if needed). I love that the straps are fabric feed-through loops. This helps in carrying children's bikes which don't always have the nice and convenient thin tubes that other racks require. My daughter's bikes are thick tubed and fit just fine on this thing. About the install. First off, I'm amazed that people would pay someone to install this item. Honestly, if a 1st grader had the strength of a 5th grader, they could install it easily (it weighs about 30 lbs). It comes put together in the box already. It requires you to: A - take it out of the box. B: slide it into your hitch. and C: slide and tighten the nut and bolt pin. Honestly, that's what I did. Why in the world would I pay anyone to do that? Also, people have mentioned wobble. It doesn't wobble much (and my wobble is made worse with my hitch extension). Plus, the wobble does not affect the vehicle nor does it affect the hitch. I can't even hear it. So it isn't an issue and not worth buying an anti-wobble bolt or even having to drill. The bolt that comes with it gets the job done, and it can do it's little wobble back there all it wants and I don't even notice it. Great item, just not perfect for the type of vehicle. And seriously people....pay to install? Let me know next time and I'll send my 7-year old daughter to show you how to do it. You do the lifting, and she can show you how. Also, ignore the poster saying they couldn't get into the back of their car with 4 bikes on the rack. That's not the purpose of the lowering mechanism. It's to allow you to get into the back of your vehicle with NO bikes on it. Of course with 4 bikes on it it's going to be a pain in the butt. With no bikes it's super easy, it just doesn't allow my tailgate to open anyway because it swings out with a tire on it. But if you want one that totally gets out of the way, you'll need about $400. What do you want for $90? Come on.

The rack looks very well built and substantial. I returned another inexpensive rack I had just purchased, and ordered this one from Amazon. It is much better than the other one. It was easy to put together, and I had no problem with any of parts not fitting properly. My bikes are heavy cruiser type bikes, and one is a girls bike. After a little moving around I was able to locate them reasonably level. The attached straps, and a couple of bungee cords, secured them well. Before I discovered I could use the rack with the girls bike without using the accessory cross-bar adapter I had purchased, I tried using the cross-bar. Maybe this is obvious....but, if you use a cross-bar and locate it under the seat of your bike, the weight of a heavy bicycle can pull the bike seat out of it's mount...and drop your bicycle. Luckily, I noticed the seat moving while still very close to my house. I removed the cross-bar and managed to hang the bike by it's frame. Using the cross-bar could have been a disaster for me. Also, the description here at Amazon says the Deluxe Allen 4-bike rack comes with: Quote: "A separate tie down strap is included with the rack and eliminates lower bike movement completely." There was no tie down strap with my rack. I called Allen and was told the tie down strap comes with the Premium rack, but not the Deluxe one. The strap is only $5 plus shipping....but, since I was told my rack came with the strap when I read the description at Amazon, I suggested they send me one at at no charge. After I repeated my request a couple of times, they said they would send it to me. The lady at Allen customer service also said they would contact Amazon to change the description on the Deluxe rack to not include the strap. There was no problem with customer service. Phone was answered quickly and the lady I talked to was courteous and helpful. Back to the rack. In my short drive so far the rack is very stable, and the guy at the bike shop asked me if I had bought the rack from a bike shop. He also commented on how solid and stable it was. It's definitely worth the money, but having never had a bike rack before, I am still wondering if maybe I should have gotten a rack that supports the bikes under their wheels? Amazon has one that is for 2 bikes, and rated well, for about $130. Still, I am giving this one 5 stars for build quality and value for the money.

The price is right & the bike rack is great. We used the 4 bike rack for our daughters bikes & drove over 1,000 miles. We attached the rack to our 2001 Chevy Suburban. 2 Bikes During our trip we only had the two bikes. We are not huge bikers, just a family with kids who want to ride their bikes, so we didn't want to spend too much money. This bike rack is perfect. We used the bolt & screw it came with and there was absolutely no wiggling or moving or noise as we drove 1,000+ miles. On the trip we were able to get a 24" beach cruiser & a smaller bike with training wheels on the rack easily. We had to adjust the straps to tie down the bike, but that wasn't too hard. We also used rope to secure the bikes, just in case. 4 Bikes On a different occasion and more than once, we were able to fit a 26" beach cruiser, 24" beach cruiser and two bikes with training wheels on the rack with no problem. We loaded them biggest to smallest. We did not purchase the cross bar. Instead we used put the rack between the bike frames so the bikes "sat" on the rack. On some bikes we had to turn the straps inward to "tetris" the bike on for a more secure fit. We also turned the last bike upside down so it could fit due to the training wheels. We turned each bike the opposite way when we put them on so that the pedals wouldn't hit each other. Putting 4 Bikes on this rack is totally doable without the cross bar AND with child bikes with training wheels. It is totally worth the money. The rack is easy to install. The arm folds down while still attached to truck when not in use. The rack does tilt down WITH ALL 4 bikes on it. We were able to life the Suburban door open completely with all 4 bikes on the rack. It is heavy though. My husband held the rack while I removed the pin then he slowly tilted the bikes down. Once we accessed the back, he lifted the bikes back up & I put the pin back in to secure it. It's pretty easy, just heavy with 4 bikes. I was able to do it myself with only 2 bikes. Overall this is a great bike rack and great price.

This is an initial review, as we've only used this a few times so far ... This review is also tricky, because we went from a simple Bell strap-on-trunk-lid bike rack to this, so, in that sense this bike rack is fantastic and a vast improvement. Contrary to the way the picture on this product looks, the bars are held at a 90 degree angle, straight out. The cradle / strap-points for each bike are nicer than the Bell rack because they are an actual U shaped cradle, with little striations for the brake cables on the bike to rest in. Further, the straps are of a basic cinch design (not ratchet or anything that you can really torque into place, but more like a back-and-forth belt buckle or backpack cinch). This is far better than the Velcro straps on the Bell rack we had. Even better, the cradles are held in place and apart from one another by plastic sleeves on the metal bar arms of the rack, so the cradles cannot slide together, and the bikes won't smash into one another or get tangled. When not in use, the rack arms can fold down and lock in place with a cabled metal pin you slide out, and the entire upright can rotate down 45 degrees so you can access a hatchback without removing the rack (though you need to remove the bikes, in case it needs said). All the positives aside, the advertisement of the "no-wobble" hitch mount and locking pin are either wrong, or somehow don't apply to my hitch, or I'm putting the pin in wrong somehow (I mean, how many ways can you insert a bolt and nut?). The hitch won't sway side to side too much, if at all, but even with the bolt and nut wrenched together so tight I'm afraid of breaking or bending something, the entire rack can move or bounce upward by about 5 or 10 degrees. Now, if you're driving normally, the weight of the bikes will prevent all but minor swaying and jiggling. But go over a steep driveway lip or rough roads at anything exceeding a crawl, and the rack will bounce pretty significantly. For anyone not willing to spend $200 or $300 for a bike rack, this is a very good deal and works pretty well. But it's definitely not the best solution for the price.

Holds 3 bikes well, difficult to get 4 full sized bike on.

I bought this for a 10-day trip during which I loaded and unloaded 4 bikes often, and travelled on different road conditions including highway, city, dirt roads, mountainous roads, etc. (all in all a 2000 km trip). When I bought this item a couple weeks ago, it was available as an Amazon Prime purchase and the price was nicely reduced to 133 CAD. I received the item 2 days after order placed. Installation was a breeze. The bike rack functioned perfectly well during the trip: mounting and unmounting bikes was always super easy; the bikes fit securely in the cradles; the rack does not wobble/rattle ***at all*** when charged; the part that tilts to store away when no bikes are charged does rattle a little bit (nothing too annoying), but there is certainly an easy and no-cost solution for that (just place a hard-rubber band at the place of contact of the two metallic parts); the rack tilts easily to allow access to the trunk on my VW Tiguan, even when charged with 4 bikes (but two people required IMO when doing that with a fully charged rack). All in all an amazing product for the price! Of course, I would have prefered an easier mechanism than the metallic pin to secure the moving pieces, which exists in higher priced models in the same make, but for the price I paid for this rack, I got all I can expect and more!

Está muy padre el rack, lo único malo es que si es muy fácil desmontarlo y los robos están muy presentes. Lo que sí es una mala información es la capacidad, no caben 4 bicis, solo 2; yo cargo 2 bicis de montaña y ya se ocupa todo el espacio del rack, aparte no creo que aguante un peso de 3 bicicletas. Por lo pronto estoy conforme con el costo-beneficio y sigo usandolo, me ha salido bien para carretera y montaña, espero seguir usandolo por mucho tiempo y pues lo tengo que desmontar cuando sé que voy a lugares no seguros por los robos.

This is an amazing product.. I had the 4 bikes rack and used it 10 times so far without any issues.. very easy to mount on the car in less than 30 seconds!!! Also mounting the biks and tightening/removing them is very convenient.. It made my life easy 😌

Buen producto, increíble calidad precio. Dos contras: 1- el perno universal para fijarlo al tiro de un vehículo no es del tamaño adecuado, es más pequeño, viene incluido un tornillo para asegurarlo, pero si deseas usar un perno universal o un candado de tirón se tendra q agrandar el orificio. 2- la calidad de los amarres para fijar las bicicletas es de poca calidad, yo unilizo aparte un elástico para darle más seguridad.