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Pros - Assembly was easy and fast. Rack is rock solid. Doesn't wobble or sway in transit. Rack swings out far enough for truck tailgate to come down. Unloading camping gear with bikes in rack was a breeze. Security cable is a plus!

Cons - The rubber straps aren't permanently attached and don't lock in to their starting position easily. They Lost one right away. Order an extra set. Also- order the quick attach locking bolt. The bolt for the neck of the trailer hitch means you need a rachet set or wrench every time you want to take the rack off. The lock for the security cable is not included.

This was our first rack. We are "occassional" users. (Car camping, local bike trail, etc.) Good rack for us. If you are hauling women's or girl's bikes order the mounting adaptor. Adaptors much less expensive online. We didn't order them with the rack. Rookie mistake. Wish the instructions had some pointers on best way to mount four bikes.

Overall - Great value!

08/25/2008

Just came back from a weekend camping trip. Had a chance to compare notes on racks with a couple of people (and check out their bike racks). When I compare what we got for what we paid to what they got to what they paid... we definitely got the better value!!

I ordered this bike carrier right before taking my kids to the SuperKid Triathlon. I ordered it via 2 day shipping, however it took 3 days to get here. When I opened the box, the directions and parts were easy to find and understand. I was able to put it together and install it on my vehicle in under 30 minutes. It was not too heavy for me (a woman) to lift. I have a Ford Expedition, and it easily glided away from the back so I was able to open my full lift gate and load the back of the car. While it is installed in the secure position, I am still able to pop the back window and access the back of my vehicle without having to glide it away. It is very sturdy and does not have alot of slack or movement when driving. (on a side note, I have parking sensers on the back of my car and when I have this rack on, they beep when I attempt to back up, so I have to remember to over ride it when backing up) The rack has two arms that fit into the body of the rack and are held on with hitch pins. When installed they are fixed in the horizonal position. They are very easily and quickly removed to store in the back of the vehicle, however, I wish that they folded down as most other racks do so that I did not have to store them in the vehicle. The other issue I had would be the tether straps. They are rubber and have tabs that fit into the arms of the horizonal bars, then go over the bike frame and then have a hole on the other side that fits over a tab on the arms. The straps were a bit of a struggle to get onto the frame, when the bike was on they seemed stable, but when I would lift the strap from the tab to remove the bike, the entire strap would pop off. This made me uncomfortable. It seemed they should go all the way around the horizontal bar so that it created a complete circle to hold to the bar. I ended up supplementing a couple of small bungees over the bikes just to make sure that if a strap became disengaged that there was a back up to keep it secure until I could stop and address it. The other issue that I had, was that I could not find any information online that explained how a child's bike could be attached to this rack. I looked at several sites that sold this rack, and read many reviews. I have two girls and thus girls bikes. The only thing I could find anywhere was in a forum where someone had posted that you could attach the extender bar used for women's bikes to the bike and place it on the rack. This might work for a tween or teenager size bike, but my daughters are 4 & 6 and their bikes were too small for the extender bar. I ordered two of them, and they were longer, unextended, than the distance between the seat and the handlebar post, I tried various ways to connect it, but they were simply too long. On the larger of the two bikes I was able to get it onto the arms of the rack (barely) but not the way it was intended. The little one with training wheels would not fit at all, and I ended up strapping it to the top after the other bikes were loaded. This might be a problem on all bike racks, but it was not something that I found much information on anywhere. Overall I am very happy with the rack. It does what I was looking for, and I appreciated the sturdy quality, the ease of assembly, and the quick installation. The glide feature was one I specifically looked for and I am very happy with it. I like that I can glide it out, fully loaded with bikes, and have complete access to my rear hatch. The straps and arms could use a redesign but are still functional. There should be an adaptation or suggestion for loading children's bikes.

Like an earlier reviewer, this 'exceeded my expectations'. Top notch quality, mindlessly easy to install, take down, and utilize. Very heavy quality steel construction, well designed...I can't say enough. JUST DON'T buy the complementary Heininger 6001 locking device (used to lock the rack to the car and reduce chances of theft). Surprisingly, it's NOT anti-wobble!!!

Back to this rack. The best I've seen on the market thus far.

My boyfriend loves this bike rack so much more than the latch on he had. His only complaint is that the bikes are really close together on the rack if you have 3 or 4.

However my complaints are long...

My first complaint is it is very hard to fit a girls or woman's style bike on this rack, it takes extra effort to get it on where the men's style just glides right on. My second complaint is with a 4 bike load it makes it top heavy and the whole thing hits on the street. We drove from Colorado to Oregon with 2 bikes on it and it was still heavy enough to hit in driveways and such unless you drive though them at an angle, which is sometimes impossible to do. I do love that it attaches to the hitch and it swings out so you can still open the back of the car. But even that is a pain, because the heaviness of the bikes you can't unscrew the knob to let it swing out. You literally have to push the bikes back and hold them to take the weight off so you can unscrew it to swing out. I can't do that on my own, which is very inconvenient.

When I opened the box the directions are vague and some of the parts were difficult to fit and didn't seem to be secure. The biggest problem for me is the bike clips and straps aren't what is shown in the ad or on the box. They don't seem to be as secure as the ones you can clearly see on the box. Hopefully my bike will be safe.

Pros - Easy assembly, solid construction, "swing feature" is invaluable, great price and value.

Cons - None yet.

This is my first experience with a hitch rack vs. a hanging rack, so I wanted to buy a really good one. After researching several models from every manufacturer out there, I decided to try out this one. Like another reviewer mentioned, it has far exceeded my expectations!

There were a few other hitch racks out there with a swing out feature, but this one has them all beat. It not only slides/glides out away from your car, but it moves freely to either side vs. one fixed side. No need to unload bikes to gain access to the back of your vehicle.

If you are considering a hitch rack for your SUV or hatchback, you should seriously consider this one over the popular or trendy manufacturers. Not only is it an outstanding product, but it costs at least $100 to $150 less than a rack with similar features!

Advantage

The first order arrived in terrible shape: bottom was bent and it appeared the interior packing was very minimal. The Amazon return and reorder process was great, though I had to buy packaging tape to put the box in some kind of shape so UPS could pick it up. Second shipment was fine, except the second unit was missing the bolt for the hitch receiver, but a call to the manufacturer had one here in two days. Installation was easy as is working the unit. So, a bit of work getting it here and up and running, but happy with the result.

Purchased through Costco for 160$ out the door with a 10' cable lock and hitch lock. Excellent rack for the price. Not a "5" for 2 reasons: 1 - As other reviews have stated the straps are not excellent, they come off easily - plan to replace lost straps occasionally and use a couple of additional bungees to make sure the bikes are adequately secured and don't shift on the arms. 2 - This rack is heavy. However, it is sturdy. Compared to Yakima and Thule options that allow hatch to be opened with bikes racked, very very happy with this rack for the price.

Pro's Works Good, Good Price.
Con's. Do NOT trust the straps!! Use a small bunggi to hold the bike in place. Lost one bike already off the back while driving, the strap broke. We had another strap come undone. If you use a locking pine on your hitch to prevent theft the rack will wobble a lot.

Love it. Solid, sturdy. I bit heavy to glide it open especially if your a small person, but still easy. Just get some bike top rack adapters (Yakima is the best) and you'll good to go.

Got this rack new from a friend, overall this rack is great in its build and ease of use when you need to swing it away or lock it back. The biggest issues I have is it cannot hold 4 adult mountain bikes. It can only hold 3 and even then they are right up against each other. With handle bars and pedals banging against each other. The rubber straps also don't lock onto the rack well, they just slip in. Sometimes when I get to the trails the rubber loop popped off and I'm lucky my bike is still there. It comes with a cable to help lock the bikes up but no lock, however you need to be somewhat creative when locking the bike since the arms that stick out can be removed easily. I just wish the arms were a tad bit longer so I could fit 4 mountain bikes. As of now I put 3 on and stick one inside the back. Overall for the money the rack is a decent deal.

This is a good product and does what it says. First of all, pardon my reference to parts that I don't know what they are called. Hopefully you know what I'm talking about. I love this rack, however have a few complaints. One is that the rubber part that hold the bike to the rack tends to shift during transit. Not sure what to do about that. The loops are so flexible, I wonder how durable they actually will be. When traveling with two bikes, we use the extra rubber holder (without the straps)as a spacer to help with the shifting problem. The screw that is used at the hitch should be longer with a hold drilled into the screw at the end so that you can use a regular key or combo lock to secure it to the vehicle. I find that a bolt lock without the exact thread tends to have too much movement. (Due to past reviews, I did not purchase the bolt lock shown as an accessory.)Instead I use the bolt that came with the rack to secure it properly to the vehicle, then have a cable lock securing the hitch to the rack. Not the best way since it defeats the purpose of using the glideaway feature easily. Have to undo the cable first. (If anyone has used the bolt/lock advertised with this rack, let me know your experience. Especially if you have a 2" hitch on a Jeep Grand Cherokee.) I've found it easier also to keep the rack on the vehicle(minus the bars that the bikes hang on) because it is too hard for me to install every time I use. Not sure that I would use this for more than two bikes without risk of scratching up all the bikes.

When I went looking for a 4-bike rack, I had in mind 2 adult bikes (26in & 24in) and 2 kids bikes (20in). However I was only able to actually get 3 bikes on the rack, the 4th had to go in the back of my CRV. Also, after the first use I noticed that the bars are now uneven....apparently the weight of 2 adult bikes and 1 kids bike is too heavy for it because it bent one of the bars. Kinda makes me a little uneasy actually because I'm wondering how many trips it will actually survive. I don't want to be hauling bikes somewhere and have one of the bars give out. The glideaway feature is the one thing I do like about this rack though because if you forget to put something in the back then you don't have to take the bikes back off. Comes in handy when you're bringing along a cooler. I just wish I felt more confident that it would hold up.

This rack was better than we could have expected. Does exctly what we need. Carries 4 bikes very well. Overall its a fantastic value.

It is the Best Bike Rack over Yakima, et al, I have used to date. It clears the tailgate with 4 bikes loaded, but I used the first loaded bike with the shortest length handlebars first. I did have a few of the rubber tie-downs come loose, but they easily went back on-that means you need to always lock them down even with bikes removed. setting up the two holding bars is fast and easy, but keep in mind there is now more play in the system when the car hits bumps, etc. I always improve everything I buy! Can't help it! I installed the fixed Nut in the tailpiece-you really need to for any bike rack you buy because they all need to be tighter to cut down on wobble-in-transit. To cut down on the jump upwards by the top bars, I installed a piece of 2" angle iron across bar ends and mounted it using 1" U-Bolts. Then I drilled a 1/2" hole toward the bottom outside middle of the angle iron to hook a small chain to. Next, I drilled a 3/8" hole about 8" from bottom of Upright at the Release Rod and installed a 3/8" I-Bolt-Between these two I placed a small chain, adjustable by hand, to tighten up and pull down on the angle iron-it works. I can't stop the overall wobble for the whole rack, but it tool out the wobble in the bars. Essentially, I took the Best bike rack and made it the best it could be. Have Fun!