Customer Reviews

Allen 102S Premium 2-Bike Trunk Mount Rack

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After doing extensive price comparison and research, my husband and I settled on this rack for towing around our two mountain bikes. I tore open the box and within minutes before even reading instructions I was twisting and turning and figuring it out - if you take a long hard look at it, I think it's quite intuitive. With a quick look at the instructions to make sure I wasn't going to break it, I was ready to go try it out on my car - 2005 Ford Escape and my husband's car - 2005 Ford Focus ZX4 with a factory installed spoiler. I read on another website that this bike rack was compatable with cars with spoilers (stated: compatable with most factory installed spoilers). From tearing open the box to getting it set on a car took me less than ten minutes. No lie! The padding on this is nice where it contacts the car, the craddles for the bikes are nice and grippy and sturdy, the fold-flat design is wonderful and very easy to use, the set up is a breeze for one person and take-down is just as easy, loading the bikes was easy, too. It looks really nice, both bikes made it in and out of the rack after a short car ride with no damage, bumps, bruises, loss, etc.

**Oh, P.S. if you are reading this and have a ladies or bent-frame bike make sure you pick up or have an adapter bar (Allen also makes one of these which I also got and am very pleased with as it's easy to use and gentle on my bike) so that your bike will be able to be safely mounted on the rack correctly.

Great so far, I have had it for a few months and use it at least once a week. But I have only taken short trips, nothing over 30 miles or an hour drive time.

Plus:

No assembly required.

Easy to set up. After the initial setup and finding the optimal position for the bikes it now only takes me about 5 minutes to put the rack on the trunk and place the bikes on the rack. Takes even less time to take off rack and folds flat so can be stored in trunk, while not in use.

Compact but very sturdy, and good foam padding protects trunks well enough. No damage so far.

The straps that hold the bikes in place can be rotated to accommodate different bikes. Very versatile. The rack has held 2 medium sized full suspension bikes with no problems at all.

Best price I could find for a new 2-bike trunk rack that has individual straps for bikes.

Minus:

Only has four straps that attaches to trunks vs other racks that have six straps. (But it seems that the four straps work well enough. I am assuming that more straps would make it more sturdy and stable)

Overall:

Great product for a great price, it does what it is meant to do, and I would definitely recommend it to a friend.

Tips:

Before putting the rack on your trunk, make sure the area on the trunk that the rack will be resting on is clean of dirt and other particles to prevent scratches due to friction.

After setting up the rack on your trunk rubberband the excess strap. This will keep it from flying around and will make it easier to setup and take off the rack.

Put a couple of old socks over the pedal of the first bike to keep the pedal from scratching your car's finish.

Ordered the rack, got it, sturdy, took less than 10 minutes to install.
However, the width of the bars is not adjustable, so the rack is only good for larger bikes (above 17.5 inch). I have a Trek 7.3FX bike which fits on the rack, but my wife has a Trek 7100 which would not fit, no matter what. Also, the website doesn't mention the cars it will or will not fit, this information is available once you get the rack. There is a fit guide on the back of the box. So it fit my wife's Camry, but wouldn't fit my Celica. Would be nice to have this information BEFORE one orders. Had to return mine. 5 stars for Amazon though, they gave me a full refund.

This is the first bike rack that I've owned, but it took me less than five minutes to get it out of the box and mount it and the bike on my sedan. While simple to use, it feels sturdy, and I've noticed no damage to car or bike in several uses. I have also tried placing two mountain bikes on it with no problems.

The rack is small and can collapse even further so that it is quite compact when not in use.

I have seen other more expensive styles of bike rack where the weight is placed on the rear bumper. I'd feel a more comfortable with that design, especially for long distances or bumpy rides, but I have no complaints with this product.

It's a decent little bike rack for the price. However, I found it extremely difficult to fit 2 small, women's mountain bikes on the rack together. One of the pedals pushes up against the trunk of my Jetta, so I have to wrap a towel around the pedal to prevent scratching. And on the one bike, the strap that wraps around the bar of the bike barely fits because of the thickness of the bar. So I added a few bungee cords just in case. My first 20 minute drive to the beach had me a wee bit nervous that something was going to fly off, but I guess that's normal for first time users. The ride home was smooth and I didn't worry about the bikes once. So overall, (sorry I ramble a lot), it is a pretty secure rack, just kinda small. I wouldn't try to put men's bikes on there. And I definitely would not travel long distances with it. But it is perfect for local biking...and maybe for carrying only one bike.

UPDATE 08/01/09
Studpid me! I really LOVE this bike rack. After a couple uses, I figured out that if I put the pedal on my bike a certain way, it does not touch my trunk at all. AND, I can easily fit my bike and a men's bike on it no problem. At first, I always took my rack off when I was done to try to maintain the quality of it. But my laziness always gets the best of me. I've left it on for long periods at a time. Even in the rain. I drive long distances with two bikes on it and I'm never nervous about straps coming undone or bikes flying off! LOL. It has held up well and I've had it for a year and a half. No complaints here! Sorry for the long review.

Great bike rack. I took it out of the box. It required no assembly. It attached to the car in minutes. I took my bike on vacation, a 700 mile trip. I checked the tightness of the straps at every fuel stop. I never had to retighten straps. It worked the same on the return trip home. So, I highly recomend this rack. It worked great. It is simple and inexpensive.Did not leave a single mark on car. I have a 2008 Honda civic and I worry about that.

Joe
Stroudsburg, PA

I used this bike rack on my BMW 325 and took two bikes cross-country from Ohio to Arizona (1900+ miles). It held rock steady the entire distance. I did add two bungee cords to keep the wheels from flopping around (great recommendation from a previous post), but the straps that were provided held on quite well as well. I am very satisfied with this product.

I have a 2001 Camry, and wasn't able to attach the lower straps below the bumper (as the picture shows). Even with them attached to the trunk, it is very stable. I have no worries attaching my $$$ tri bike and traveling at highway speeds. And as a bonus, I can access the trunk now.

Very simple to assemble; once straps are initially set, it's literally a matter of seconds to remove or reattach.

This bike rack is my second Allen. The first one I bought is great - use it on my spare tire of my Jeep. This one, 102S, the fittment guide was a little off.... Allen claims this bike rack fits cars with spoilers (top part of rack fits over spoiler). I have a 2002 Nissan Sentra with a stock spoiler. This rack does not fit over spoiler, but right behind it and below it. I tested it today, but did not drive-test it. I hope it doesn't bounce. Also, what they neglected to tell me; the maximum weight limit of the rack is 70 lbs. Which means, if you have 2 bikes about 40 lbs. each, you can't use this rack. Also, there are 2 bolts on the top of this rack that are loose and appear to need tightening - they hold the top straps to the rack. These bolts cannot be tightened because the thread on the bolt does not go all the way down to the head. Not sure why they are supposed to be loose, but it seems the rack would be a bit more sturdy if these bolts were not so loose. I will be posting a picture soon. FYI - when you put the bike on the rack, on most cars, it will block the third brake light as well as the license plate. Not sure how the police will handle this.

I was looking for an inexpensive two-bike rack that would fit both a Saturn sedan and a VW Beetle. While this item was initially appealing, I wasn't sure if it would work for both, very different vehicles. I first checked the Allen Website, which lists all of their products and which vehicles they fit. However, my Saturn wasn't listed. I emailed the company and they responded quickly with their recommendation. So, 5 stars for Allen customer service! And 5 stars for the bike rack! It is super easy to install and folds up nicely to fit in the trunk. Both bikes fit snugly and securely on the rack. You will drive with confidence knowing your bikes are secured with this product. Highly recommended!