Customer Reviews

Allen Deluxe 4-Bike Hitch Mount Rack (2-Inch Receiver)

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Let me begin by stating that I bought this rack at Pep Boys after reading one of the negative reviews (there's irony for you). After using the Allen Deluxe 4-Bike rack last week to haul two bikes from Baltimore, MD to Brunswick, ME (12 hours), then four bikes from Brunswick to Acadia National Park (3 hours), plus round trips and the time we spent in Acadia, I can say this inexpensive rack performed admirably. For the most part, the pros and cons supplied by other reviewers seem fair. (Although why you would want to fold down a rack with 4 bikes attached is beyond me, probably because of my lack of strength.)

Installation: My husband and I had a hitch installed on our 2001 Pathfinder specifically to take our inexpensive hybrid bikes to Acadia. The guy who installed the hitch, Bob, also assembled the rack in about 10 minutes; he's used to assembling Thule racks, so he's experienced but it didn't look terribly difficult. Bob didn't like the "sway" and recommended a locking pin that would fix that problem (which another reviewer also mentioned). The locking pin, however, would not go through the bike rack's holes, so Bob expanded the hole by re-drilling it (again, another Amazon reviewer mentioned the need to do this). Clearly a design flaw in a rack specific to a 2" Class III hitch, but it was "easily" corrected by Bob who had the tools and know-how.

Use: Getting two men's hybrid bikes on the rack was simple. Getting four bikes was a tight squeeze, and it was made more difficult because one of the bike's was a woman's bike. Still, with some trial and error, the four bikes fit. For 3 days the four bikes were put on and off the Allen rack with little difficulty. They were extremely stable. We used an assortment of chains and locks to deter any opportunistic thieves who may have been looking for low-end bikes. We were able to access the inside of the SUV through the back window which required only a slight movement of one bike's handle bars. Although the rack folds down, you need to remove the bikes and we could get to what we needed without doing this.

Recommendation: if you have the money to spend, have expensive bikes, and/or transport your bikes frequently, buy a more expensive rack with more bells and whistles built in (locking pins, locking cables, etc.). If, as we did, you need a rack to transport more than two bikes and can't justify or afford to pay at least $250 on hitch rack, buy this one with confidence. Although our need for a 4 bike rack was specific to our vacation trip, we now have the ability to carry 2 bikes easily and up to 4 with a minimum of hassle. All this, for less than $150. We're happy. If we decide to become more than occasional recreational bicyclers, we'll invest in better bikes and possibly a different rack.

A good rack for the money. If your trying to put a womans bike on your going to need the adaptor because the support bars are futher apart than most upper end racks.

At first, I must admit that I thought that the two bars holding the bikes would not be strong enough to support all of the weight of my MTB bikes. But, after several trips to the local trails, I'm glad to report that it's been a very solid rig.

On the down-side (if you could call it that), you must remove a retaining pin when tilting the bike rack down in order to open your SUV Hatch. It can be a bit of a hassle if you're doing this a half a dozen times per day. I noticed that with Thule Racks (for example), they have a 'quick release' tab that tilts the rack down with a flick of the wrist. This seems to be a far superior method.

Other than that, I've been very satisfied with this product and would probably buy it again considering the great price.

I purchased this product based on the Star Rating and a few reviews. This product does work as advertised and we have been using it for a couple weeks now. If you are hauling 4 bikes, it will be a rather tight squeeze to get the bikes on the rack. Hauling 2 bikes is a breeze and it works great for that. I'm not sure why bike rack manufactures don't put more space between the mounting positions. The straps that hold the bikes in are not great quality and will probably break after a year or 2 of use (I say this from using another rack that had the same type of mounting straps). The rack should be able to be put together with in less than an hour. 1 person should be able to assemble the rack, however having a second set of hands will definitely help. I give this only 3 stars because of the lack of spacing for 4 bikes, if you are going to haul 4 bike regularly, I would advise looking elsewhere (although, if your cheap and don't mind a little hassle getting your bikes on and off every-time, thing go for this). It would be nice if the used a more durable strapping mechanism, but that didn't bother me nearly as much as how much of a pain it is to put 4 bikes on a rack that is supposedly a 4-bike rack.

Hi,

Here is the deal with this rack.

I read the bad reviews about the pin alignment problem. Then I went to Dicks, and actually looked at the one on the floor. Quess what? If you pulled out the pin to lower the rack, it would not go in even with no bikes on it!

Yikes!

However, I needed a rack in a hurry and I was not spending $[...]+ on the next best one.

I ended up getting this one at Pep Boys on sale for $[...].

I just needed it for the coming weekend and may use it occasionally, and figured I would just forgo the use of the lowering feature.

I took it home and assembled it. I cranked down all 3 bolts good and tight.

I installed it on our SUV and lo and behold, I pulled the pin and then could not get it back in!

The holes were mis-aligned.

Having some mechanical experience, I remembered other times where a hinge bolt, that was too tight, caused problems.

So, I loosened the hinge bolt just so the nut made contact. Its the lowest of the 3 smaller bolts. (not the hitch bolt)

Wa-La, I tried the pin again and it went in with one hand WITH 2 bikes loaded.

As long as the nut has a few threads showing throught it, this bolt does not have to be cranked down tight. Its a lock nut that will not come off the bolt from simple driving conditions.

As for the other reviewer who complained about the weight of the bikes on the rack, EVERY rack that tips down like this, unless it has some kind of assist, will be heavy and harder to push back up. With 2 bikes I tipped mine and it was fine. I could see having a 2nd person assist with 4 bikes, especially if you don't have great upper body strength.

Rack does not slop all around, good positive straps on the bikes, and did the job on our 5 hr trip to Canada.

As for security, its lacking there just as most of them do.

Don't try to go out and get a 5/8" locking pin for your hitch, it will not fit this rack as the holes are only 1/2" and it has a "special" bolt. If you get a 1/2" locking pin, it will go in but allow the rack to "slop" around.

I'd simply get a long bike security chain and wrap it around all the bikes and through the safety chain loops on your hitch. This is only security from amatures who could take this rack apart with 2 wrenches and take the bikes. If you leave your bikes on a rack, anyone who really wants them can get them. FYI.

So far, for the price, it has done its job for us.

If you bike alot, get a better unit that has nice "retractible pins". But this is a good unit for my use and the price.

Thanks,

MP

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.

nice rack well made fits my mini van well,was missing the botom strap to hold the bikes together at the bottom,that was disapointing,but over all very good for the price

We were able to fit 4 bikes on this rack, one full suspension MTB, one womens MTB, one kids 20" MTB and a 10 inch kids bike. We didn't have to do anything crazy to get them on. The fit was very tight and our bikes ended up getting pretty banged up. The rack bounces a ton when you hit even small bumps on the freeway. Also, while on our trip, one of the plastic clips to secure the bike broke. Luckily our friends who were with us had an extra utility strap so we could get the bike secured on the rack for the rest of our trip and ride home.
Would I recommend this rack? No, we returned it, obviously, since the securing mechanism broke...but even if that didn't happen, we would have returned it...we spend a lot of money on bikes, so we know now that we will spend more for a good bike rack too...one that won't cause damage to our bikes when we transport them.

I bought this rack to replace a Thule Ridgeline. We had the Thule for three years, and sometimes we had to do crazy things to get the kids' bikes on, but you expect that to some extent with any rack. After three years, the nut on the Thule that you had to screw and unscrew to get into your cargo space would no longer line up correctly, which was pretty annoying. The last straw was when we bought a new bike for my daughter this year, and she is now large enough for an adult size frame -- we got it home to discover that there is basically no way to get it on the Thule rack because we could not maneuver it down the bars over the bulky cradles -- I mention this in case someone is looking at this rack who has the same problem with a Thule.

This rack was easy to assemble (did it myself in 15 minutes while nominally supervising 3 children) and attach to the car. It is light enough that the process of aligning it into the hitch and attaching it was much simpler than with heavier racks. The no-wobble bolt really doesn't wobble! Most importantly the cradles rotate a full 360, and are not wider than the bars of the rack. The combination of these two features means that we have not yet found a bike that we can't fit on the rack, and between ourselves and friends' outings we've had three different combinations of four bikes on the rack at the same time without a problem. We recently took a camping trip to Maine (6 hours away) -- we loaded on 1 adult-size frame, 1 large child frame, one small child's frame, and one *really* small child's frame (the bike of an average-sized 4 year old, don't know the exact frame size -- we attached at the bottom crossbar and the seat post). Aside from having to remove all the training wheels, we were able to fit all these bikes on the rack in a reasonable, not-kludgy, secure fashion, and they stayed there for the duration of the trip up and the trip back without needing to be re-seated, re-tied, or adjusted at any point.

I can definitely see where the pin-mechanism for access to the cargo space might get annoying (it might have caused me to give 4.5 stars if that were an option), and we'll try Mark P's suggestion about loosening the nut as ours seems to have gotten a little more finicky over time. However, it's no more annoying than the mechanism on our Thule rack was, or that I see on several other brands of racks -- although there might be a truly good option for this mechanism, I think this one is par for the course.

My wife and I just got into biking and have 4 bikes between us and kids, so I bought the 4 bike holder.
Arrived quickly and as described. Put together with 3 bolts in about 3 minutes. Easy to follow instructions. The bolt that goes into hitch was fine. I would recommend buying a lockable bolt for hitch as you need toold to remove the bolt the rack comes with.

As for the rack, bikes sit on rack and strap in via 2 straps with tie downs for your bike. Depending on bike, rack may not fit the best. There was nothing to hold bottom of bikes. They just suspend there. This works fine unless ride gets bumpy. I dont like fact that there is nothing holding bikes down except straps and weight of bike BUT for $104 paid thru amazon I cannot complain.

Seems sturdy and finish is nice. Also hinges in two places (top and bottom) so you can get access to hatch if needed and fold down when not in use.

I would recommend in addition to a lockable hitch bolt, to get a simple tie down strap for bottom of bikes.

Otherwise, easy to assemble and hook up. Assemply to hook up is about 5 minutes with a basic wrench.