Customer Reviews

Allen Premium 5-Bike Hitch Mount Rack (2-Inch Receiver)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Perspective: I am a mother of three young boys ages 8, 6 and 3. So when we go out as a family we have an adult men's bike, an adult women's bike and, at the moment, 2 youth boys bikes. We are not avid bicyclists, so we don't have any of the fancy, lightweight, more thin-framed bikes. Just your run of the mill Wal-Mart brand, bulky kids and adult bikes. This is our second 5-bike bicycle rack in as many years and I LOVE this one so much more than our last for multiple reasons. We attach it to our Honda Odyssey with a 2" hitch.

1) This rack not only has a ball joint (for lack of a better word) to hold the pivoting arm in place, but it also has a locking pin. DOUBLE the protection. I feel much safer with this mechanism should I ever repeat my previous mistake with our first bike rack, although not likely. :)
-------------------------Bought our first bike rack off eBay for about $60. Although it certainly held our bikes, albeit with little room to spare, it wobbled and shimmied like CRAZY when we drove, making the longer trips for vacations a little more anxiety ridden. I was constantly looking in the mirror to make sure it wasn't about to come crashing down or wobble so hard that it would break. It never did, mind you, but I once forgot to replace the locking pin for the part of the rack that pivots out of the way so you can access the tailgate without having to remove the rack entirely. Made it the entire trip (2 hours) without it falling...amazingly...but one mile from our destination we hit a pothole and the rack was jostled just enough to cause it to pivot out of sight and come crashing down behind us with all the bikes on it. Stayed intact and the bikes were unscathed, but the steel upright of the rack was forever bent which caused the bikes to ride too low to the ground to make it safe anymore.

2) The cradles that the bikes rest on swivel 360 degrees making it VERY easy to connect the bikes just about any way you need to.
------------------------Our old bike rack had cushioned (rubber) cradles, but they did not move, so to get the kids' bikes attached they were sitting in the rack at all sorts of crazy angles! Rear wheel way in the air with the front end of the bike facing the ground, etc. The youth bikes now-a-days have some very THICK frames. They LOOK cool, but aren't the most efficient when trying to mount them to a bike rack. The Allen bike rack allowed us to attach the bikes not just along a horizontal plane, but we could attach the left cradle to the vertical column at the handle bars by turning the cradle to the left and the right cradle to the horizontal bar going across the bike...or any other way necessary! love, Love, LOVE it! It's especially easy with the smaller bikes that don't have enough space between the front and back vertical pieces to allow BOTH arms of the rack to pass between them. (hope this makes sense)

3) Arms very quickly and easily swing down and out of the way for storage when bikes aren't loaded.

4) Thought it would be a little weird having one bike mounted BETWEEN the car and the rack the other four on the other side of the rack. Wasn't sure how it would all fit and whether or not there would be enough room to get the bike in there easily.
------------------No problem. The rack sits about a foot from the car. Does not look odd. Bike easy to maneuver in there.

5) Women's bikes do NOT require the cross bar attachment so often recommended to mount to the rack. Why? See reason #2. I actually bought one when I purchased the rack and it sits unused. Didn't use it even once and we've already taken our bikes on 4 outings. So, save your money.

6) Hitch pin really DOES cause the rack not to wobble one bit! LOVE LOVE LOVE it! That rack is in there tightly and securely. Of course, their special anti-wobble pin doesn't have a method to lock it into place, so you lose that option. Not so much a concern for us, but if you are in an area where these types of racks get stolen, you may need to invest in another anti-wobble option that has a locking aspect to it. I was truly amazed, however, at how the pin they provided really did keep the rack from moving in the hitch. It didn't look that different from any other pin, but works great!

Con: Can't lock the bikes into the cradles, but just buy a long enough bike lock that it can wind between all the bikes and you're good to go.

Hope this helps! Kids bikes are able to be attached without much trouble at all! After figuring out how they best fit the first time around, thereafter it's a cinch.

Just got this rack to replace a Yakima 4-bike carrier with the swing away feature. The Yakima rack was outstanding. Here's how this one stacks up (IMO)

Initial impression:
Looks okay, overall construction is not nearly as stout as the Yakima which weighs probably 15-20 pounds more. Release levers, pins, etc. don't feel as solid.

Attaching to vehicle:
Pretty straight forward. Slide the rack into the receiver and tighten with 2 3/4" sockets. Yakima was slightly easier as you only need one wrench to tighten.
Rack does not sway side to side, but does have some up and down play, as did the Yakima. One downside is that the lock for this rack is quite pricey. Don't forget the lock is only a deterrent. A smart and determined thief can walk away with most of your rack even if it's locked.

Loading bikes:
Quite a bit easier with this rack. The Yakima cradles are significantly larger and use bulky rubber straps. It's easier to maneuver small bikes on to this rack. No problem loading men's women's or kids' bikes. Although the Yakima rubber straps made loading the bikes more difficult, they do feel much more secure once snapped in to place. The nylon "backpack style" straps on this Allen Rack seem like they could loosen, time will tell whether that's really the case. Fit 5 bikes on the rack with no problem at all. Bike closest to the vehicle gets pretty close, so make sure it doesn't sway and bump into your car.

Tilt down feature:
Works well, but if your back door swings sideways instead of up, you may not be able to open the door completely (innermost bike will probably get in the way). Speaking of lowering the rack when bikes are loaded, you're going to need a strong arm and back especially if you're doing it by yourself. You'll be squatting under the rack, pulling the pin with one hand and supporting the weight of almost 5 bikes with your other arm. Getting the rack back up into position is actually easier than lowering it. This is where the Yakima really shines. The swing away feature works great no matter which way the hatch on your vehicle opens, and is easy for one person to do. Unfortunately, I need space for 5 bikes and such a rack doesn't exist.

Overall:
This rack does seem like a great value. It does what it's supposed to and is very easy to use for the most part. Will update after we've had a chance to take it beyond just the neighborhood.

Update:
Fully loaded the rack with 5 bikes for a 4 day trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Worked great on the street, freeway, and even over a few miles of dirt road. Rack stayed secure, bikes stayed secure, I'm bumping my rating up to 5 stars.

After comparing features and prices of different bike racks, we went with the Allen. I was pleasantly surprised that it does, in fact, accommodate 5 bikes. A little jockeying is necessary to get seats and handle bars to fit with each other when the bikes are different sizes and styles, but they all go on - and it is much much easier the second time. Do not attempt to lower the rack with the bikes already on it. The lowering feature is good for gaining access to the back of the car, but you have to have the bikes off in order to bring it back up again and get the pin inserted. The convenience features of the premium model are well worth the few extra bucks. Rather than wrestling with a pin for each function, the latches that come with the premium model make it much easier.

This bike rack is a great rack, especially for the money. We are able to lug our family's 5 bikes to our vacation spots. The rack was purchased for a 2006 Ford Freestyle with a 2" hitch receiver. The rack is easy to install and remove with the locking bolt. Our 2 adult bikes and 3 childrens bikes are easily mounted on the rack. Even my son's bike with front and back foot pegs fits easily. There is plenty of room between bikes when mounted on the rack. I had to tighten bolts to reduce the play in the rack after my first time using it now there is no play with everything tight. I am fully confident using this rack for our 200 mile plus vacation trips. Amazon shipped this quickly and it was packed very well.

Purchased through Greenfish Adventure Sports. Its a really nice bike rack. However, It was missing a drilled hole for the quick release pin. Contacted Greenfish which in turn had to contact Warranty dept at Allen Racks to get a replacement. The problem was I waited till night before to put rack together before we went camping with the family and discovered this hole was missing. So my advice is assemble as soon as you get it in case you run into the same situation. Not wise to use without quick release pin!

I have the worst time getting the pin secured that holds the bike rack upright. I now try to avoid going into the back of my car and I keep a hammer in my car to help bang the pin back when necessary. It is also difficult to get 5 bikes on this rack because there just isnt't enough space.

Excellent bike rack. Very solid. Easy to assemble. You get what you pay for in the great quality.

For the money, this rack delivers. It is almost the least expensive 5 bike rack I found. The rack is perfectly suited to 5 bikes: 2 adult mountain bikes & 3 kids bikes fit with little to no issue. The quality of the build is decent.
Pros: Fits 5 bikes no problem even on the hangar closest to the truck (Suburban), this hangar is on the "other side" of the upright - provides a good weight balance.
Cons: I have a slight problem with the finger triggers that are used to fold the rack down, but I have loaded this rack up and not babied it while driving with 5 bikes. One of the finger triggers gets hung up when I try to fold the rack after it's been unloaded...but this is more a symptom of my abusing the rack than anything else. Abuse means driving with the fully loaded rack over dirt roads without concern about bumps & jolts.
If I spent 2x the money, I would want a smoother fold-down.
I would totally buy this rack again & recommend it to anyone who needs 5 bikes & wants to save a few dollars. One thing: practice loading 5 bikes and don't forget to be mindful of pedal/handlebar/seat interference.

I spent a lot of time reading everybody's reviews about the various bike rack products available and purchased this product based on those comments. I am very happy with the product. It is very sturdy (even though the horizontal brackets bounce a bit when loaded with bikes - which I think is normal....similar to watching the wings on an airplane bounce in flight). I loaded the rack up with 5 bikes (2 tanker mountain bikes and 3 heavy Walmart kid bikes) and drove a total of 1,200 miles to and from California without any problems. I love the fact that the individual mounting brackets swivel so it is easy to connect any frame type without having to purchase special adapters. Easy installation and super simple mounting of the bikes. Also it was a great price!

Bought this rack and installed on a 2002 Honda Odyssey. One large nut and bolt is all that holds it on, I actually put it on the van, and took it off yesterday just so we could take a quick, local trip with the bikes. With two 3/4 inch wrenches, it literally took 60 seconds to install, and then uninstall. Assembling the rack from the shipping box took about 15 minutes.

Build quality is solid, it does not sway or wiggle. It titls down by removing a large pin, then pulling up a large locking knob. It simple to tilt/fold down when empty, wife and kids all know how to do, not much of a hassle, if you want to leave the rack on your vehicle for extended periods. I did tilt it down with it loaded with 5 bikes, to get into the back of the van. Tilting down was no problem, but lifting it back up required a second person to help me lift the weight of 5 bikes.

We have carried 3 adult and 2 kid mountain bikes at once. The rack has one bike slot/position on the vehicle side of the support post for one bike, which works fine (no clearance problem) that helps balance the top rack, as opposed to having all 5 bikes on the outside of the vertical support post - a nice design feature. Loading the bikes is not a problem, but requires some wiggling and lining up pedals, but they all get on their nice holding slots, and the straps are plenty long to go around two frame bars if needed. Some bikes don't hang with both support arms under the top tube, due to the size and shape of the frame tubes. We simply raise the bike and have the carrier support undernearth the down tube (i.e. the bike is pointed up a bit, rather than looking level). But its no problem, no adapter posts or tubes needed, that some other brands require. It takes my wife and I about 3 minutes to load or unload all 5 bikes. Fairly quick, easy. On our first trip we ran a strap through all of the wheels to squeeze them together, but it really is not needed when its full. Maybe with just one or two bikes you might get some sway (forward and back) but not loaded with 5. A strap is included, and all of the straps are of high quality and the locking clips work great.

We have taken the bikes on two 800 mile trips already, plus local travel. So we have about 2000 miles on the rack, and we load and go. 80 mph and no problem, but I do notice the weight of the bikes back there when we go over bumps in the road (note our shocks/suspension are old and tired, need replacement).

I would recommend the purchase of this rack without hesitation. My only caveat is that a swing-away rack would provide easier access to the back of the vehicle, but 4 bikes is the maximum number for swing-away models, and we needed capacity for 5.