Customer Reviews

Hollywood Racks HR400 Road Runner 4-Bike Hitch Mount Rack (2-Inch Receiver))

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

 

 

Purchased June 2010. Researched Thule, Yakima, etc. The HR400 is a great rack for the money. Strong, quality product - made in the USA. Similar in capacity with other brands. I liked the anti-sway strap feature in the receiver bracket. Directions are spare but very little actual initial assembly so this is not so much a problem. You can check-out the assembly instructions on-line.

Includes the hitch lock AND the 96-inch cable lock both keyed to the same key with 4 keys; these products can add up to +$60 if not included. Easy to assemble. Easy to mount.

Equal to other double arm racks in terms of loading. First time with your own bikes takes some time to figure out. Partly for visibility on my brake light and partly to load easier I removed all seats and a two pedals. After first time, 15 minutes to load. Tilt feature is well-designed. Ran to Maine with 4 adult mountain bikes. For 4 bikes, for recreational, vacation biking, it is all you need.

TIP #1: Lower anti-sway arm and straps are a bit of a pain the first time but recommended - just make sure you load the second bike BEFORE you place these straps on the first bike (and so forth to the last bike) so that the wheel/pedal loacations on the first bike are good before you secure the wheels on the first bike.

TIP #2: When I was finished loading the bikes I went for a ride and noticed a sway. The sway was coming from the fact that the fully-loaded rack post bears backward and down on the 2-inch receiver bracket creating a small gap between the bracket post and the front of the upper sleeve. When you drive and bounce a little, the weight can come up and forward and the post moves a bit forward and then back in the reciever bracket causing the sway. That did not seem right since the product seemed very strong and well-designed but I figured I could stick a wedge of some kind behind the bracket post to steady it. When I went into my garage, I noticed a small black thumb screw on the floor. Nothing in the instructions. I looked around the rack and found a screw hole in the front of the upper sleeve. The thumb screw goes in there and holds the post away from the front of the sleeve and against the rear of the sleeve. Sway was gone. Great but three problems: first, the thumb screw loosens while driving and sway returns; second, while the thumb screw has not fallen out (yet), it is not secured; third, while it does loosen enough to permit the sway to return, it does not loosen enough to allow you to put the tilt pin back in in the upright position once you remove the tilt pin for drop down and rear door access. So you need to lossen it a bit further -- slide in the tilt pin and then re-tighten the thumb screw.

Tip # 3: If you are plannig to carry women's bikes or kids bikes -- check gap between racks so that you have sufficient frame clearance to load. But that applies to any double arm rack.

Tip # 4: Most racks that fold down allow this feature via a bolt and nut pivot that secures the a lower receiver bracket to the rest of the rack. So by removing this bolt, someone, in theory, could lift up and carry off all (1 to 4) of your bikes (and the loaded rack). Sigh. For security, I used one of my bike cable locks (most of us have them anyway so not added purchase) between the receiver bracket reinforcement angle and the welded u-bolt on the front of the rack post. Sure someone can still cut the cables but we are looking to avoid the easy opportunities.

Tip # 5: The 96-inch cable lock is long enough for all the wheels on 4 bikes but not enough for all the wheels AND frames. The cable secures to the rack thru a u-bracket welded to the front of the rack post. I used the 96-inch cable for the wheels and another of my own cable locks to secure the frames thru this u-bolt to the rack. Again -- just avoiding the easy opportunities.

I bought this rack at least 10 years ago, possibly 11 or 12. It has actually lasted longer than the Explorer I bought it for. I have it on a new Silverado now and it works like a champ. The release was originally appealing because the Explorer had the hatch style door and it allowed me to get into the cargo area without taking the bikes off. Now with the truck, I can still let down the bed gate and not have to take the bikes off the rack.
I have carried everything from mountain bikes to kids bikes to my big fat beach cruiser and it has had no problems with bowing or swaying. It's made out of some type of heavy duty iron with very solid welding. It's not lightweight, but it's not a workout either.

Now the best part: I recently realized that I stripped one of the turn knobs that allows the bars to go up and down. I called customer service and they allowed me to drive over to their facility and pick up a replacement. How cool was that? A lot of these manufacturers will not sell directly to the public, and they did with no problem. What's even better is; as I was standing out front putting on the part, the owner happened to come out to see if I needed help. He even gave me my money back stating stating that since I drove all the way over there and it was a little part, he wouldn't charge. I couldn't believe it! I tried to refuse, but he kept giving me back the payment! I was shocked!

The replacement part works great and I am a loyal customer for life. That type of service is unheard of these days. I was happy enough to just be able to get the part immediately. I know this rack will last another ten years, and hopefully I will be able to get other items from this company.

This was a great bike rack, be aware however that it is really designed for 4 adult bikes. With some creative positioning we are able to include my children's' bikes so it is possible.

We traveled 5 hours each way with the bikes and had no problems. There was very little movement and sway while driving with the bikes on the rack.

I had never used a hitch mounted bike rack, but bought the Hollywood HR400 on a recomendation from a friend. From taking it out of the box to having bikes on and ready to drive out of the driveway was less than an hour. The design makes the bikes stable, and easy to get on and off. The fold down arm gives good access to the back section of the vehicle, but watch out if you have 4 bikes on there, it tends to get heavy pushing it back into the driving position. If I had to, I'd buy the same product again!!

I am very pleased with the construction and the performance of this bike rack. I have a couple engineering degrees and appreciate the design and flexibility of the rack... nice powder coated pieces, good tie-down methods, cleaver eye-hook/threaded rod method of cinching the hitch, the ability to collapse the components for low-profile storing. from looking at competitors racks, you would have a difficult time finding a rack that holds you bike more secure. You do have an option of strapping the bikes to a lower bar that helps stabilize the bikes, but the rack works fine if you don't [though, i would recommend using it for longer trips]. the setup and take-down of the bikes can take 15 min, but they'll be safe. mfg over-seas, but quality seems quite good.

check out their website and you can download the manuals to get a better idea of how this thing works.

great product. built like a tank. rock solid on the hitch. still lets me open the tail-gate. robust design. would buy again.

feel free to ask me questions.

This is the first time we have ever transported bikes on our car and had asked several people which rack would be the best. After pricing this rack at a local bike shop and talking to the clerk we went on line and made the purchase and saved $40.00. The instructions could have been written clearer with pictures of the rack on different cars instead of pictures of people riding bikes. We had to tighten the straps a little at our first stop and checked them every time we made a stop but they went over 1,000 miles without a wobble. This rack worked great. You couldn't tell the bikes were on the car. Great price for a great product. We also purchased the bar to adapt the womens bike to fit the rack and it worked very well.

I did a lot of research prior to buying this bike rack. I have owned several other styles and brands over the years, and some have worked and held up better than others. I've only had this one a few months but so far am very happy with the ease of installation, the quality of construction, ease of use, features and overall design. I specifically selected this model because of the extra stabilization bar at the bottom. With other racks that don't have such a feature, I usually have to use a number of straps or bungee cords to keep wheels in place and prevent them from spinning around while in transit. I like the fact that the wheel stabilization is built into the design of the rack, and it works well. The hitch tightening lever makes the rack very stable. The rack arrived earlier than expected, with adequate packaging, in good condition.

Highly recommended.

UPDATE Fall 2011: Still very happy after about 9 months of use. Easy to remove and install the rack from the car, and the hitch "tightener" is a great feature that makes this the most stable rack we've had. The bottom bar for securing the tires from spinning or moving is another very nice feature. And tilting the rack with bikes on it is not as scary as I thought it would be. Haven't tried that with more than two bike on it though.

This bike rack was easy to put together, simple to attach to the hitch on our 4Runner, and has performed very well. We've driven several hours with the bikes on the rack, and they are stable and secure, both on the interstate and around town. The rack includes a locking hitch pin, keyed alike with an extra-long bike lock cable (long enough to secure all four bikes).

When the bikes are not on the rack, it folds up into a compact addition to the vehicle. It is remarkably easy to access the rear of the 4Runner with the rack in the hitch. Last night, I found it quite simple to tilt it down, get what I needed from the back, and stand the rack back up (& secure it) in the pitch darkness. The rack is also easy to remove and store.

If you'll be using the rack for a women's bike (hybrid or step-through frame), be sure to get a top-tube frame adapter. We bought a Swagman Bar Adapter Deluxe that does a good enough job.

The quality of the rack was great! Had to return because it would not hold GT triple triangle frame even with adapter. Bought the Hollywood sport rider SE 4 bike rack instead. If you buy the road runner be very careful when loading bikes. The head of screw that holds the bike cradles in place is exposed and scratched my frame. Nothing a small piece of tape wouldn't handle. Hollywood should think about coating these screws. Wouldn't let it deter you from buying. Overall nice rack and features for the price, although the sport rider SE is da bomb!

Everything you need is included with this rack (as opposed to the Thule racks). I've only used it a few times, but it seems like the engineers have thought of every possible improvement, and then went ahead and made it. Great product!