Customer Reviews

Racor Pro PLB-2R Two-Bike Gravity Freestanding Bike Stand

5 star:		(141)
4 star:		(110)
3 star:		(44)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

I've been wanting a bike rack like this for years. I've tried products that seemed similar, and they just didn't work for me. This one's exactly what I was looking for.

APPEARANCE
The rack arrived with no scratches. This was a surprise, given that two of the sections that make up the vertical post were loose in the manufacturer's box, and the box was a bit battered.

The rack itself looks great in my garage.

STABILITY
When positioned against (or near) a wall, the rack sways mildly when a bike is removed or replaced. The base is big enough and the overall design is such that removing the bottom bike (gently) doesn't seem to cause the whole thing to fall over--as long as the wall is there for backup. The manufacturer recommends anchoring the rack to the wall and includes hardware for this purpose.

ASSEMBLY
The central post is delivered in three sections: The base is the curved "T" that you can see in the picture on the Amazon site. The other two sections form the vertical tube.

These main sections fit very tightly together. As far as I'm concerned, this makes the whole thing more internally stable. To assemble the central post, I relied on a many squirts from my trusty can of WD-40, some wiggling, gravity, and patience. Without all that, I would've been stuck (and the sections would've been too).

The four arms that hold the two bikes attach into slots on either side of the vertical tube. I used a small block of wood to knock the arms in and out of the slots (I don't have a mallet, and it seemed like a hammer would dent/scratch the finish). Each bike is held by resting the top tube in cradles (at the end of each arm). The cradles easily rotate as needed to adapt to the angle of the top tube. Nice touch.

It definitely took some effort to put this rack together. However, I'm pleased with the results so far. It really frees up space! Taking it apart will be an interesting challenge some day.

Is it worth the price? Well... Even with the Amazon price, it seems a bit more expensive than other garage-quality bike racks. However, over the years I've spent more in total on other racks that didn't work out for me at all. This one is just what I wanted!

Arrived with box shredded, but items inside well-protected by ancillary packaging. For the price, it's a lot of metal. Went together easily. The problems started when I tried to put bikes on it. For a women's bike, with a sloping top bar, it is hard to balance on the stand. To make matters worse, this bike's balance point was at the seat. So, the stand's holders would slide forward on the bike (due to the sloping bar), then the bike would tip backward (due to the balance point now being well behind the support points). I had to put one of the bike rack's hooks into the frame of the bike basket to stop this sliding and tipping.

Then, the rack tilted, due to the torque on the rack from the upper bike. This, even though I had screwed the rack into the wall with the supplied #10 3inch screw (with a Pozidriv head--great if you have a Pozidriv bit (like I do), but problems otherwise).

The screw eventually tore out of the wall--It was barely long enough to go through the sheetrock into the stud. I replaced it with a lag screw 1/4" by 4". That is now holding it securely.

Even though it has caused me these problems, the rack still is a bargain. Now with this sturdy lag screw in place (a 37 cent investment), the rack looks like it will stand nice and straight.

I certainly would not consider using this as a free standing rack, and I would buy a long lag screw to replace the too-short screw supplied with the rack.

THis went together in 10 minutes. In fact it took longer for me to decide where to put it than it did to put it together. I highly recommend attaching it to the wall with the screw. Mine came with a long screw (long enough to go into a stud behind 1/2" sheetrock) and a machine bolt with a toggle anchor that would be suitable for a location without a stud.

Mine holds two bikes perfectly. Each side of the holders are seperate so you can easily have one higher than the other for bikes with slanting cross-bars.

Recently purchased the Racor free standing bike rack. The rack was easily assembled in a short amount of time. Some reviewers have commented on having difficulty getting 4 bikes on the rack. Although it took a few tries to get the hooks at the correct heights, once everything was set I had no trouble getting all 4 bikes (2 road, 2 MTB) on the rack. I am 6'3" -- my bikes occupy a lot of real estate -- and my wife is 5'2", so maybe the big size difference makes it easier for us to store the bikes. We have a small house with a small garage, so this rack is a huge space saver for us -- we even added hooks to the open holes on the upright for hanging our helmets, gloves, etc. All in all, this was an excellent investment for freeing up space and organizing the area where we store our bikes.

After reading the reviews here, I ordered this rack thinking that it was a bit of a crapshoot. I was pleasantly surprised with what I received; I think the manufacturer has tightened up the product since many of these reviews were written.

First, the box was well packed; I have a terrible post office, but my rack was magically undamaged.

Second, the pieces with together easily. No WD-40, no hammering. The fittings are, if anything, too loose. The whole unit assembled in well under 10 minutes.

Finally, the wall anchor isn't really optional. The unit will hold without it, but it leans, and there's something unnerving about hoisting a bike over your head and placing it on something wobbly. The included hardware is up to the job; there's one very long screw and one long screw with a wall anchor. Put in the extra work to find the stud.

like other reviewers my box arrived a bit beat up, i was half expecting to find parts missing. unlike others i had no problem assembling it and it seems very sturdy. for the price you aren't going to find a better deal.

i've got way too many bikes in too small of an apartment. the lower half seems a bit useless (all my bikes are pretty big though). it's not tall enough to get the bottom bike off the floor so you can't store anything there. i'm thinking about removing the lower arms and just leaning a couple of bikes there. it's already getting my apartment into shape.

1. The packaging was poor and the base was badly scratched when I received it.

2. I'm 6'2" and I have two tall bikes. The rack is too short for both of them. With the top bracket at the highest setting, the bottom bike won't fit below it. I paid a welder $30 to change the angle of the top bracket so that it goes up 45 degrees. Now there is room for the second bike. Now the rack costs $80.

3. The joints in the rack are wobbly, so my rack tilts to the right about 5 degrees. I think it's ugly. I'm going to screw the top of the rack into the wall to fix this. That kinda defeats the purpose of a "gravity" rack.

Now that I've got it fixed up, it does what it's supposed to. Kind of a pain but it works, and it's still pretty cheap at $80.

Contrary to its name, this stand is NOT freestanding. Contrary to the description, screwing the stand into the wall is NOT optional. This stand will fall over immediately if it is not screwed into the wall. Very misleading advertising.

I've had this stand for a few years. Yes, it's wall-supported (I didn't need to drill; the base's big "U" has been pretty stable on my carpet), and yes it extends a couple feet out from the wall at the base (but don't your handlebars?). That's no problem for me.

My problem is the crappy plastic receivers in the arms where the hooks are bolted. After enough times lifting bikes into and out of the hooks, the bolts just pull out of the stripped plastic. It happened first with the lower hooks (okay, I was hanging a tandem, it's a little heavy), but the upper rack's just been holding a relatively light-weight hybrid (I never kept my road bike on this stand; I keep it on the trainer when I'm not riding it).

I'm buying a da Vinci which doesn't appear to have the swinging hooks (which require the bolt-and-receiver system), but simple arms.

It took about 30 seconds to assemble the rack and it works just as described. The rack is sturdy with one or two bikes hanging from it and keeps it balance even on carpeted floors. After experimentally tugging on it, I am confident that it will stay up right even with my two energetic cats playing around it.

It was worth every penny. Great item.