Customer Reviews

Surco BT300 Spare Tire Mount Bike Rack, Up To 3 Bike Capacity

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I recently bought this rack to fit on our 2004 Toyota RAV-4. It installs pretty easily - you have to take the spare tire off to mount it, and the first install can take up to 45 minutes when fiddling with the spare. But I especially like that I can keep the mounting hardware connected and still replace the tire cover. That way each time we travel we only need to slip off the tire cover and attach the main rack (what you see in the photo).

The bikes secure like a sandwich - the top piece which secures the bike frames to the rack comes with two securing bolts, one of which is lockable (key included). Which is nice if you want to stop for something to eat (or some other errand) on the way back from your ride.

The bikes felt very secure during our drive on the highway.

I just completed a 500 mile trip to Maine with three bikes on this rack. It was attached to my CR-V. We encountered all types of road surfaces from high speed highway to dirt roads and the rack preformed very well. The bikes (two mountian and one kids) were held firm and without any sway or wobble. To mount and dismount the rack was a piece of cake. The only thing I had to do was purchase a conversion tube for my daughter's bike as it is of the modern kids style that has a large frame tube.

put this on my 2000 toyota rav4. work greats. it is very solid. great design. the rack is two pieces: one that stays on the rav4 all the time and the other that screws on very quickly to the permanent part so when you are not carrying bikes you can quickly remove the rack portion and put the tire cover back on...very clever. this is an industrial strength rack. it is worth the money.

We own a 2006 Jeep Liberty and purchased this rack since many others appear to not work with our vehicle. It arrived quickly and is highly durable. There were only slight modifications we had to make for this to work well. Initially, the tire didn't fit over the main square section, which mounts behind the spare tire. With a little filing, it slid right on. (This may be more an issue of the hubcap on our spare than the sizing of the mount.)

Initially, we screwed everything together and there was some slop. Reading reviews on the Surco website, we saw that some had to use 'shims' to get it to hold tight. We went and bought a couple washers. Put the washers on the main threader, thread it up, and it's very secure! We've gone out with this several times and it hasn't given us a problem yet. The threader has a drilled hole, so you can lock the entire system to your vehicle, which is nice. We've been carrying two mountain bikes without any problems on this. We haven't tried to put a 3rd on there yet, but it looks like it would easily fit.

Thought it would work for my new 2009 Rav4, but no luck. Returned it for a Hollywood and that one is great!

I bought this for my 2005 Toyota RAV4. Like the other reviewers stated, this is easy to install. It is solid, and I love the fact that there is a key to lock the top bar down. When the weather turns bad it will be easy to remove post and put the tire cover back on. Two thumbs up!

We sought a spare tire bike rack to use with our '05 Honda CRV and this rack fits the bill par excellence! This rack works great. It's solid, easy to install, and includes lock-down security which is a real plus. The rear gate also readily opens and closes when bikes are on the rack.

Security is two-fold: 1) the bike rack itself can be locked down (using the padlock of your choice - we use a secure, hard-to-cut padlock) and 2) the bikes can be locked onto the rack with the supplied locking bolt. (Only 1 key is included for the locking bolt, which I thought was an error so called Surco who'll send a spare at $5 each; we opted to get a 2nd one made through a locksmith - which also cost $5.)

This rack installed with no problem and is SOLID -- the bikes don't budge once tightened down into the rubber-padded wedges between two plates. While the two bolts do take a while to fully tighten or loosen to remove the top plate - it's also possible (if only 1 or 2 bikes are on the rack) to just loosen the bolts enough to slip the bike frame to or from the inner or outer wedges, and lift the bike through and off of the bike rack.

I also like that the rack is easy to remove while keeping the rack plate bolted behind the tire AND the spare tire cover fits (without having to remove that plate bolted behind tire).

Lastly, because CRV spare tire is off-center, when loading 2 or 3 large bikes, one or two may extend past the side of the car a bit, but that hasn't been a problem (other than maybe causing some drag, but not bad). Most important is that the bikes are SOLID and SECURE. We highly recommend this bike rack.

This rack isn't compatible with the spare tire system for the 2010 Rav 4 unless you saw down the extra lip. I am returning this for the Yakima Spare Time which is supposed to work. Seems like a nice rack though. Very sturdy.

Mom wanted an east bike rack on her RAV4 to carry her bike and the grandkids (5 and 6 years old).

Mom is very short, at 5'3" so this unti was perfect. Easy to bolt on her 2001 RAV4, easy to use, and comes off easily for the winter. Definitely well worth the money.

The only problem I could see is with nicer frames you might have an issue with bikes swinging fore and aft. WIth the kids bikes, it is no big deal, but a good bungee cable is likely needed to avoid friction at the mounting point.

This is my second Surco Spare Tire rack - had a Jeep about 10 years ago and loved the one I bought then. Now I have another Wrangler and just got a new BT300. Both were excellent. The pros:
- solid and secure - no jiggling or shaking like the ones that insert into the hitch and are not snug.
- can fit 3 bikes
- has locking mechanism
- no worries about getting in the way of the tailgate opening

Cons:
- the screw-down mechanism for securing the bikes is not as quick as a strap-down model - but there's a real sense of security with this mechanism
- my first one had a little rust, we'll see how this one fares.

All in all, I think this is the best set-up for folks with spare-tires on the back.