Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: Allen Sports Deluxe 4-Bike Hitch Mount Rack with 2-Inch Receiver

Super easy to set up but the tie down straps are cheap and allow the bikes to move. Caused massive scratches on the back of my vehicle

WARNING: NOT FOR USE WITH ANY TYPE OF TRAILER?

nk75

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on July 7, 2017

The good:
Product looks great and it was shipped very quickly.

The bad:
I was so excited to get it until I read on the box "WARNING: NOT FOR USE WITH ANY TYPE OF TRAILER"? Why? I bought this specifically for my camper trailer and there is no mention anywhere in product description. There is even a review from a satisfied customer who used it for their trailer. If it is in BIG BOLD LETTERS on the box, then why is it not mentioned in the product description at all???? Frustrated.

I can't comment on the the actual product because I am afraid I may have to return it now.

2 people found this helpful

Not sure what are other types of bike racks, ...

Alex

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 7, 2015

Not sure what are other types of bike racks, but this is not steady or strong. It does keep bikes, but it consists from 3 pieces which cannot be tied is a solid way so pieces are shaking and noising.

One person found this helpful

Curtis

Meh

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 3, 2018

Flimsy and better options available

From other countries

Raymond G

Nice bike rack.....with a major unacceptable flaw.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 18, 2014

Bike rack was cool looking and very easy to install. The locking Pin screwed in fine and stopped the rack from moving inside the Hitch.

But There was a MAJOR issue. I installed the rack and placed two adult bikes and one child bike on it and drove for about 40 mins in the city. Within this time....The bottom pin pushed out PASS the GROOVE.....e.g. the spring lock thinggy came out of the groove as the pin started sliding out the other end.

I mean..even if the pin came out of one hole completely I dont think it would be able to come through the last hole..which would make the rack dropped out and my bikes drag on the road. (Im talking about the pin you remove to lower the rack for trunk access...if you didnt know already) But honestly I do not know how far the pin would come out.

Unfortunately, I bought this device for a 4 hour trip i wanted to take.....So I had to pull over every hour to check the pin and push it back in. And I will have to do this for the life of this rack because I am now paranoid because of the pin slipping out in the beginning after such a short drive.

There should be a better mechanism to keep the pins in place. This rack is a good price and did hold the weight of my bikes well, but I would pay more to not have to worry about the rack falling down while going 65 on the freeway.....I don't think that would go too well for the bikes or the lives in my car! I would pay more to not have to pull over on the freeway every hours because i see a bike handle move a little but more than 30 mins prior and fear that the pin is on its way out off the last whole!

I honestly would not recommend this rack to anyone that I care about....I would offer to add my money to theirs to get safer rack. But for others, i may say it is a good bargain so you can give it a try.

One person found this helpful

Ducrab

Returned mine

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 10, 2012

Bought the Allen 102S bike rack to carry two bikes to the beach on the back of my BMW 325xi. After spending an hour trying to get the thing mounted and bikes attached, I ended up pulling the whole thing off and returning it.

Here's why I returned it. The only thing holding this bike rack to the car are the nylon straps. Without the straps, the whole unit falls to the ground. If one strap fails, the same result. It's basically a friction mount held in place by the strap tension. The top bar rests on the trunk and the lower bar presses against the license plate (bending it inward). Granted the bars are coated with foam, but I could see the trunk flexing under the weight of the bikes which will surely leave a dent. The top two straps are secured to the trunk lip by metal clips. The bottom straps are secured in a similar fashion. The problem is when the top straps are cinched tight, the clips angle upwards and pinch against the rear window glass. One or two good bumps and the rear window would have cracked for sure (to be fair, this is due to the way the BMW is designed, other cars may not experience this issue).

Once I got everything tight and bikes installed, I was VERY worried that one of the straps would pop loose sending the rack (and bikes) onto the road behind me. It was not very secure by any stretch of the imagination, IMHO. Between the trunk flexing, the licence plate bending, and the whole thing wriggling around, I wasn't left with any confidence that this thing would stay put and not destroy my car. Off it came, and back it went.

I ended up buying a class 1 trailer hitch (30 minutes to install) and a receiver mounted bike rack and was VERY happy with the result. Made a 300 mile round trip to the beach and back and the bikes never moved an inch.

The trunk mount rack is clearly a quick and dirty way of attaching bikes to your car. My philosophy is do the job right and not cut corners. If you don't have a trailer hitch, install one. They're available for practically any car. And the receiver-mounted racks are so much more stable.

3 people found this helpful

E. R. Whitcomb

Watch out for the result of cost reductions

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 14, 2009

I purchased the 102S model based on (i) the Company's reputation and (ii) the reviews from Amazon customers. This looked good when the product arrived, it was properly packaged and free from damage. This a very intuitive product and this is necessary as the instructions packed with the product are marginal at best. Things went well until I went to adjust the top strap - the lever on the clamp broke off with just the slightest pressure. This of course made any adjustment impossible.

Upon examination it was evident that the quality of the metal used in the clamp was not sufficient for the purpose intended. The quality of the metal reminded me of that used in some of the cheap products that were imported after WWII. This problem was apparently not unexpected as I saw that one other customer reported it and when I called Allen they treated it without any expression of surprise an in fact they sent me two of the clamps an indication that I should expect a repeat of this problem.

The rack itself shows evidence of good engineering and reasonable workmanship which is a credit to the founder Dick Allen. My contact at the company was Alex Allen would is apparently in charge and frankly was not impressive. I suspect that this product has, and continues to undergo a "cost reduction" analysis that has resulted in the inferior clamps that can break at any time. One has to wonder what will be next? When a product breaks "out of the box" and the replacement part is no better than the one that broke it does not instill confidence.

This was a good product at a fair price IF the quality of the parts are not diminished. I am concerned that the current product does not represent a good value as a result of what I see as a deterioration in quality - Buyer Beware Allen 102S Premium 2-Bike Trunk Mount Rack

19 people found this helpful

RJA

but the simple bolted together design would be easy to take apart to defeat a lock

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 27, 2016

The receiver hitch on this is for a 2" receiver, however rather than the standard 5/8" pin, it has holes for a 1/2" pin and a shoulder bolt with a nylon lock nut. That means you can't use a pin on it, you have to use their special shoulder bolt and bolt it onto your vehicle. This is not at all convenient if you plan to only put the rack on the vehicle when you actually need it. Additionally, nylon lock nuts have a small number of on/off cycles before they should be replaced, so their non-standard, inconvenient, method of attachment to the standard hitch receiver is not at all appropriate if you do not intend to leave this rack on your vehicle. This is a non-starter for me since I use a trailer more often than I do a bike rack, and the post on this blocks the backup camera on my vehicle (2011 Yukon). The upright on the rack is 2 piece construction, apparently so that it will fit in a smaller shipping box. The pieces are bolted together, and there is no secure point on the unit to securely lock bikes that cannot be undone with a wrench. I had hoped to use a locking hitch pin (which amazon shows as frequently sold with this rack) to secure the rack to the vehicle's hitch and then lock the bikes to the rack, but the simple bolted together design would be easy to take apart to defeat a lock.

I am debating whether to dissassemble it and return it, or to drill out the receiver hitch to accept a locking pin and figure out a way to lock the bikes through the hitch safety chain rings.

5 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Rust Already???

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 3, 2021

Four stars: very easy to work with, and has been nothing short of entirely reliable for holding bikes. My only qualm is how quickly it has begun to accumulate surface rust (in the absence of winter weather).

Two stars (editing based on continuing deterioration): took steps to grease and lubricate moving parts on the bike rack and attempted to remove as much surface rust as possible prior to storing for the winter (again, this bike rack has not experienced any winter elements/weather). After taking out of storage and using on two occasions (once in dry conditions and once in rain), I'm truly amazed at how easily this bike rack accumulates surface rust. If you live in an area that experiences rain, I discourage purchasing this bike rack. The bike rack is made out of shoddy materials that won't last.

One person found this helpful

tfritz28

Didn't work for any of my bikes

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 24, 2022