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.
(10 customers reviews)
Customers Rating=4.5 / 5.0
More Detail For Allen Premium 5 Bike Hitch Mount Rack 2 Inch Receiver
- 5-bike rack fits vehicles with a 2-inch trailer hitch and features the new Quick Carry Arm Release
- 28-inch long carry arms individually secure bicycles with Allen's patented tie down system
- Folding carry arms quickly drop out of the way when rack is not in use
- Rack sets up and installs in less than 5 minutes
- Sturdy steel construction with black powder coat finish; Lifetime warranty
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