Top positive review
216 people found this helpful
Works GREAT… fantastic value
By BeKindAlways on Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2023
I bought this bike rack for my 2013 Honda CRV (LX). I had gone to the Allen Sports website to verify that it would fit and it seemed like a great value and something that would work perfectly for me. I debated whether to purchase a one or two bike rack as I am the only one that rides, but I ended up opting for the two bike rack hopipng that my spouse would (at some point) become interested in riding as well. I will try to give some tips that will hopefully help you decide if this is a good fit for you, and also some tips on how to best use it: 1. Check the Allen Sports website to see if it will fit your particular vehicle. DO NOT take it at face value when reviewers on here say it DOES or DOES NOT fit a certain vehicle. They may not know how to install it, or they may be installing it incorrectly (i.e. unsafely) in order to ‘make’ it work. 2. The instructions for mounting the rack are fairly good but you really have to read them closely - ESPECIALLY when it comes to the bottom hook. The top and side hooks are fairly logical and self-explanatory… although make sure you use the correct hooks for top and side. The top hooks are bigger/wider than the side hooks, and the side hooks are also labeled. 3. KEY for certain vehicles - this is the issue that ALMOST made me think that this wouldn’t work for me (even though Allen Sports said it would). The bottom hook has several ways to be utilized, depending on your vehicle. The main issue is whether you have something metal to clip the hook to. Today many bumpers, and even the bottom of cargo doors are a hardened plastic, OR they have no ‘lip’ over which to clip the hook. This was the case for me… and even though I read the alternate ways to solidly connect the bottom hook, it wasn’t apparent to me at first. Ultimately, you don’t really connect that bottom hook TO anything, but instead open the trunk/cargo door slightly and put the hook inside and close the trunk/cargo door back, which secures the hook inside the vehicle and you just tighten the strap. 4. Depending on your car, and on your risk tolerance, you may want to consider using electrical tape around the hooks (some or all, depending on your vehicle) to help cushion and protect any paint. Since my vehicle is a 2013 it wasn’t an issue I was particularly concerned with but I did go ahead and opt to do it - figured it was easy to do and certainly wouldn’t hurt anything by doing it. 5. Definitely do something to secure the tires, to keep them from spinning, and inthe case of the front tire, to keep it from swiveling and hitting the vehicle. You can use the excess on the tie down straps, or just use a bungee cord. The rack works perfectly on my Honda CRV and is actually even more steady/firm than I was expecting. Overall I could not be more pleased and am ready to hit the road!
Top critical review
20 people found this helpful
The main reason I like this bike rack is it's lightweight
By Pinecone on Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2017
The main reason I like this bike rack is it's lightweight. The main drawback comes from the narrow width, which makes it a bit unstable, necessitating the side straps. This is the width of most racks these days, so this is not a real criticism. My previous bike rack was about twice as wide and needed no side straps. The side straps do help, but they create additional hooks that can damage the paint. You can put tape over the top hooks to protect your car, but the space on the sides of the hatch (at least on my car) are too narrow for tape. Another disadvantage of the narrow width is that the rear of the bike, being heavier than the front, tends to drag that side of the rack down and I have to stop every now and then and tighten the top strap on that side. I only use the rack for one bike so I removed one set of top-tube holders. If you do that you have to find a way to keep the bike from sliding outward because the exterior top-tube holders are holding the interior holders in place. I haven't quite solved that yet. Be prepared to add padding to the rack or the bike to protect parts of the bike that contact the rack. Pipe insulation and duct take work well. Customer service at Allen Sports is poor. First, they don't answer the phone. You have to leave a message and wait for them to call you back, which took several hours. Second, they don't have any real answers to questions and you can't get to people who do have the answers. My question was why they said this rack won't fit the Scion xA. The answer was, "Because the engineers say it won't fit." Why? "We don't know." Who could answer this question for me? "No one. You can't talk to that department." It turns out that the rack fits the Scion xA just fine, as indicated elsewhere in the Amazon reviews. I like the rack but I'm taking one star off for poor customer service. UPDATE June 2023. I've had this rack for 5 years and it has generally been OK. The straps have dried out, and I notice that it costs more to replace the straps than it does to buy a new rack. I wouldn't call this rack especially convenient or simple. There are 5 required straps and I think two more are important: one to hold the bottom of the bike against the rack (I use a long bungee from the bumper up over the top tube and down to the rack) and a short strap to hold the front tire to the bike frame. So 7 straps. On a long camping trip I end up taking the rack off the car and putting it back on a few times and it's a hassle. A warning I learned the hard way: This rack can BREAK THE REAR WIPER ARM on a hatchback if you accidentally turn on the rear wiper. Some rear wipers turn on automatically if you have the front wipers on and you put the car in reverse. If the rear wiper is activated, it will hit the bike rack and the arm will break. Could also damage the wiper motor. Solution: remove the rear wiper arm or remove the fuse for the rear wiper. A tip if you have a hatchback with a rear SPOILER: get a piece of very solid foam like the foam bars that are used on top of metal roof bars to carry a kayak. So about 4" x 4" x 24". Place the foam on the spoiler, about 4" back from the edge, near the edge of the roof. Run the rack straps up over the foam. This will prevent the straps from contacting the spoiler and it takes quite a bit of weight off the spoiler. To make the foam last longer, wrap heavy duty duct tape over the foam under the straps. I've done this with two cars and had no problems with the spoiler.
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