The Survival Store: Knives: Allen Deluxe 5-Bike Hitch Mount Rack (2-Inch Receiver)

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Coated arm saddles, tilts away for easy access

Amazon.com Product Description
This Deluxe Hitch Mounted Bike Carrier by Allen holds five bikes and is ideal for weekend biking trips with friends and family outings. A tie-down system securely holds and protects each bicycle while 28-inch carry arms drop out of the way when not in use. Appropriate for two-inch hitches, this carrier includes a strap which eliminates lower bike movement. Minor assembly and simple set up of the carrier is required.

About Allen Bike Racks

This hitch-mount rack will hold up to five bikes and is easy to set up.

In 1967, after a few years of working on the aerospace technology for the Apollo missions, Dick Allen was out of a job. Government cutbacks led Allen, a Harvard-trained physicist, to transform his garage hobby into a new industry. A cycling enthusiast, inventor, and family man, Allen had a personal need for a bike-carrying device. On weekends, he would take his sons and wife to Cape Cod or the White Mountains of New Hampshire. What proved difficult time and again was the transport of his family's bicycles. Rather than fight through inconvenience with twine and a dinged car, Allen sought an answer for himself as well as a market in which he foresaw major growth possibilities.

Always a pathfinder, Allen took to work in his Lincoln, Massachusetts garage in search of a more efficient way to transport bikes. Drafting designs during the day and constructing them throughout the night, he put together a model made of electrical conduit, metal strapping, and fire hose casings (for padding). At first, the Allens' tested the prototype on weekend excursions. Finding the first trunk-mounted rack to be a success, Dick started Allen Bike Racks. Dealer acceptance came quickly, and by 1971 Allen Bike Racks were sold nationally through a number of major bicycle distributors. Today, the company owns over three dozen patents and offers a versatile product line of bike racks while Dick's son Alex now owns and operates the business. What started out as a small garage run operation now operates three warehouses nationally, two factories abroad, and has products sold in more than a dozen countries around the world.

Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

No Complaints November 23, 2008
A great 5 bike Hitch. I was a little nervous purchasing at first because of one reviewer saying the hitch sat too low on their car. Previousely we've been carrying our bicycles in a hitch mounted tray on our Honda Odyssey. Love my Odyssey but the only complaint on the car is it does sit too low, and the tray goes straight out from my hitch about 3' and it was allways bottoming out. I wanted to avoid this. The Allen rack only protrudes about 8" or so and is 8" above the ground. I had the rack since May and still have it on the car and it never bottomed out yet. Now the rack itself is very strong I have had 5 bicycles on it many times, 2 adults, two children 16"s and a childs with training wheels. It takes a little bit to get used to placing them on the rack, other than the mens bike none of them fit perfectly on the two support arms. But because it has two support arms it allows you to position them on the bicyles in different locations. For instance the smaller bicycles and the womens bike I actually put one arm behind the seats and on the fork to the rear tires. It holds all the bikes just fine. It is sturdy, little or no sway when traveling, the Hitch attaches with a bolt instead of a pin. Leave the bolt alone, don't make any modifications the bolt works just fine and hold the whole unit steady. Yeah if you wanted to remove it after each use it could be a bit of a pain. But we've left ours on since May, it flips down easily and back in place. We even ran it through carwashes with no problem. I plan on removing it in Winter and putting it back in the Spring. For the cost of the rack I'm not paranoid either that someone is going to steel it. I actually have no complaints only compliments on this rack, the cost makes it even that much better. If I paid more for another rack I don't know what would make it any better, the rack is great.

5 out of 5 stars

Great rack, Great price, No sway. September 26, 2008
This rack is great. Used it for a trip the day I received it. Only took 3 bikes with me but the rack never moved. It installs in no time and when loaded has no sway at all. It swings down nicely so I could lift the rear gate on the Envoy while the bikes were on the rack. Great product, no need to spend more money for the other two "name brands".

5 out of 5 stars

Great Rack! August 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

We just bought the rack for a trip up into the Colorado mountains. It performed admirably, holding two adult mountain bikes, a kid's bike, and a single-wheel "tag along" with no special modifications. Haven't loaded it up with five bikes yet, but we did not have any noticeable wobble with the load we did have. I particularly like the fold-down feature, which allows us to open the lift-back of our minivan without removing the rack.

4 out of 5 stars

Recommended July 20, 2008
I have a family of 5, and am lucky to get them all interested in a family bike ride but once a month. I don't need the top of the line, but I want decent quality. This bike rack fits the bill, perfectly. Very easy to mount onto the vehicle and to mount the bicycles onto the rack. All bikes stayed plenty stable. I recommend the cross-bar adapters as they certainly help mounting bikes without a level cross bar. Don't bother with the locking bolt, if a theif has his sites set on your bikes, s/he is going to get them.

4 out of 5 stars

Great for hauling the family's bikes July 3, 2008
I don't write many reviews but I was happy enough with this product to spend time giving my feedback.

The Good

* This rack easily accommodated 2 large adult bikes with *big* baby carriers, along with 2 smaller kids bikes (4 total). Because these are large and bulky I doubt we could get another full sized bike installed, but it easily handled our situation.
* I *love* the tilt feature which allows us to open the minivan hatch back without unloading everything on the rack. This is a must-have feature that is worth its weight in gold.
* It's well constructed so it should last many years. The steel is powder-coated so hopefully rust will not be an issue.
* Very easy to install
* It's not very expensive!

The Bad

* I doubt you can fit 5 unless they are all thin racing-style road bikes. But again, it fits 4 "family" bikes without a problem.

The Ugly

* The accessory strap buckle broke after one firm yank. This strap is not an integral part of the design so I simply used my own ratched-style strap in it's place. Not a big deal, but it's something to look out for.