Allen Sports Deluxe 2-Bike Hitch Mount Carrier

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Allen Sports Deluxe 2-Bike Hitch Mount Carrier
Price: $49.99
Shipping Options:: $5 Standard OR $18 Two-Day OR $21 One-Day
Shipping Estimates: Ships in 1-2 business days (Tuesday, Aug 05 to Wednesday, Aug 06) + transit
Condition: New

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Time to check out the product page and pretty good reviews (4.3 out of 5.0) over at walmart.com

I bought this some time ago (don’t even remember where) and tried to use it yesterday to bring a bike home for my kid from college.

J-U-N-K!!!

Notice the receiver end? It is small square tubing with a plastic/rubber block clamped over it to enlarge it to fit a hitch. This creates a very loose fit and the rack will swing a good 18 inches left and right. So floppy in the hitch. No-wobble bolt? My A$$!

The bike clamps are a complete joke.

I ended up putting the bike inside my SUV which is not where I wanted a dirty bike riding on leather and carpet. If I had a cargo van or a truck, well I guess I wouldn’t have bought one to begin with.

I have the 4-bike version of this and have been very happy with it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PLG7UK

It appears that the hold-down straps are the same and the hitch-mount is similar.

To mount mine to the receiver, it has a shoulder bolt that you have to put in every time. That is a bit of a hassle but is more secure than just a hitch pin. The bigger model is only designed for a 2" receiver. Based on other reviews here, it sound like the 1.25" / 2" adapter may be where this one isn’t up to snuff.

The bike straps are plenty secure and I have not had any issues with them coming loose.

I’ve never use a bike carrier before. Can you use this to carry a ‘women’s’ style bike?

You need to get a cross bar. This clamps between the handle bar stem and the seat stem to give you a flat bar for mounting to the bike rack.

You will need a cross attachment bar that will extend from the steering (head race) to the seat post. This will mimic a “men’s” style bike. With this type of attachment, you will be able to hang your bike on the rack and secure it like as if it were a men’s style bike.
As for this bike carrier, I don’t have an opinion on it.

Not bad for the price. But if you’re annoyed by car noise, like me, this thing will drive you nuts. It rattles and shakes like crazy. I have the four-bike model, but it’s pretty much identical.

We take it off when we’re not using it because the noise is too much for me. But for the price and ease of use, I’m quite happy with my purchase.

I own and previously used the 4-bike version. I guess it’s an okay rack and serves its purpose to carry bikes (I liked it before I got a better rack), but there are far better racks out there, including the Yakima double-down racks occasionally sold here on woot! This Allen racks wobbles a bit and makes some noise, and the linch-pin mechanism holding the vertical post in place is not well designed and not entirely user-friendly. The Yakima racks have a far better and easier system, and it is now much easier to get things into and out of the back of our SUV, which was a pain with the Allen rack. Because of it’s ease, I leave the Yakima on the car, while I often removed the Allen rack (which, also, is more difficult to do than the Yakima rack). I am very glad to have switched out my Allen rack for the Yakima rack, which I use several times a week.

Yes you can…as others have posted you can use a cross-bar attachment on the bike…or you can finagle the mounts into various other parts of the bike. For my wife’s bike, we started with the cross bar attachment but never really liked it. I now just put the mount through the back of the frame behind the seat post above the back tire. The front mount just goes through to the upper tube. It mounts perfectly and doesn’t sway.

We have had the 3-bike version of this rack for several years now and absolutely love it…for the price. There are much better/nicer racks out there, but they cost quite a bit more.

Rattles

  • wrap tape around the mount before inserting into the receiver
  • Use a bungie cord across the bike mount tubes when folded down to keep pressure on it

Bike Mounts/Straps

  • not sure why someone said they are junk? they hold our bikes just fine
  • use a long piece of velcro to hold front tire in alignment with frame

This does fit the 1.25" and 2" receivers. We use it on a 1.25" so I can’t comment much about the adapter plates for 2".

The ability for it to fold down is nice so we leave it on our car through spring, summer, and fall. Do NOT leave it on your car through winter if you live in the salt belt. We made that mistake this past winter since we needed to take one of the bikes to the shop. It was on the car for 1 week which happened to snow and several parts have started to corroded. Remember this is a 5 year old rack already and it has been exposed to rain and sunshine with no issues.

Should be great for blocking your license plate from red light and speed cameras.
Blocking one letter is enough.

Perhaps something has changed in this or the three bike version of this i bought 2 weeks ago is different but on mine the adapter for 2" hitches is metal and i get almost no sway at all.

Again i have the 3 bike version and its been fantastic so take that FWIW. Not to mention i paid just a couple bucks more for the 3 bike one on an amazon daily deal.

Would just like to point out that you can literally buy 3 of these and have some cash leftover for the price of your one yakima double down.

Its a great hitch rack but comparing it to this one thats about 1/4 of the price makes no sense at all. Of course spending 4x more money should net you a better product.