Allen Deluxe Locking 2-Bike Carrier 820QR

I lost the key to this so it was stuck on my car. I reached out to their customer service and within 24 hours they had helped me resolve the issue! It was very easy to put together and somewhat easy to take on and off my car. This was my second try as the first bike rack I’d purchased had the wrong size hitch hookup, so pay attention to that! I spent more this time around and it was definitely worth it, this one was great quality for the price.

Received this for use on a Focus Sedan and I’ll have to say it works great. I purchased the Deluxe+ Locking model. Has all the main features I’m looking for. Here’s what I like:

1) The unit is very easy to put together. Essentially you’ll have to install 3 bolts. Pay attention though because 1 is longer than the other 2. Metric wrenches are required.
2) The unit will install in either 1 1/4″ or 2″ receiver. It does this by coming with a 1 1/4″ to 2″ adapter installed. If you use a 1 1/4″ receiver you will have to remove the 2″ adapter which requires a metric Allen wrench. My receiver is 1 1/4″.
3) Installed in a 1 1/4″ receiver this is pretty much rock solid. You have to insert the rack into your receiver until a button ‘clicks’ into the hole in your receiver. At this point it’s not completely secured. You then have to turn a knob at the end of the unit (which is the triangular looking part in the photo) which will engage a wedge that fully secures the unit in your receiver. At this point it should feel very rigid in the receiver – if not (at least with a 1 1/4″ receiver) you’ve got some kind of a problem.
4) Once in your receiver the triangular knob has a key lock that allows you to disengage it. So if someone tries to unscrew it to steal your rack it will simply spin without doing anything. Works great. Just be sure to put the key on your car key ring so if you’re on a trip and have to remove it you’ll be able to. This comes with 2 keys.
5) The tilt feature is kind of nice. It allows you to tilt the upper part of the unit away from your vehicle 20-30 degrees by pulling up on the red handle that’s about 1/3 up from the bottom in the photo. This should allow most trunks or SUV doors to be opened. It’s spring loaded so I don’t see a bump or something accidentally engaging it in normal use. To re-right the unit just push it back and it will automatically lock in the upright position.
6) A word of advice when it’s time to unplug this from your receiver. Remember that triangular knob you used to secure it? Well you’re going to have to unscrew it to release the unit. Remember that little button I mentioned that ‘clicks’? Well you’re going to have to press it in to release the unit. There’s a little trick though. You want to unscrew the the knob just to the point it releases the wedge and no more. Then press the button and pull the unit out. If you ‘over’ un-screw the knob pressing the button and pulling won’t work because the button will push the opposite side and wedge the darn thing in your receiver. Pull to your heart’s delight and it ain’t movin’. Just remember not to ‘over’ unscrew it and you’ll be fine.

I think this is a quality unit overall. However I am deducting 1 star because it doesn’t come with straps or padding you’ll need when transporting your bikes. What is it you’ll need you ask?

1) You will need straps to secure the front wheel in place so it doesn’t bang around (unless of course you don’t care in which case don’t worry about it).
2) You will need straps to secure the frame of the bike to the rack so the bike doesn’t rock back and forth as well (same deal – don’t care then don’t worry about it).
3) You will need padding to put between the 1st bike & rack and if carrying a 2nd bike between the 2 bikes. Without padding there is nothing to prevent any bike from hitting/rubbing against things. I’m going to use polyethylene (closed cell so it shouldn’t get saturated w/water – think like a pool noodle) instead of polyurethane (open cell so it’s like a sponge) foam blocks.

If this had come w/straps & padding it would have been a solid 5 stars. Yes, I believe most people would want these.

I’ve had my bicycle for years and haven’t ridden it much since it’s not that much fun to ride in the neighborhood. I was considering selling it, but thought if I got a rack I could ride it in some local paved nature trails and combine birding with it. I purchased the Allen bike rack and am so happy I did.

My car is a 2017 Ford Escape Titanium with a two-inch hitch receiver. The rack wasn’t difficult to assemble, and I had no problem inserting it into the hitch mount. It took me rereading the instructions to fully understand how the locking mechanism worked, plus a short video by Allen helped a lot (I was leaving the key in after turning it then turning the handle, but the key should come out after you turn the key clockwise or counterclockwise).

I’m a 70-year-old female without a lot of upper body strength and I worried at first that I’d have to return the rack because I couldn’t lift the bike high enough. But using the tilt feature while still supporting the weight of the bike as much as possible to load and unload the bike worked out fine, and soon I was on my way to one of the parks. I went to local parks the next two days as well, and tonight I removed the rack from the car. It unlocked with no problem and I used the eraser end of a pencil to push in on the button in order to slide the rack out.

The rack held the bike securely with no wobble (I also used some bungee cords) at 55 mph. Also, since I have a “female” bike, I purchased the Allen 900B crossbar adaptor to make mounting the bike easier. I highly recommend this rack. The only negative is Amazon itself for raising the price of the crossbar between the time I saw it and the time I ordered it, and yet now it is listed at half the price I paid for it. That makes for an angry customer.