Apex BC-08581-2A-2EXT Bike Adjustable Wheel-Mount Bicycle Rack

This is one of my rare 5-star ratings. I had done some extensive research on 4-bike racks before I decided on this. I'm glad for it. I have taken the family out with this numerous times, including a 4-hr trip. Never a problem. It's very sturdy and holds the bikes very well. Setup is easy, although it's pretty heavy -- which is a plus IMO. I got a trailer hitch just for this, with the combined price still less than many other racks. Highly recommended. A few points: 1. If you don't have one already, an anti-rattle lock hitch pin is recommended. Keeping the anti-rattle insert aligned in the hitch could be tricky. I use packing tape to keep it in place. 2. When setting it up, put the bikes in the right order -- heaviest closest to the car, alternating front orientation, outside peddle down. Adjust the tire rails accordingly -- pull out the rails, put on the bike and level it (not with front or back tire too low), then push the rails in. Later on you want to load the bikes the same way. 3. The screw for securing the 4-bike extension goes in one way. I've been driving with it going in the wrong way for many trips. This makes the extension slightly loose. And yes, you can open the trunk with it installed -- just remove one pin and tilt it. You can open the rear glass window without touching anything. I don't see how any of the more expensive models could be better in any way.

We used it this weekend for the first time with all 4 bikes on it. This is a very sturdy rack. It was easy to assemble, and the fact that it swings up out of the way when not is use is very convenient in tight parking lots. No worry that someone will run into it while your on the trail. The tilt down feature is good for the 2 bike rack, but if you let it down with 4 bikes on it would be impossible to lift all 4 back up. I couldn't figure out how to get the wheel straps on, but they really aren't needed. The adjustable wheel rails keep the tires snug. It takes a while to figure out how to use the top stabilizer bars according to the model of bikes your carrying, but once we got the hang of it we could get them on pretty quickly. Other 4 bike racks will only accomodate skinny road bikes, but this one fit our 4 adult hybrids with no problem. Everyone agreed it was a super bike rack. Great design! Well worth the price!

After much research we purchased this bike rack. The positive is that the bikes are very secure in the rack regardless of what type of bike it is. The negative is that it fits very loosely in the hitch and there is much more movement of the rack than we anticipated. Seems like there should be a way to make it more stable.

This definitely does the job and does it well. I put 2 adult bikes, 1 20" bike, and one 16" bike with training wheels on this with no problems. It doesn't matter that the crossbars aren't perfectly horizontal or that they are all different sizes. It assembles quite easily but does take some time to fiddle with the top bars and which order to put the bikes on the rack. But once you've figured out the best way, they can be easily put on and taken off. If the rack is empty, the flat bed part can be folded up against the vertical part so nothing is sticking out while parked. It still sticks out a bit but I can still park my Jeep in my garage with it on. It can also be tilted down away from your vehicle. I can't open the back of my Jeep unless I tilt it down. I took away one star because I think it should have been made of a lighter metal, this thing is super heavy. I can lift it but barely, it is a huge effort to get it high enough to hang on my wall hook-(granted, I am pretty weak) I think they easily could have made it out of aluminum. If it weighed less, I would probably take it on and off more. As it is, I just kept it on all summer.

The rack is okay but I don't love needing to use two ratchets every time I want to put it on and take it off. I'm giving one star because we didn't tighten one of the wheel holders enough and it fell out and is gone forever, and discountramps (what seems to be the new owner of Rage PowerSports) has not been helpful.

Excellent bike rack! I researched a number of bike racks before settling on this one. It's heavy but it seems to be very well built and sturdy. It easily fits our 4 bikes and we have used it several times with no issues whatsoever. I have only 2 minor gripes about this rack: one is with the bike clamps that attach to the to the bike frames. The rubber surrounding the clamp pinchers needs some lubrication in the inside of the clamps during installation otherwise you'll do like I did a few times and unscrew the plastic knob too far out and it will fall out on the ground....clamp, spring, plastic washer and all. Using lubrication (such as petroleum jelly, dishwashing soap, lotion, etc.) on the clamp teeth and applying pressure to the back of the clamp will help you to "gauge" when the clamp is ready as it will slide on the bike frame when a sufficient enough gap is reached, then you can tighten it. Removal of the clamp is the reverse of this process and lubrication helps with this as well. The other minor gripe I have is with the Velcro straps. The straps are nice but the inherent nature of Velcro doesn't last very long and repetitive removal of the bikes from the racks and exposure to the elements will most certainly wear them out over time. Some small luggage straps would be better. All gripes aside this is a very good rack and highly recommended!

Loved that there are adjustable wheel base widths for different length bikes. I also love the top bars that hold each bike in place separately. The tilt option still makes me a little nervous when the bikes are in there though because of the weight of the rack and bikes, but it does tilt down far enough to open the back hatch if our Honda Pilot. That was information I was trying to find before my purchase, but never found. I thought I would add it in case someone else had the same car and wanted to know. If I had to make one modification, it would be that the nobs were metal and not plastic. The rest of the rack is metal and very heavy and sturdy. The nobs will most likely wear over time, but we’ll deal with that when it comes. Great product overall.

I still have regular bike rack, where you need to hang bikes. Regular rack is OK, but it is real pain to mount bikes with frame which is not exactly parallel to ground. It is really difficult to fit bike on this rack and wheel really dangerous to surface of road. Also bikes constantly hit each other and bikes have multiple scratches. So I decided to go with completely different Rack. This one is little bit too heavy. It is not obvious how set up upper handles with multiple bikes, but after some experiments I got to use it. What is brilliant about this system, that it is easy to mount bike. Bikes did not stay close to ground, bikes doesn't hit each other. And specially for this system, I like that it consist of two parts. So when I need more than 2 bikes, I just quickly attach extension, which is not required in regular usage. Great Rack, highly recommend. Maybe something is better around, but I personally really satisfied.