ALLEN Deluxe 3-Bike Trunk Mount Rack, Blk/ Silver

Easy to set up and holds my bike securely on the back of my car. The tie down cradles rotate to fit my slanted-frame without needing a separate crossbar adapter.Stays stable while driving, and the straps feel strong and reliable. Solid buy. Highly recommend!

Packing well looks great

Originally bought around January of 09. Read through to get the whole story.I purchased this to be able to combine car (97 Saturn SL1) and bike commuting. So far, so good. 4 days/week, I drive near work, then bike into (and around) my workplace. My commute is about 20 minutes, with about 10 minutes of freeway driving.In the few months I have used this, I have had no major issues. The bike does not move much, except the front wheel. I have not found a good way of securing this. Currently, I use my U-lock to lock the wheel and bike frame to the rack frame. This keeps the tire from hitting the car, but there is some motion. I've used bungee cords, which kept the wheel very stable, but the bungees were slowly getting shredded. Otherwise very little motion. So little that it has twice stayed in place when I forgot to strap it down (including once where I drove for 2 - 3 miles on the freeway)!The straps can be done/undone fairly quickly. It takes me about 1 minute to mount/dismount the bike. A clasp, or something similar, might be quicker, but these do work fine.It takes a little bit to mount/dismount the rack, but really, not all that long (I've only done it once ... it's fairly intuitive). The short straps for clamping bikes do flap in the wind, and that is occasionally a little distracting when I look in the rear-view mirror, but overall I do not find the rack or rack with bike to be much of a visual issue.Have not used it on a long trek yet, or with multiple bikes (I will try to remember to update when I do).I did notice that it seemed to leave a mark on top of my trunk where the foam pad rests. I did not try to remove it, so it could be a non-permanent mark.UPDATE 4/28/09: Definitely leaving a mark from the middle of the bar on the trunk. Would encourage folks to add some protection in that location.I still mostly use this for short trips. Did two slightly longer trips (~100 miles each way) without removing the bike in between, and it needed no tightening. This was also through the giant wind tunnel that is the San Gorgonio Mountain Pass in Southern California near Palm Springs ... and the wind was RAGING on the way back.UPDATE 9/7/09: Mark on the car: it is due to the trunk curving, but the bike-rack bar being straight and with padding only at the ends. I would strongly encourage adding padding in the middle.Used it for a camping trip with two full-sized bicycles and one child bicycle. Worked fairly well, although I did get some slippage, and the bikes were definitely bouncing (even on the way back, when I was more careful about tightening straps).UPDATE 6/10/10: My bike rack broke today. One of the straps connected to the trunk just broke, about two inches from the hook. A couple of things to note with this ... I have been using this rack for a year and a half, and about 99% of the time it is outside on my car in a desert-like environment (lots of heat and sun, a little bit of water). Today, I arrived at work and one of the straps had broken. The good news: the bike did not fall off. The one side that broke had slipped to the back of the trunk, but it all stayed on. Also, there is enough strap that I can just tie the strap to the hook, and that held for the drive home, even under 70 MPH strain.Also, all of the rubber elements on the rack look like crap now. They have sort of "bubbled" in the sun. It doesn't have a lot, so not a big deal. This happened probably in about the first 6 months or so.FINAL UPDATE 8/18/10: Well, within another month of the first strap breaking, two more did. Honestly, all of the straps were seeming a little brittle. Probably,this was caused by continued exposure to the elements. So, if this is a bike rack you plan to leave on your car, 1.5 years might be it's effective life use. I had thought about contacting Allen to see if I could get new straps under their warranty, but the day after the third strap broke i found a nive replacement rack for $5 at a garage sale.OKAY - ONE MORE UPDATE 10/3/11: In looking at teh picture, it appears the design may have changed. My rack had a straight bar across the trunk, and this one appears to be curved. I did not have issues with the small metal rods coming out, but given some of the recent reviews, it's certainly something I'd look into if I was purchasing this.

very well built to last ,,,ease use

Great sturdy bike rack. Solid construction and tested out well. No complaints.

This is a review for a 3 bikes version.The assembly is easy, it was a bit unclear how to tie the top strap, since it was initially tied to the center of the rack and it was difficult to understand which one is the “top” strap. Other than that it works well on gen 3 Prius.The only thing is that the lower bracket rests on the license plate, which I think is fine. And another issue (with Prius) is that it doesn’t have anything metal underneath the rear bumper so I attached the anchors to the bottom of the hatch. But it’s fine for me. My car, so as most of gen 3 Priuses are so old right now, I don’t care if it gets scratched at all.The biggest problem is that the 3 bikes version can fit only 2.5 bikes, i.e. two adult bikes and one kids bike. The bike brackets are spaced too close to each other so I couldn’t fit two adult bikes next to each other. Instead, I put kid’s bike in between.The best part is that the trunk opens and closes without an issue!Overall I give this rack 3 stars because in my case there is no way you can fit 3 bikes on it.

Before I get into the model specifics here's some of my general insight.1. Seems to be a high-quality product. Well constructed and sturdy. The two top brackets that attaches to the car are NOT coated with anything other than paint. I think I'm going to have to come up with something to help protect my car's paint where it attached to the area just above my back window. Maybe some tape or some of the rubberized spray you can find at local hardware stores.2. The only area that come in to contact WITH THE BIKE ITSELF are the two rubber brackets that the top bar of the frame sit on. I'm not sure if that rubber will FULLY protect the bike below the bar. It's not very soft and I think I'm going to have to wrap by crossmember with something to protect the finish on my bike. The brackets that tighten around and hold the bike to the carrier is nothing more that a manual pull strap. While it seems to hold the bike well I don't really care for the strap mechanism and is another reason I need to come up with a wrap for my frame. It's made of plastic and although it's not metal, it looks like it could do some damage to the frame if going on a longer trip.3. The metal bars that comprise most of this unit seem to be more that strong enough to handle the weight of two bikes.4. It holds the bike securely and is pretty quick to attach to the vehicle.Now the vehicle specifics. I read different reviews and couldn't determine if this rack would work with my Prius. The Mfg. web site said the only one that would fit was the 3 bike model. (another $40+ dollars) Others, who have tried to use this claimed success. Well, I claim success as well with an asterisk. Why?? The bottom bracket that rests on the back of the car is adjustable up and down. When I tried full extension down part of the metal bar came way to close to the painted plastic/fiberglass area just above the license plate. I adjusted the bar above that area but, like others mentioned, it rides on the Prius decal....but just a little bit. I don't think this is a deal breaker and this part of the car won't be damaged. For one...It's one of the anchor points that has a very soft and pliable foam covering. And, it only touches the outer edges of the decal.For the initial install I attached the bottom strap to the bottom of the car even though there is no metal down there to attach it to. (a bit flimsy) I plan on using one of the alternate methods described in the instructions that utilizes the bottom of the hatchback instead of the underside of the car. This change should also allow me to open by hatchback without taking the rack off of my car. I think. ;-) (I hope)I have a few trips planned and I'll post an update down the road and adjust my rating if need be. I think this is a very solid rack and it will provide years of reliable service. Cheers.

Excelente