cranky old dude

During the winter I purchased a Hollywood Sport Rider Recumbent Rack, Model HR1000R. This is a hitch mount rack for transporting up to two recumbent bikes or one recumbent trike with a rack accessory.

The rack arrived in excellent condition and went together effortlessly. I like that it weighs less than 35 pounds for two reasons. First it is easy for me to mount and dismount the rack from my vehicles, and second it is less weight at the extreme rear of our Toyota Camry or what ever car we own next.

I've transported my Tour Easy on four 15 mile cross town trips on the rack and it performed flawlessly. Other than a gentle sway I saw no movement at all. I currently have the rack configured for Class III receivers (2 inch) but I'll also be using it on our Camry with a Class II receiver (1 1/4 inch).

Here's a picture of my Tour Easy on the back of our S-10 Chevy Truck. You can't tell from this picture but the bike only protrudes 4 inches beyond the standard equipment sidedoor mirrors.




The side mount bolt system works very well at keeping the rack securely in place. The wheel trays adjust easily so I can transport anything from a childs bike to my long wheel base recumbents with ease. The provided velcro wheel straps and the top tube hooks secure the bikes to the rack very nicely. I have taken the liberty to add a couple of extra safeguards to the rack to help assure my worrysome old self that absolutely nothing can possibly go wrong.


I use this teflon coated chain as a deterent against both theft and catastrophic rack failure. If all else fails, the bike will not become a road hazard.




I use bungie cords to help keep the hook from working loose....




I also use an extra velcro strap on each wheel (orange).




I have read that on long road trips the hooks do tend to work up away from the top tube so I have devised a "Home Remedy" to nip that in the bud. I would only bother with this step on long trips, not just going accross town. I cut a couple of lengths of garden hose, slit them open, and hose clamped them in place as an additional stop.




I imagine that the bungie cords and the additional velcro strap is just normal safeguarding though the rack has not acted in such a way as to indicate that I really need those extra precautions. The hose clamp is probably way overboard but why take chances?

I expect to get years of service from this rack, and with all of my paranoid extra securing bits and pieces I expect it to be trouble free.

Dudelsack 

Cool pics, but someone's been smearing silly putty on your license plate.

Notso_fastLane

Do they make roof racks? I'm thinking a standard wheel lock type rack should work with my roof rack, but I haven't really started looking at a rack yet.