Sparkrite 4 Bike Tilting Tow Bar Carrier

I spent a long time reading reviews of the bike racks and decided to get this one as it had good reviews and the price appeared to be good.I am really pleased with is it is very easy to build and the quality is OK. I have used it a couple of time with 4 bikes fitted to the back of my Smax.Good bits you can lower it down to the ground to open the boot with the bikes in place. Note that it is not got a pneumatic strut so you do need to be able to lift and lower the weight of 4 bikes. Not one for the weak but I find it fine.It is good to be able to fix to the car without any tools just a long lever. This can also be locked.The not so good bits. The wheel supports can only be moved by use of a screw driver so once set up for a big / small bike that is all that can go on unless you have a screw driver. would be better if they had quick release.Additionally it is virtually impossible to use the 4 struts that are supposed to hold onto the bike frames. I have 4 mountain bikes of different sizes with oversized frames at all sorts of angles. I find that is you put the first 2 largest bikes closed to the middle vertical support then if lucky you can get the onto some part of the outer bikes frame. Not always the cross bar but something. my daughters 12" wheel bike is always just help on wit a couple of bungee cords. No matter how hard I have tried to fix it on I just cannot get the strut to come near to the frame.Also the sticky pads for the number plates don't work well. luckily my number plate fell off on the drive rather than the road so I didn't loose it. A couple of bolts and a drill have sorted it out a treat.Only improvement that I would look for is that it can be folded up on the back of the car when the bikes are not on so the car will fit in parking spaces a bit better.

Relatively quick and easy assembly. Instructions not entirely clear at times but the pictures help. The lighting board is secured to the carrier with "L" shaped brackets but really these needs to be "C" shaped to ensure that the lighting board doesn't angle in when the carrier is tilted.Takes a bit of fiddling to get the locking mechanism sitting and locking just right - need to have strong force to lock the mechanism down. Very slight bit of play side to side but once the weight of loaded bikes is on that virtually disappears.Carries our 4 bikes with no issues - take the opportunity to test place them on the carrier before your journey. It took me a good 30-40mins to get the ideal arrangement in terms of pedals, handlebars etc. This was with 2x adult bikes and 2x kids bikes.Be careful with the tilt function - 4 bikes plus the carrier is a heavy weight to drop down and the entire load is placed on the lighting board (see comment above). This isn't spring damped so the weight just drops.On the whole though, a great piece of kit and does the job perfectly, albeit with a few minor compromises.

Brilliant bike rack, really easy to build and once set up really easy to put on and off the tow bar. Really compatible to more expensive brands - definitely recommended.Customer service was great too. When delivered there was a plastic bolt cover broken- I called up and there was a replacement in the post the same day. While this didn't effect the use it just showed how impressive their customer service is.

We have taken this on several trips already with 4 bikes and seems to do the job well. Would recommend it over the more expensive brands.

Works well on the car with a couple of bikes on it very happy

Excellent item looks great quality and fairly easy to assemble although the instructions diagrams are very small print and not very clear. Good value for money.

Great

Lightweight and easy to fit, negative: lock on individual bike not great but better than nothing.