Review on Bell Right 3 Bicycle Platform Hitch by Javarie Brumfield

Pros: Very strong, same steel as luggage racks twice the price. Easy to assemble for those of us who are mechanically inclined and don't need instructions. Rotates 45 degrees away from the car for easier loading or access to the trunk or, for me, the rear window of the RV body. Cons: Poorly written and photographed instructions. There is no detailed diagram. The exploded view is usually all I need to put something together. These assembly instructions contain a number of close-up photos that never give a clear picture of the assembled product. The vertical part is on the pivot pin and also on the part that allows it to pivot away from the car. I'm not sure why the vertical part is rotated. It can only turn left or right when there are no bikes on the rack, so what does it matter? There is a retaining wire on the detachable pin for the vertical part, but there is no place to attach the retaining wire. The instructions say nothing about this wire, and nowhere is it shown to be repaired. The company sent two small mounting screws, large flat washers, and small star washers, but these screws were not drilled or tapped to attach the tether wire. I had to drill and tap the bottom of the main horizontal rod to secure the pin for the vertical part's useless pivot pin. I don't know how to compare this to any other product as this is my first bike rack but there is some play which allows the bike rack to move both left and right and back and forth. Bikes don't go anywhere. My version appears to have an improved strap system that secures it quickly and easily. The 4 platforms that hold the hoops/wheels are labeled L and R assuming they are left and right. In order for them to work as shown in the instructions, I had to place one set of platforms left and right as directed, and the other set had to be backwards, with an L on the right and an R on the left. So a quality control issue with mislabeled parts which is why I'm wasting my time. Grrr. My main complaint isn't the quality, it's the poor assembly instructions. They want you to install the app for detailed instructions, which is what I did, only to find out that the app offers hundreds of products, not just this one. So I lost about 10 minutes and gave up. If the manufacturer reads this, please hire me to write a decent user manual.