Review on 63124 Eclipse Black 2 Inch Carrier by Alejandro Labustin

I purchased this item to replace a Yakima Bighorn 4 bike rack that was recently stolen from my XTerra. The stand itself came in a box that was a little wrinkled when unpacked. It was sent from a HUGE box but nothing was damaged or out of place upon inspection. Mind you, the parts are very well made and therefore heavy. All fasteners were included in the scope of delivery and were provided with screw lock if necessary. One tip; Due to the thread locking on these items, using the supplied hex key was difficult. I installed a hex tip on my ratchet and cut the assembly time in half. (Or more.) All of the screws and welds on this item appear to be very strong, and I didn't find anything that required further adjustment right out of the box. There are oversized cutouts in the steel between the brackets that allow you to run the safety wires through for added security. Also, don't rush to install bike mounts. I wasn't paying attention and adjusted two of these so that the straps open one way and the other two the other. You may not mind much, but I had to repeat this part of the process. (Perhaps a bit of OCD on my part.) Once assembled, the device gets a little heavy, but the average person should have no problem installing it in a vehicle. and allow you to mount different types of bikes together. But since they're relatively close together, you may have to "play" with the orientation of the bikes to accommodate the seats and handlebars. As long as you keep the balance in mind you shouldn't have any problems. Now I've only used this product once since I got it in the mail last Monday (SUPER FAST) but on my only 3 day trip since it arrived it has ridden two adult mountain bikes over 150 miles with no issues. On the track he was confident. Not the slightest bit of wobble on normal paved roads, and it stayed in place with little judder for about 2 miles on a sand and gravel road. If you notice movement, it's moving forward and backward rather than side to side. From my observation this is because the insert size in the hitch is about 1/8 inch. Because of this size difference, you may notice 1/2 inch of back and forth movement. Not even enough to feel the need to keep checking it with my rear view. With a threaded bolt holding it in place, I couldn't think of a more solid platform. Half way through my trip we met up with friends and took all 4 bikes to the Cape Cod bike trails at this stand about 25 miles from our location. With 4 adult mountain bikes on the rack I noticed a little more movement but still nothing significant and didn't hear any rattling or other noise. To be honest I was expecting to hear some kind of noise/clatter but I was pleasantly surprised. Now a word of caution; I would not recommend using the tilt feature of this rack with 4 bikes loaded. I can't imagine it was designed for this purpose. With a bike or two and the weight of the unit itself, it's difficult to get back in place. It is held in an upright position by a massive sliding bolt with safety wire and a twist lock. Pushing the pin through the hitch was tricky, but doable with just two loaded bikes and supporting the weight with one hand. However, I must point out that the tilt feature leaves more than enough room to access my Xterra's tailgate. All in all a fantastic purchase and I was so happy with the price. It held up with the Yakima and Thule racks I use and was almost 1/3 the price. I would definitely recommend this item to anyone and will probably buy another one for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law for Christmas. It's not enough to deduct a star. If there was an improvement, I would make it; I would ask the Pro series to add an actual brake light connector and brake light instead of a simple reflector. With 4 bikes loaded it's a bit difficult to see the bottom two brake lights. There's no harm in adding another security feature. Hope that helps!