Yakima FlipSide 4 Hitch Bike Rack Review

Review of a Yakima FlipSide 4 Hitch Bike Rack

Today we are going to show you part number Y02426 from Yakima. This is their FlipSide Bicycle Carrier. And this bicycle carrier does fit 2-inch and 1-1/4 inch receiver hitches and holds up to four bicycles. One of the main features of the bicycle rack is this anti-rattle hitch bolt. The next feature would be the flip feature: instead of tilting down out of the way, this bicycle rack will actually flip over to the side instead. The next feature would be the hitch security lock, which is integrated into the body of the bicycle rack. The next feature is the arms themselves. They actually have a fold-down feature that allows you to store the bicycle rack. And also, the cradles themselves, they do come standard with the anti-sway cradles. And also, they can be moved up and down with the arms of the hitch, as necessary. Next, we will show you how this bicycle rack can be converted to work on a 1-1/4 inch receiver hitch and a 2-inch receiver hitch.

As shown right now, it is actually set up for a 2-inch receiver hitch. To convert it over, all we need to do is undo this bolt right here. Take out your bolt, take off the bushing, and now it is ready for a 1-1/4 inch receiver hitch. But in this demonstration, we are actually going to use it in a 2-inch configuration. All right, and the bicycle rack does come with a couple of tools to ease the assembly. This is a wrench here, that you can use to go ahead and help put the bicycle rack together there are only a few bolts and that is it the Allen key wrench, for when you convert it over from 1-1/4 inch to 2-inch and the anti-rattle hitch bolt itself. Let us go ahead and install this bicycle rack on our 2-inch receiver hitch. It is pretty simple.

Just go ahead and slide it into the hitch and just line up the hitch pin holes. Once you have that accomplished, you can go ahead and install your anti-rattle hitch bolt just thread it in. Depending on the shape of your hitch, you may be able to use this tool or you may not. If you cannot use that, you can just go ahead and just use a regular 7/8-inch wrench. All right, and then for extra safety, go ahead and add the safety pin clip on the other side. The next feature we will show you is the reason why Yakima calls this the FlipSide. You pull this lever out and you can go to the left or the right and still have easy access to the back of your vehicle.

The next feature will be the arms folding on this bicycle rack. We have them in their down position for storage or for flipping it to the side. To unfold it, you pull this button back toward you and then just pull them up. And it locks into place. Next, we will show you the cradles. Naturally, the whole arm themselves is one big, giant cradle. The bikes will sit on top of the arms, like so. They each have their own divots for the bike frames to sit into. They also come with the tie-downs and anti-sway cradles. Next, we will show you the adjustment of the strap and anti-sway cradle. Basically, when the arm is in the up position, you can move this up and down the cradle, as needed. When you find the spot you are going to use, pull the anti-sway cradle down, and it actually pushes the button which actually locks the rest of the cradle onto the arm itself.

All right, next we will go ahead and install the bike on the rack and show you how it works. Put your bike into position and pull your anti-sway cradle down. Next, we will go ahead and use the cable lock that will lock the bike onto the rack so it will not go anywhere when it is unattended. Just lay it over the top of the bikes, and it goes onto this pin right here. This locks into place. Now, this pin is also interchangeable on each side of the rack, also. And then our final feature, and probably the best feature about this bicycle rack, is the dual, in-line bottle openers. You have one on each side of the rack. And that covers it for our part number Y02426, the Yakima FlipSide.