Video Transcript for Fit Check Benton Shifts&Grins Bike Rack - 2018 Toyota Highlander

Hey, how's it going My name is Evan. Welcome to etrailer. So you've got a 2018 Toyota Highlander. Every time I see this car it looks like a van to me. So my guess is you've probably got a lot of people in the back of it, and if those people like to ride bikes, you're going to want a hitch-mounted bike carrier to go with it. That's where this I think is going to help you out.

This is the Benton Shifts&Grins. It's a two-bike carrier with the capacity to grow. I'm going to tell you about it. Now I don't know what type of bike you have, and I kind of don't need to, that's sort of the thing that makes this special. It's a very versatile bike rack, so a lot of the features here are going to make it so that no matter what bike you have, it'll fit.

The wheel bases are very wide, so if you've got very wide wheels, it will still fit, but you've also got kind of a little divot in the center for your road bikes, if you've got like very narrow tires. The main thing that is really nice about this is it is not a wheel-mount or a frame-mount, it's both. And all you gotta do is swap them. Got this little button right there, you press that, you take it off, you move, and then you put it back on. There you go.

Now it's a frame-mount. And it's just as easy to swap it back and forth. So no matter what your bike has in terms of, you know, fenders or if it's a carbon frame bike, this will be able to cover that bike for you, so long as it's under 55 pounds. That's the only sort of qualifier that we've got for that. So if you've got a very heavy electric e-bike, it may not be the one for you.

Now with that out of the way, we'll kind of look at how it works on the back here. You can see there's a lot of space. I'm going to shake this harder than it will ever be shaken on the back of your car just to show you it's not going to hit your back window. I am very, very confident about that, even if you've got some wire handlebars. The other main thing when it comes to looking how it interacts with your car is does it tilt away And I'm pleased to report that it does. You've got this button here that you press down in on, and then that activates the tilt function here. So just let your bike down. I'm gonna hit this button and I'm gonna walk away because I'm not worried about it at all in terms of clearing the bike. You got plenty of space then once this is open. To get in the back, grab your helmet, put some groceries in the back, sit down, relax after the trail, whatever you need to do, and then when you're ready to get back in, you just close it up and there you go. It's pretty easy to do, and the other nice thing that I like, and it's not always the case, but when I push back up on this, (rack clicks) you hear that That was a click that tells me that it's locked in place and I don't have to worry about it coming back undone. So now we'll go ahead and take the bike off just to show you how easy it is to do. So you've got two wheel straps on the front and the back. Pretty easy, just press the little tab there and kind of swing it under. These are mainly auxiliary support, but they are helpful to have, and you want to make sure that when you're loading it up, you put them on tight. Again, the main support structure is this beam right here. Press that up and push it down. Now, I'll go over measurements here in just a second, but keep in mind the Highlander's going to keep this up pretty high, so if you've got a 55-pound bike, this is a pretty hefty motion to lift up and pull. This being just a regular old mountain bike, I'm not too worried about it, but again, just keep that in mind when you're looking at your options. So once you've got that off, I like to use this strap to hold this down while you're driving, just to kind of keep rattling down. Like I said, there's a lot of space in between the Highlander and that first tray, but it does sit out pretty far. You're going to be looking at from the bumper to the furthest point, about 33 inches. Now if you're worried about the 33 inches that I brought up earlier, in terms of like backing into a parking spot or whatever, I have another solution for you. That button we pressed earlier to get the tilt away also has a fold-up function here, and that saves you not an insignificant amount of space. That puts it at about 20 inches, which is a foot off of what it was when it was down. So you still have to worry, you kind of keep it in your mind when you're backing up, you don't want to, you know, have an accident, but it makes it a lot easier to navigate, and I have another magic trick for you. Now I'm not going to look at it, 'cause it does freak me out a little bit, 'cause it's very, very close, but you just saw it. It does clear when it's in this stow position, which is pretty cool. Not a lot of folding bike racks do that, actually. But on your Highlander, that'll be a pretty cool feature. Now like I said earlier, this is a pretty big car. I always think it looks like a van, so if you've got a lot of people who like to bike in your family or immediate friend group, the two-bike is nice. There is an extension you can buy that turns us into a four-bike carrier, and it works very, it's very simple to get on. That's my main gripe with four-bike carriers, is a lot of times you have to make a really big install change. With this one, it's pretty easy. You just slide it on the end of there and it has the button at the end of the four-bike and it works just the same way. Me, personally, I am the only person in my immediate circle that bikes, so the weight is pretty hard for me to overcome when there is a product like the Benton LittleShift out there that suits my needs a lot better. If you have a Highlander, but you are the only person in your family that bikes, I'd tell you to check out the LittleShift. But that's about all I have to tell you about this. I hope this was helpful. If you do have any other questions or anything like that, just give us a call, we're happy to help you out. And again, my name's Evan, and thank you for stopping by.