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Every ride starts with the puzzle phase of fitting bikes on the rack. Most racks force a specific order, especially with non-standard bike frames, but the Shifts&Grins adjusts to your setup so you spend less time swapping spots and more time riding.
No more swapping bikes around to make them fit. The Shifts&Grins adapts to any setup, so you don't have to force a perfect order. The ratcheting hooks adjust to grab your bikes by the wheel or frame, while the sliding wheel cradles move independently to match any combination of sizes and styles. Just set, secure, and go.
Reaching your gear shouldn't mean unloading your bikes or wrestling with a clunky mechanism. With the push-button tilt, just tap it with your leg and keep both hands on the rack as it smoothly lowers out of the way. No awkward balancing, no hassle - just quick, easy access to your trunk so you can grab what you need and get back on the road.
Bumpy roads, tight turns, high speeds all test how well a rack holds its ground. The no-wobble design works with the anti-rattle hitch pin to help reduce movement while you drive. The pin pulls the rack snug into the receiver and uses a threaded design that can be tightened by hand or with a wrench. This takes a little more time during setup, but it pays off with a steadier, more controlled ride once you're on the road.
Installing a bike rack can be a pain, especially since higher-quality racks tend to carry a bit more weight. Balancing that while lining up the hitch isn't exactly fun. The hitch alignment collar on the Shifts&Grins guides the shank into place, so you can secure the rack easily and get on with your ride.
When the ride's over, the Shifts&Grins practically disappears. The shank folds up flat against the rack, allowing it to stand upright on its own - no extra stands, no awkward angles, just a rack that knows when to step aside. That means no more tripping over a bulky rack in your garage or wrestling to find space for it.
Sometimes you're bringing friends along or gearing up for a family ride, and room for two just isn't enough. Adding more bikes shouldn't turn into an all-day project. The 2-bike add-on (B34FR - sold separately) slides into place and tightens down with a hand knob, so expanding your setup stays quick and tool-free. Adjust your setup in seconds and head out.
No matter how many bikes you bring, a keyed-alike lock set (e88RV - sold separately) adds a layer of security for both your rack and your bikes. The D-shaped hitch lock replaces your standard pin while helping reduce movement in the connection, and the 10-foot cable threads through your bikes to help deter theft without complicating your setup.
Customer Satisfaction Score:
90% were satisfied with this product
10% of customers were not satisfied
Ratings & Reviews
I had no idea how to proceed getting a bicycle hitch and rack. The folks at Etrailer were very responsive, gave me links to the exact products that would fit my vehicle and were patient with all my questions. Products arrived sooner than I expected, and we can't wait to get everything installed and start using our bike rack. Thanks so much.
Received yesterday, pretty simple to assemble. Like how compact it folds up for storage, like the flexibility to place the arms on the wheel or frame to secure the bike. It is heavy, but I was able to lift and attach it by myself. I was initially excited that it cleared my 2015 Jeep Wrangler JK's stock spare tire when folded up. But, my bike's pedal hits the spare tire (XL-sized MTB with 29" tires) so I had to use my hitch extension (already owned). No horizontal sway, but has some vertical sway at the hitch (with and without the extender) - but test drove it (bumps and hard braking) with no issues - but this is just my day 1 test. Thanks etrailer for all of the detailed videos on your bike racks - really helped me with the decision!
Unfortunately it’s not the products fault. ETrailer can’t seem to be able to handle simple task like filling an order correctly.. 48$cable not included with order. Box for bike rack came in as an order in faith. Only to be left with the same wrong problems as before. Box was received covered in tape and all the factory staples pulled out and folded backwards. This didn’t happen during shipping. It’s obvious that it was shipped in this condition. Then it on you to pack it up take to ups. Hope it make it back to shipper. Then wait and hope that they reciprocate with a refund and all the blame games because it’s a 500$ bike rack.
Great rack. Excellent quality. Good instructions. Love it.
Solid rack, easy install (2021 Kia Soul) and exceptional value! Would recommend!
The bike rack itself is great. Very sturdy and very easy to use. Holds the bikes nicely when traveling.
I had a couple of glitches with shipping due to missing parts and a couple of back-and-forth shipments, but overall, the customer service was actually excellent to fix the errors.
Only downside I can give the rack is that it doesn’t have a locking hitch pin for security.
slightest bit of difficulty with a few parts, but overall very good qualtiy. very easy to use, I am very pleased.I will note that this rack does not incorporate any locking ability, but that is fine for my purposes
The ordering process was quick and easy. The shipping was pretty fast and the bike rack was just what I wanted.
Awesome product for the price. I would recommend this product. The only thing I would like to see is an option to order replacement straps. I don’t need them yet but want to be proactive in the event one breaks during a hauling experience.
Delivery was quick and the item well packaged.
Products look well made and durable but I have not installed the hitch yet. Your speed on getting them here was noteworthy. I must comment on your shipping packaging. Both packages arrived with several tears and punctures on multiple sides. A regular occurrence according to the UPS driver as he struggled to wrestle the box to the door. The problem seemed pretty obvious to me. You package a heavy, unbalanced weight in a box that is way oversized. The off center weight shifts and moves in transit every time it is handled. The larger box also makes it harder for those who have to move the box manually, UPS personal and the consumer.
Love the videos , very helpful.
Things I like ….It is significantly less expensive than other racks. The frame and connectors are very stout. It goes together easy.
Things that surprised me …very heavy. I have concerns about the durability of the spring mechanisms on the sliding hold down arms and how long they will endure. We will see.
Service and shipping was smooth and on time.
Suggestion… product vides were great covered 99% of concerns and measurements. One stat missing…the approx. distance/clearence between a rack mounted bikes handle bar and vehicle with a strait vertical plumb rear end (like a van). I am not saying it’s a problem but I will soon find out.
Just received on time yesterday. Easy to assemble and install. Heavy duty construction and easy to use. Transported my bike for 2.5 hours with no rattling and bike stayed tight and secure. So far so good!
Pro: This is a very solid rack with no movement of bikes whatsoever over bumps. Fully confident that bikes will be just where I put them. Easy to use once installed on receiver. Con: Carrier is extremely heavy. My wife would not be able to install it. Not a good application for solo women or seniors.
A very solid bike rack that has performed well on short and long trips. And, just as important, the staff of etrailer, were most helpful and responsive in helping us select this Bike rack
This rack is both excellent and poor at the same time. It's built like a tank, which is both good and bad. I expect it's good because it's going to last a long time and not break. It's bad because some of the components just aren't as good quality as they could be. Like the strap buckles for the wheel straps could have a stronger spring in the latch. As it is, the strap latches tend to not catch and the strap pulls out a little bit. You have to pull the strap tight and then mash down on the latch to get it to lock in to one of the ratchet positions. And it also doesn't have some pretty common features that even a lot cheaper racks have now. Like an anti wobble system in the hitch shank. Or like a locking hitch pin. Or some type of locking mechanism for the bikes that is built into the rack. Beyond those items however, this appears to be a really well built rack, and it's one of the few I have seen where the locking arms can be used on either the wheels if you want no frame contact, or on the frame if you don't or can't use them on the wheels (I e. fenders). The tilting system seems to work well and is very robust and I have no concerns that the tilt locking mechanism is going to release while I'm driving or going over bumps. The only other issue I have had up to this point, which I admit has only been assembling and one drive with bikes, is that the instructions were written incorrectly in a couple of places which made it literally impossible the way they had it written. I had to figure that out on my own, and found out that rotating one of the pieces 180 degrees opposite from what the instructions said ended up being correct.
Gwendolyn Y.
5/13/2025
Hey Travis. Thank you for giving us such a detailed review on the rack. If you are up with sharing, I did want to ask where in the instructions caused confusion. I'm more than happy to get that information over to Benton.
The sleds that move back and forth to adjust for frame size tend to get stuck. But the move easily with a little inspiration from a rubber mallet.
The bike rack had a dent when it arrived and the paint was also removed in a 1 inch area. Apart from that it works perfectly as described and has a solid construction.
The bike rack is well made, is easy to use and holds the bikes very well. It folds up pretty well when not in use. the only thing some people may not like is that it is heavy.
Built well but much too heavy to put on and take off regularly. It weighs more than 70 pounds BEFORE you put a bike on it. Because it interferes with the backup sensors on today’s cars, I don’t leave it on when not toasting a bike. However, this rack is too heavy to put on and take off regularly. It’s too heavy for my wife to use at all. It weighs more than twice what our older one weighs, so we’ve gone back to using IT and this one sits idly in the garage. Disappointed. I should have checked the weight BEFORE wasting nearly $400 on this rack.
Bikes only weigh about 25 lbs. This is an industrial strength bike rack. In fact, it’s so heavy my fit and healthy wife can’t install or remove it from the hitch without assistance. Is it possible to make this from aluminum? I’d be a repeat customer if you did.
The BS&G bike rack performed well on our 100 mile highway roadtrip from Cincinnati to Columbus, Ohio. The bikes were stable the entire trip and easy to load and unload.
Great rack but I had to make a few modifications . The hitch pin was to short so I had to grind it down away from the threads to slide it through to create enough threads opposite side for the nut and locking mechanism. Over all directions were lacking.
Great bike rack. It was easy to assemble. Very sturdy, carried our bikes on a 500 mile trip over spring break with nominal movement. You do need to lift your bikes to load and unload as there is no ramp, so consider that if you have heavy bikes. Prefer this over frame mounted hitch rack that it replaced.
When it rains, water can sometimes get trapped in the retaining arms. Slight concern on rust resistance as water drained out orange-ish color. Will have to wait and see on that. Other than this, very happy with purchase.
Lazer S.
3/31/2026
Glad it worked well for you, Roger! And that for the feedback as well! I will let our product development guys know so they can address the water getting into the arms. Definitely don't want the arms rusting from the inside. What kind of bikes were you carrying and where did you go for your trip?
Looks great, very solid, not sure about the hitch interface. So this took me longer than it should have since I used the long screws in steps 3 and 5 and had to back everything out. But the problem i had (and still have) is that in step 6, the anti-rattle hitch pin does not completely seat into my hitch (C94WR Curt class III 2-inch). I have tightened it down with a ratchet and while there is absolutely no side-to-side shifting, there is definitely up and down shifting of the rack inside the reciever. If i take the rack out of the hitch, the pin does go all the way in, so i don’t think it is a problem with the hitch, i think the shoulder on the pin is too long, or the pin acceptor inside the rack does not allow the shoulder to completely enter the shank. I went as far as taking the etrailer Hitch Pin Alignment Collar (Part Number: e98942) off my old bike rack and tighten it down between the receiver end and the rack’s built-in alignment collar but it had no effect. I am concerned that this might cause some torquing on my hitch install, so I’m going to ride around without bikes and see how much movement happens. That said, it looks great and the fold-up is very nice. It is very heavy, but that means it is very solid. I will update this review if Benton or etrailer gets back to me regarding the pin and I put some bikes on this rack. Maybe I am doing something very wrong.
Peter K.
9/7/2025
An update after two months of driving this around for over 1000 miles - the worry I had about vertical movement stressing the hitch has been long forgotten. I’ve been watching movement over bumps and on sharp turns, it’s as if this bike rack Is part of the car. It looks great, super sturdy and the bikes don’t shift or bounce at all. I’d give it 6 out of 5 stars if i could.
I purchased the Benton Shifts&Grins Bike Rack for 2 Bikes (B54FR) 5 months ago. I have had nothing but a great experience with the bike rack. I can now check the box and remove "get a good bike rack" from my bucket list. Assembly was not a problem; I looked at photos of the rack and illustration - laid out the parts and assembled. Is it a little heavier - yes. Items that are built sturdier tend to have more and thicker metal - hence the additional weight. Is it a concern or issue - absolutely not. The locking bolt does a great job of removing play between the rack and the hitch. My Jeep has less than a plush ride and I was surprised with the limited movement of the rack or bikes in transport. Loading and unloading bikes is a quick and easy process. The tilt function works well when digging through contents of bike bags and it increases the swing of the rear gate, more than any other rack I have used. Storage space is minimalized with the ability to flip the cradle assembly and hitch up. Cradle adjustment is easy to accommodate the various bikes we ride. I have purchased products for personal and work from etrailer going on 5 years. The only thing that is better than the products is the customer service provided by their team. Quality product, good pricing combined with great customer service has made it a great experience every purchase.
Mike L.
7/17/2026
Thanks for the awesome photos Ken, we're glad to hear you like your new bike rack!
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Lazer S.
9/2/2025
Sorry to hear there was so much trouble with your order. It looks like we did get replacements sent out to you? Was everything in better shape this time?