How Easy is it to Install the Hollywood Racks Destination Bike Rack for 4 Bikes?  

To follow up with Jerred’s response. I was traveling with four bikes when the rack I had failed. I ordered this rack because it was rated for RVs. I was driving a 24 foot class B (van) RV. I would agree with Jerred this rack is a bit difficult to install on a vehicle after it is built, but I have done it. We I received the rack I built it from the box right onto the van so it was easy to piece it together. It took about an hour to build the rack and mount the four bikes. I had two road bikes and two mountain bikes. It took a little of adjustment and playing with the placement of the bikes initially but fastening the bikes onto the rack is not difficult. One thing that is a little odd is you have to use two straps, provided, to strap the bikes together. This took some getting used to. I believe the intent is to reduce shifting and it acts as a secondary support. Given I mounted this on a van the only frustration was not be able to open the rear doors very far with the rack on. The rack travelled well over the remaining 4,000 miles of the trip, including driving the Alaska Highway which has a fair amount of rough roads and gravel surface.

Similar to Eric's comments, I bought this rack because the previous (cheaper) one I'd bought failed on the first camping trip. This wasn't too bad, I already had the hitch receiver mounted to my 5th wheel bumper. While it's a bit awkward to slide into the receiver, it wasn't really that big of a deal. I like that it folds up, sometimes I need to take the bikes off and fold it before parking if there isn't extra space at the camping site. I have found the bikes still 'interact' with each other bumping down the road, so I keep some pieces of pool noodle and duct tape so I can pad between things, mostly wrapping handlebars and the tape just tightens the foam so it doesn't fall off while driving. I'm pretty happy with it, though if I bought another one I might consider the vertical style where the bikes can't touch each other at all.

Adding my two cents worth.......... I'm an older guy with a Class A RV which means the receiver is kinda high off the ground. Even with that I don't find this rack overly heavy or that bad to install. I do use gloves for the task as there are some places that have dinged me up a bit. We generally carry just two bikes but have had four on it a few times. Perhaps being foolish, but I only used the straps the first time or two we went out. After that I just didn't see how they were going to help much. I stagger the bikes so one faces left and the next one faces right and so on. For us this minimizes the bikes rubbing against each other, but the pool noodle is necessary when loaded with 4. I've owned several other racks over the years and this is the best one I've had and by far the easiest to load the bikes on.