Today on our 2004 Buick Rendezvous, we'll be test fitting the Softride Dura Parallelogram, part number SR26247, fitting both 1-1/4 and 2-inch hitches. Now with our 2-inch shank already installed, we'll go ahead and slide the shank of the bike rack into the hitch. Line up the hitch pin hole and install and tighten down our anti-rattle bolt. With the bolt tight, our bike rack is secured to the vehicle. We can now go ahead and give you a few measurements. Our ground clearance here at the back of the bike rack is 10-1/4 inches and from the closest point of the bike rack to the back of the vehicle is 3-1/2 inches.
We'll now go ahead and load our bike. We'll first need to undo the straps to expose the cradles. We'll place the bike onto the cradles and bring the straps around, securing our bike to the bike rack. Now, another great feature of the Softride Dura Parallelogram is whether your bike is loaded or not, you can tilt the mast down out of the way to gain access to your cargo area. We'll simply pull the pin here on the side of the mast.
We'll then let the mast tilt down and you'll notice that the dual arms stay parallel with the ground. We can then open our cargo door. That's it. Our bike is loaded. We're ready to head on down the road.
That completes our test fit of the Softride Dura Parallelogram, part number SR26247, on our 2004 Buick Rendezvous.