Hollywood Racks Sport Rider SE Bike Rack w/ LED Bar for 2 Bikes - 2" Hitches - Frame Mount

Video Transcript for Hollywood Racks Sport Rider SE 2 Bike Rack with LED Bar Review

Hi everyone, Aiden here at etrailer. Today we're gonna be taking a look at the Hollywood Rack Sport Rider SE 2-Bike Rack with the light bar attachment. This is gonna be a platform style bike rack capable of carrying up to two bikes and two really heavy bikes up to 80 pounds each so this is a great option for your heavier e-bikes, and with that light bar attachment down below you're going to be getting your turn signals, brake lights and running lights from going down the road so long as our vehicle has 4-pole wiring. Let's check it out. Now the Sport Rider has been around for a while so there's nothing really new about the bike rack, but this kit, like I said comes with this light bar. So that's the thing that really sets it apart.

So if you're familiar with the Sport Rider or maybe you already have one, you can get this piece separate. But if you're looking at getting a bike rack that has some sort of taillight function especially one that's just ready to go right out of the box, kitted together, then this is gonna be one of the quickest and easiest ways to do it because it's pretty cost effective. And as much as I thought the light bar felt like an afterthought at first, it kind of is because this bike rack wasn't designed from the ground up to have it. I do think it integrates fairly well and it's a pretty good light bar. It's very visible here in the middle of the day, the sun's out, but also the LEDs are really nice because you've got the amber LEDs in a sequential sequence for your turn signals and the hazards that we have on right now.

And then the top row is red LEDs for your running lights and your brake lights. So you do get some sort of distinction there and if you're braking while your turn signal's on it's very easy to denote what's happening and for other drivers to see what you're doing when you're going down the road. As far as the bike rack itself goes, it's gonna fit I think a really unique place in the market. It's got that 80 pound capacity, which is one of the things that really sets it apart from the competition because not many bike racks in general have that high of a capacity. Sure, a lot of them, especially on our site have e-bike compatibility with 60 pound weight capacities and maybe some that even go up to 70.

But if you need up to 80, this is one of your only options. So whether you're using it on a passenger vehicle like this or maybe you have a motor home because this is motor home approved and you need a way to carry an e-bike that's that heavy, then this could be a great way to do it. It is also a very stable bike rack. No movement of the bikes in the cradles there. These frame hooks do a great job at pushing them down and holding it in place and the wheels straps down on those cradles also do a good job at keeping the wheels nice and still.

Now because it makes frame contact not the best idea for carbon frame bikes and alternative frame bikes might need a bike adapter bar. So there are some limitations to it. It's not perfect, but if you do have a bike that'll work with that frame hook then I do think it's gonna do a great job at keeping it still. This rack does have the ability to tilt away with the bikes loaded, which is really convenient if you need access to the back of your vehicle during a trip or anything. I'd rate the ease of difficulty kind of in the middle with this. There's a pin and retaining clip on the bottom that we need to remove just as a secondary safety measure, and then a pull pin on the side that will do the final release of the bike rack and lower it down with the bikes loaded. So you will need to probably push up on the rack a little bit to help release the bind on that pin, but that'll let you open up the back of your vehicle. Now this truck, it's just not gonna work really with this specific year, make, model. No bike racks work with the tailgate, but for a typical passenger vehicle with a hatch or a trunk this is gonna work just fine. With this tilted out of the way, you can probably see a little bit better. The 4-pole wiring that goes from our light bar to our vehicle, so you will need 4-pole wiring on your vehicle. If you don't have that, you can pick it up here at etrailer to find the right kit for your vehicle. Just entering in your information to our fit guide to find the right one. And then this lead is quite long and will go all the way back to our light bar where we have the excess bound up with one of the cable straps they included. The rack just pushes back into place. That pull pin will latch in so it holds itself for you, and then you can put the safety pin and retaining clip underneath that, making sure you just push up so it'll actually line up and clip into place and then you're ready to hit the road. Now as far as how it holds the bikes those hooks have a lock on them so you can make sure that no one can press this button and release the hook when you're not around, making sure that you've got security built in. And as far as unloading goes you wanna start down at the bottom. Our wheel straps here are gonna be the secondary points of contact that help to ensure the bike stays a little bit extra still. And with how long these straps are and how wide the cradles are, this is compatible with fat tire bikes up to five inches in width. And then when those are both removed we can turn our attention to that hook up top, press the button and push up on the hook to release it. It does get bound up a little bit so you might have to just squeeze it pretty aggressively to push it up and then tilt the bike out of there. Now one thing I don't like about this is that there is a screw on the top of the mast here which means that these hooks can't be fully removed. For this outer bike, it's no problem because I can easily get it in. But what that means for our innermost bike is that I have to fish it around that hook, and with a heavy e-bike, that's gonna be really difficult. We'll show you what that looks like right now. So we'll get that second hook undone. This is as high as it goes, which means I now have to get the bike fished out through here, being careful to not hit my own vehicle and get it out from the bike rack. Now I will say this process was a little easier because we have it on a truck. There's a little more distance here and less up here to worry about hitting, whereas with an SUV we'd have some glass there and maybe a larger lift gate. So again, some things to consider just because it's going to be a little harder to load if you can't get these hooks out of the way. Now, if that loading process is a concern for you then I'd recommend something like the Hollywood Rack's Destination e-bike rack. That's gonna be a very similar rack in terms of weight capacity. It can hold up to 70 pounds but it's going to have a mast that isn't in the center. It actually sits behind both bikes so you don't have to fish it around anything. You just might have to watch out for the handlebars when you're loading up that innermost bike, but it's a lot easier and it comes with a ramp. So instead of lifting the bike up into place you can wheel it up. Depending on your vehicle that process will be a little bit easier than others. The higher your hitch sits, the steeper that ramp will be but regardless of how steep it is it's gonna be easier than just lifting it up on your own. Now two measurements you probably want to keep in mind in this state is how far it sits out from the back of your vehicle. And one I like to include for this one is how close that center cradle sits to the hitch pin 'cause that's gonna help you figure out if you have clearance with your bikes. A lot of times motor home approved bike racks have issues with that on the platform side of things like we have here. So from the center of the hitch pin hole to the center of that first cradle is 15 inches. You can go to your own vehicle whether that's your passenger vehicle or a motor home, set your bike up 15 inches from that hitch pin hole and figure out if your handlebars are gonna hit the back of your vehicle or if you have clearance. Now the other thing to keep in mind is from the center of the hitch pin hole to the furthest point out and that's 32 inches. That'll let you know what your clearances are like when you're adding length to the back. So when you're driving around, just keep in mind that there's gonna be 32 inches of added space which honestly for a two-bike rack isn't too bad. You can fold all that up though. We'll start by folding the mast down, which is done just by this one pin here. It's a pretty unique system where it's got a small tab on one side that lines up with a tab on the noch holes so they use that to feed it through. And then when you twist it, it won't pop back out 'cause it hits that tab. So pretty simple system. And then we can just pull the pull pin and lift it up. And then there's a second pull pin that you might have to pull or it'll just auto latch depending on the age. Ours has been down in the shop and out in the rain for a long time now, so it doesn't move the smoothest but that'll relatch in right there in the folded state and now only stick out 18 inches from the center of the hitch pin hole. So you do save a good amount of space by folding it up, making it easier to drive around with. You do have to keep in mind though that it is going to sit closer to the vehicle now though. From the center of the hitch pin hole to the closest point it's gonna be about seven and a half inches. So that will let you know if you have clearance to even fold it properly with your vehicle because if it sits too close it's just not gonna fold. In this folded position you can see that light bar a lot better, how it clamps around the square tube of the sport rider here and that's what lets it hold on. They give you additional hook and loop straps to help support it because this is a flexible material here because you can put this on really any bike rack even if it isn't the Sport Rider, you just use things like these hook and loop straps and a strap that feeds through the back of the light bar to attach it around bike frames or any point that it would fit. But regardless, in this folded state, it can still work. Just loosen up those hand knobs a little bit and flex it out of the way of this reinforcement plate and just push it down. So not the most graceful thing in the world and it doesn't sit perfectly flat because of our cradles here, but it does work and it will be visible in this folded position. Now with that in mind, I do wanna point out some more specific comparisons to other bike racks with taillight functions because this isn't the most graceful thing in the world. Both of the options I'm gonna compare it to are much more premium options and they're not gonna be for everyone. So in that case, this might be your best choice. But the first one is the Kuat Piston Pro X. That's going to be an example where the taillights are directly integrated into the rack. It comes out of the box with everything you need, ready to just plug into your 4-pole wiring, giving you all those functions in the back but that's going to be very expensive. It is very nice, but again, it's just not for everyone. And the other example is the Yakima StageTwo, another premium option capable of carrying up to 70 pounds but that one is going to be one that you have to purchase it separately. It's nice though because the rack is designed from the factory to work with that light kit add-on piece. There's a channel in the center of the body of the bike rack where you can run a cable through and the whole thing looks very intentional and it especially is very easy to see because the lights fold down when you fold it up and always remain visible and they're very large lights. So if you're looking for something that has a really nice add-on and looks like it's built with the intention of upgrading it down the line, that would be my choice. And it is a little bit more cost effective than that Kuat but not by much. Again, if you're looking for something to get you started this is the way I would go, especially if you plan on upgrading to a different rack down the line 'cause you can still take this light bar with you and use it on a separate rack. Now, something you might not think about when living with the bike rack until you actually are living with it is what it looks like when it's not in the hitch. In your garage it's gonna stand up on its own pretty okay and it's not gonna be super heavy. Don't get me wrong. It's not lightweight by any means but it's got good handholds and the weight is distributed really well if you grab it by the mast and the main frame there and then you can get it to your vehicle relatively easily. Now the biggest thing is that on that two inch shank it's going to have a stopper. So when you slide that into your hitch just put it in all the way until it hits that stopper. That is gonna be by far the most helpful thing when setting this up because there's no need to align a hitch pin hole. It uses a standard pin with a lock on the other side and an oblong, oval shaped hole rather than a threaded one. So it makes it very easy to pass this pin through. And on the outside we have this hand knob that we can just thread without a tool and that's going to draw that hole against that hitch pin and bind it against the hitch pin hole. That acts as your anti-rattle device, keeping it tool free and keeping the installation very quick and easy. That lock core is keyed alike to those cables, or sorry, the hooks up top and it just pushes onto the end of that hitch pin so you don't need the key unless you need to unlock it. And because this comes with the 4-pole wiring I just have it draped over right there. All the excess is still bound up, but just plug that into your 4-pole and then you're ready to load up. And by now I think you know probably about how I feel about this Sport Rider SE with that light bar attachment. I think it's a great way to get started. Certainly not the nicest option on the market right now. I'd say for me the Yakima StageTwo with its light kit is my personal favorite but it is a fair bit more expensive, doesn't have as good of a weight capacity and it's not going to be as easy to operate in some regards because it's super heavy and this is a lot easier to get in and out of the hitch. So for me, I like it for those reasons. I like that it's easy to get in the hitch, it's easy to get started. You can take that light bar and put it on a different bike rack down the road if you get a different one, or if you have multiple bike racks for different vehicles in the family. Plus it's got an 80 pound weight capacity that's really impressive and it's going to be fairly easy to use with that tool free install. So if that all floats your boat, you're into those things and you don't mind maybe the harder loading process on the inside cradle there with the wheel hook and you're not concerned about the frame contact then this could be the right one for you. But that has just been our look at the Hollywood Rack Sport Rider SE with the light bar attachment. Thanks for watching.