Lets Go Aero BikeWing-2 Pro Bike Rack for 2 Bikes - 1-1/4" and 2" Hitches - Wheel Mount

Video Transcript for Lets Go Aero BikeWing-2 Pro Bike Rack for 2 Bikes Review

Hi everyone, Aiden here with etrailer. Today we're gonna be taking a look at the Let's Go Aero BikeWing-2 Pro two bike rack. This is gonna be a hitch-mounted rack capable of carrying up to two bikes. Now I'm gonna be honest with you for a second, the Let's Go Aero V-shaped design is not my favorite when it comes to bike racks, and the BikeWing-2 Pro is no different, just because I find that it has a lot more shake than I would ever be comfortable with with my own bikes, and I just don't think it's a great value for what you get. I think it's pretty hard to load. If you've got two bikes on there of similar size, you're gonna have compatibility issues, and it's just gonna be a headache in my opinion.

So right out of the gate, I wanna say I would recommend the Hollywood Racks Destination 2 bike rack. I just think it's gonna be a much better value, and it's a rack that I've recommended to my own family and is currently on my brother's car. I think it's gonna give you a really solid option for a very similar price point. With that being said though, the BikeWing is pretty popular with some people who have non-traditional bikes because this is a non-traditional rack. So if you find yourself in a situation where you maybe have something like a recumbent bike, you might find that this non-traditional rack is a good fit for you.

And if that's the case, we're gonna check it out in just a second, but I wanted to start with that preface. What makes this rack so non-traditional is that you have this V-shape with these posts, and the bike is hanging by a series of pegs. The wheels will hang on these V-shaped pegs and be supported underneath with a straight peg on the bottom. All those pegs will have straps wrapped around the wheel, and that's what holds the bike in place. Now right away, you'll notice that one of these pegs is just out of the way because on our first bike, we can't get it to line up.

So I just moved it out of the way so it wasn't hitting our gears or our chain because when you have two similar sized bikes, it's gonna be really hard to line those up. You're basically gonna be competing for space on that mast, and you might not be able to make contact on all four sections. If that's the case, Let's Go Aero does say that you can forego the back bottom tire peg, and that's only for standard vehicles, not for motor homes. Since we're really just hanging by the wheels here and not touching the frame, carbon frame bikes and alternative frame bikes should be just fine. So that's a plus in my book.

The other thing is weight capacity. With each bike, you can support up to 40 pounds. But for me, with how much shake you're getting, if you've got a heavier mountain bike, I personally, again, just wouldn't go with this rack because I don't like the amount of movement. Smaller road bikes, I think you'd probably be okay. And especially if you plan on just carrying one bike, I think that'd be all right too, but it's just a comfort level thing for me at that point. The rack does have a tilting feature, so if you need to access your cargo area, you can go to the bottom of the rack. I'm just gonna hold it by one of those wings and pull this pin and retaining clip. Once you do that, I am gonna reinsert it to some lower holes just to act as a stopper for us. And then we can lower it down carefully, just making sure you can support the weight of both your bikes. But this would allow you on a typical passenger vehicle to open up your back hatch. And in the case of my truck today, it's pretty close. It kind of touches a tire a little bit, but I can fully lower the tailgate too, which is saying something because on this particular truck, most racks don't work very well with the tilting feature just because the tailgate and hitch sit so close to one another. So this is a benchmark for me. It's my own personal truck, and if a bike rack tends to clear the tailgate, it's probably gonna be fine for most other cars. And one thing I do wanna mention is that your kit does come with a bolt, two washers, and a lock nut. You already have one of these that is on the pivot point of the rack that's basically used to hold it as it goes up and down, and you've got that quick pin to activate that tilting feature. If you ever plan on taking your vehicle off road, this secondary bolt is required. It'll replace that quick pin so you'll lose that ability to tilt away, but it's gonna make the rack more stable. And for me personally, I would honestly just recommend putting this in full time. Because of how much it shakes, just hinging on that one bolt with the quick pin, I wouldn't be comfortable with this going down road on any vehicle really. Yes, you're gonna give up that tilting feature, but I think it's gonna make for a better bike rack experience. And here's what that looks like with the pins swapped out for that second bolt. The shake is better, but still not great. I would trust it more going down road, but it's just something to be aware of really. If I got this rack for myself, this is what I would do. When we go to unload this, it's just a matter of first undoing all of the rubber straps present on the four pegs. And since those top ones are hooked, it will support itself, it's not gonna fall out, so you can wait until they're all undone to get a better handhold on your bike and lift up and away. The outer bike here will be a bit more straightforward just because you don't have any obstructions in the way, but it does maintain a pretty good distance from your vehicle. So this inner bike shouldn't be too bad to get to either. You do get foam pads on these arms, two per side, and you can slide these up and down to line up with your bike's frame so that you don't get any metal on metal contact with the bike wing arms. These hand knobs on each side will control the up and down movement of the pegs, so you can use that to find the proper spacing for your bikes. And then on the top of those, there's gonna be a quick pin that you can just pull up and out on the pegs to quickly switch from one side to another. So when you're doing your initial setup, if you find that a certain orientation works better for your bike combo, you can quickly switch it rather than having to fully loosen this up and remove all of these from the mast to flip them around manually. A few measurements to keep in mind. From the center of the hitch pin hole to the closest point of the rack, it's gonna be 12 inches. And from that same point to the end of the rack, it's gonna be 26 inches. You can take those same measurements to your own vehicle and figure out how close it's gonna sit to your bumper and how much length it'll add to the back. The other thing is that the shank does have a slight rise of four inches here, so that should help you out with ground clearance with most cars. At the hitch, it is gonna work with our inch and a quarter or two inch hitches, so long as that inch and a quarter hitch is a class 2. It will come with an anti-rattle bolt that doesn't include a lock, but the anti-rattle does help to stabilize things in the hitch a little bit. Where a lot of our issues come into play is the shank is just an inch and a quarter, so it's not very thick, and that pivot point, like I showed earlier, is the starting point for a lot of movement. So it's just not ideal. The anti-rattle helps of course, but that's where some of the issues start to arise is as you move out. And one of the things that's unique about the V-arm design is that those arms are removable. So if you're not biking super often, another reason you might consider a rack like this is for the storage aspect. Breaking it down is gonna make it really easy to keep in the back of your car or your garage when it's not in use. You just have these rings that you need to twist off, and the arms can just slide off like that, staying fully assembled in the positions we set them earlier to accommodate our bikes. So when it comes to the Let's Go Aero BikeWing Pro, I have a hard time recommending it. You probably know by now, just based on my feedback throughout the video, the things I don't love about it, but there are a few pros in there. If you're looking for something that can accommodate some recumbent bikes, we don't have a good way to test that here at etrailer, so it's gonna be a very case by case basis, but other people who have gotten this rack before had good luck with them. Or maybe you just like the idea of being able to break it down and store it because you're really not going biking often, maybe only once or twice a year. Then I think this could be an okay option for you because it is gonna be more budget friendly, it won't take up much space, but for me, it just comes with too many caveats. I think there's better options out there. And for that value category, I would recommend the Hollywood Racks Destination 2 bike rack. It's gonna work with a lot of different types of bikes, it's one of the most stable, budget friendly racks out there, and it's a personal favorite of mine for good reason. It just comes with a lot, and it's gonna be a really solid rack for years to come. With this, I do worry about the longevity. But if you do decide that this is the right fit for you, then this has just been our look at the Let's Go Aero BikeWing Pro. My name's Aiden, and thank you for watching.