Hollywood Racks Sport Rider SE2 Bike Rack Review
Review of the Hollywood Racks Sport Rider SE2 Bike Rack
Randy: Hey, guys. Randy here at etrailer.com. Today we're taking a look at a rack from Hollywood Racks. This is their Sport Rider SE2. Essentially, what we're going to have here is going to be a two-bike, platform-style rack, designed for use with electric bikes, so it has that higher capacity to support them, and it's also rated for use on RVs and motorhomes. So, that kind of takes care of both of those areas.Now, we have a frame hook to hold our bike here on the top, and as you can see, it's going to work out fine whether you're using an Ebike or a standard bike with wheel bases up to 60".
Then each of our wheel . got the wheel hoops that come down, and the hook and loop strap just to help give it a little bit more security there. Now, that 60" wheel base comes from the fully adjustable cradles. You can see the knob right there on each one of our cradles. We can move those in and out as we need to accommodate all different varieties of bike.Now, the cradles themselves have been designed to work with a tire up to 3" wide.
This one's on our Ebike happens to be a 2.10, so 210. So, you can imagine, got plenty of room there for that additional tire width. And you can see they sit down in quite nicely, so we get a lot of support forward and back as well.A really nice feature on this rack that we don't often see on other RV-approved bike racks is its ability to tilt away from your vehicle even with your bike loaded. That can buy you some extra space. You see, there's a pin and clip here.
Pull that. You might have to lift up slightly to get our pin removed. Then by lifting our pin right here, or pulling out on our pin, you can see we're able to tilt that away. Now, as you do this, you are going to be supporting the weight of the bikes, so be sure you have a hold of it. Then at that point, it's either going to allow you full access or extra access to get into the rear of your vehicle.
You can see this one's pretty close here. Doesn't quite make contact with the back hatch, but full unobstructed access to get in and out.Now, to get it back to the transport position, we'll just need to lift up. That pin's going to automatically click in. Then we need to replace that manual pin and clip.They've also added some really nice security to the rack. Each of the hooks that come down over our frame are going to be keyed, so once we have it down in the correct position, we'll turn that to the lock position, and then we can't press that button. So, we can't release that. Also, you'll notice the cable. You can run that through the frames on your bike, and it's going to connect right down to your hitch pin behind the lock. So, we have the rack locked to our vehicle, and we have the bikes also locked to that pin, and locked with our hook, so overall, it's a really nice and secure way to transport your bikes.Here on the back, we also have a plastic reflector, instead of just being a piece of tape or something like that, actually, a cap that's going to go on there. Most people approach from behind. That's going to shine, indicating to them you have something attached on the rear.Now, to get that high capacity, they use a different design on their wheel hoops here. While they come around, just like most standard wheel hoops, they pass all the way through the connecting rod here. That gives it excellent strength and, of course, durability.Now, this rack should work out with most vehicle configurations, but just to ensure, the measurement from the center of our hitch pin hole to the closest point here, it's going to be about 10-1/2". Another measurement you might be concerned with is the overall length with it extended. From the center of that hitch pin hole to the outermost edge of our cradles here, which is our furthest point, is going to be about 29-1/2".Now, this will fold up into a much more compact design. Basically, we need to remove the pin here. You can see that little key way, so you have to turn it the right way for it to come out. Fold our mast into the stored position, then we can reinsert the pin. Now, with a lot of platform-style racks, this joint right here can sometimes make some noise. They've actually put a nice plastic bushing around that so we don't have metal on metal contact. Same can be said for our forward pivot point here.But if I pull on the same pin we pulled earlier, that's going to allow us to rotate our rack into the stored position. You can see at this point that pin goes in and holds it. You can see that's a lot more compact. So, in this position, even with our anti-rattle handle, really adding about 17-3/4".Now, the overall feel of the rack is nice. You can tell it has a nice, thick powder-coat finish on there. I think that should be a very resilient finish, and you really shouldn't run into any issues with corrosion.Now, to get the rack installed, we're going to place the shank into our receiver tube opening. We're going to slide this all the way in so that this plate makes contact with our hitch. At that point, we're going to slide our pin through. As we do that, it's going to engage our anti-rattle device. That's here on the back. You can see the movement in that rack right now. As we tighten this up, continue to kind of move it and shake it. Once we get that up, you can see all that play is going to be gone.Now, that does grab a hold of your pin. That's what holds it in place. You can put your lock on this side, but remember you've got that cable to go around your bikes that it first needs to slide on before you throw the lock on.Then to get it back out of this position, just going to pull that one single pin, bring it down till our other pin engages. Then we'll pull our pin out of that mast, and bring it into its upright position. At that point, just undo your hook and loop, raise your wheel hooks up to the top there. At that point, you're going to be ready to load up your bike.Now, to load up our bike, we're always going to start with the closest set of wheel cradles. If you're loading up multiple bikes, keep your heaviest bike closest to your vehicle to reduce the leverage. Now, we're just going to lift it up. We're going to place it into those cradles. Now, they say you can pull these hooks off of here, if you want to, if it'll make it easier. It's just a Phillips screw right here. Generally, you can work it in behind it. I wouldn't want to take it out and put it in every time, so if you did have to do that, maybe just leave that screw out.We're going to bring the hook down. We want it to make contact with the bike, but we don't want it to be overly tight. That's probably a little bit too loose. Basically, if we put too much downward force on these hooks, they bind up and it's really hard to get them to release. So, that's something you need to keep in mind. Then on each of our wheels, just want to bring that hook and loop around to just give us a little bit of backup. That top hook does a good job of keeping them down and in the cradles.Now, Hollywood Racks does recommend, it's not a requirement, but they recommend that you remove your battery. It's more to prevent people from stealing it. Something to keep in mind. In our case, our battery locks onto the bike. It's not as big of a concern.Before we wrap the video up, we've got some really good footage of the rack fully loaded out on our test course. Take a look at it. It's going to give you an excellent idea of how the rack will hold your bikes and perform on the back of your vehicle.Here on our test course, we'll start by going through the slalom. This is going to show us the side-to-side action. This simulates turning corners or evasively maneuvering.Once we get to the alternating speed bumps, we'll see the twisting action. This will simulate hitting a curb or a pothole, or driving over uneven pavement.Once we get to the full speed bumps, we'll see the up and down action. This will be just like driving in and out of a parking lot, parking garage, or driveway.
Craig R.
1/15/2020
I bought a Hollywood rack to carry 2 Rad Rover fat tire bikes. The only way to get the first bike onto the rack closest to the vehicle is to remove the hooks on the verticle bar.
Jason S.
1/17/2020
Sometimes to put the fat bike on the inside of the rack, we have found that tilting the bike rack down prior will allow you to lift differently allowing you to load. I certainly wouldn't want to remove a hook each time and the Hollywood Racks # HR1450Z-E is a great bike rack for you to use. I can't test that specific bike with the rack, but installing it while at an angle and then once the bike is installed lifting the rack into place should work for you.
Sal R.
8/5/2021
Well dish rack holds the Blix unisex bike that has a low frame