Well, the marketing says a bike rack is a buy-it-once-and-forget-it piece of gear. A little rain, some road grime, no problem. But after two years with my Allen Sports Deluxe and a brutal Colorado winter behind me, I can tell you that’s a fantasy.
Related: How To Install Hitch Bike Rack
If you don’t clean your rack, the pivots seize, the bolts rust, and the straps degrade until they snap at the worst possible moment.
I learned this the hard way on a Friday afternoon in March when my rear wheel holder refused to budge with a 40-mile ride already in my legs.
Here’s how to clean a bike rack properly, and what happens when you don’t.
Allen Sports Deluxe
The Allen is a hanging rack, so it has a different cleaning profile than a tray rack.
Bikes sway once mounted; straps aren’t rubber-type; wobble needs a Check price fix
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My Credentials: I’m the One Who Let It Get Gross
I’m Simone. I’ve hauled bikes on everything from a $60 trunk strap that scratched my 2004 Subaru Outback to a tray rack that survived a deer strike at 65 mph. I’ve owned eight racks in twelve years. My current setup is a 2019 Honda CR-V with a 2-inch hitch, and I rotate between the Allen Sports Deluxe for solo gravel rides and the Hollywood Racks Sport Rider SE when I’m hauling my partner’s e-bike.
I’ve installed racks in the dark, loaded bikes after 100-mile rides when my brain was fried, and driven through crosswinds in Wyoming that’d make a semi truck nervous.
I time everything, I measure everything, and I have no brand loyalty.
The Allen I own has been on my car for two years. It’s been through mud, snow, salt, and a summer of 95-degree heat. The Hollywood Racks has been on for a year, primarily hauling a 50-pound e-bike that’s taught me more about hitch weight than any spec sheet. I let both get dirty. Here’s what I learned.
The Dirty Truth: What Actually Happens When You Skip Cleaning
I didn’t clean my Allen Sports for the first six months. I figured it was a $99 rack, why bother? Then the tilt mechanism started grinding. The pivot pin, which should rotate smoothly to drop the rack down so I can open my rear hatch, felt like it was full of sand. It was. Road grit mixed with the grease, turned into a paste, and started scoring the metal.
The straps were worse. The Allen’s straps aren’t the rubber-type you find on expensive racks, as William Roche noted in his review. They’re nylon webbing, and once they get caked with salt and dirt, they get stiff.
They don’t pull tight, and they don’t hold. Lori, another reviewer, said she needed three bungee cords to supplement the included straps.
I thought she was being paranoid until I watched my gravel bike sway dangerously close to my CR-V’s paint job at 70 mph on I-70.
The bolts were the final straw. The Allen uses a 9/16th no-wobble bolt to cinch into the hitch sleeve, as Ts132 pointed out. Mine had rusted so badly I needed a breaker bar to get it loose. That’s when I started cleaning my racks.
What You Need: The 10-Minute Kit
You don’t need specialty products. You need:
- A bucket of warm water with a squirt of dish soap
- A soft-bristle brush (an old toothbrush works for the tight spots)
- A spray bottle with plain water for rinsing
- Silicone spray lubricant (RSB recommends this for the Hollywood Racks wheel holders, and he’s a former FAA aircraft mechanic, so I listen)
- A rag or microfiber cloth
- A rubber mallet (for stubborn wheel holders on the Hollywood Racks)
- A torque wrench or socket set for the bolts
That’s it. No pressure washer. No degreaser. No harsh chemicals that’ll strip the powder coating.
How I Clean My Allen Sports Deluxe
The Allen is a hanging rack, so it has a different cleaning profile than a tray rack. The main areas of concern are the pivot point for the tilt feature, the hitch sleeve, and the straps.
First, I drop the rack down using the tilt feature. This exposes the pivot pin. I spray it with the silicone lubricant, then work it back and forth a few times to work the lubricant into the joint. This takes 30 seconds and prevents the grinding I experienced.
Next, I wipe down the entire frame with the soapy water and the soft brush. The Allen’s frame is steel with a powder coating, so it’s durable, but the coating can chip if you scrub too hard. I’m gentle around the edges.
The straps get the most attention. I unclip them completely and soak them in the soapy water. Then I scrub them with the toothbrush to get the salt out of the weave. I rinse them thoroughly and let them air dry. I’ve done this after every winter trip since the stiffness incident, and the straps have held up fine.
Finally, I clean the hitch sleeve. This is the part that connects to the car, and it’s the most neglected area. I use the toothbrush to get the grit out of the pin holes, then I wipe it down. I check the no-wobble bolt for rust and apply a thin coat of silicone to the threads.
How I Clean My Hollywood Racks Sport Rider SE
The Hollywood Racks is a tray rack, and it’s a different beast. It’s heavy, it’s bulky, and it’s built like a tank. Judd Rousseau warned about the storage space required, and he wasn’t joking. But the cleaning process is actually simpler because the tray design keeps the bikes off the frame.
The first thing I do is remove the wheel holders. They’re held in place by a pin, and they pop out easily. RSB noted they’re stiff initially, and he recommended silicone spray and a rubber mallet for the first installation. I’ve found the same applies after a winter of road salt. I spray the holders with silicone, let it sit for a few minutes, then work them back and forth until they move freely.
The frame gets the same soapy water treatment. The Hollywood Racks has a powder-coated finish, but it’s thicker than the Allen’s, so I’m less worried about chipping. I still use the soft brush, though, because the frame has a lot of nooks and crannies where grit accumulates.
The hitch rattle stopper is the star here. It’s a mechanism that cinches the coupling around the hitch pin, and Amazon Customer called it “excellent.” It eliminates the wobble that plagues the Allen. I clean it by spraying it with silicone and working the mechanism a few times. It keeps the rattle away and prevents the metal-on-metal wear that would otherwise happen.
The cable lock gets a wipe-down too. The Hollywood Racks comes with keyed-alike locks, and the cable can get gummed up with dirt. I spray a little silicone on a rag and wipe the cable down. This keeps the lock mechanism smooth.
The Salt Factor: Why Colorado Winters Are the Real Test
I live in Colorado, and we use more road salt than you’d think for a state known for sunshine. That salt gets on the roads, gets kicked up by my tires, and lands on the rack. If I don’t clean it off within a week, it starts to corrode.
The Allen’s bolts are the most vulnerable. They’re not stainless steel, so they rust. I’ve replaced the no-wobble bolt twice in two years. RayC, another reviewer, fixed his wobble with a grade 5 bolt from Lowes. I’ve done the same. It costs about $3 and takes five minutes.
The Hollywood Racks has better hardware. Matthias Lambert, who assembled his in 108°F Phoenix heat, said “all the bolts washers and hardware were of first rate quality, no skimping.” I’ve had mine for a year and haven’t seen a speck of rust. That’s the difference between a $99 rack and a $400 rack.
The Loading Workflow: Cleaning Is Part of the Routine
I’ve loaded bikes in the dark after a 100-mile ride enough times to know that rack maintenance matters most when you’re exhausted. A dirty rack that won’t tilt, won’t swivel, or won’t release the wheel holder will ruin your night.
My routine is simple: every Sunday, after the weekend trips, I spend 10 minutes cleaning the rack. It’s part of the post-ride ritual, right after I wash my bike and before I take Ranger for a walk. He’s a 70-pound Lab mix who’s claimed the back seat as his throne, and he supervises the whole operation with a critical eye.
I keep the silicone spray in the garage, next to the bike pump. I use the same spray on my bike’s chain and my rack’s pivots. One product, two jobs.
The One Thing I Won’t Pretend to Know
I don’t track prices day to day, so I won’t pretend to know next week’s sale. The Allen Sports has been $99 for years, and the Hollywood Racks sits around $400. That’s held steady through my ownership, but I’m not going to claim I know if that changes tomorrow.
The Bottom Line
Clean your rack. It takes 10 minutes, costs nothing beyond the silicone spray, and prevents the kind of failure that strands you at a trailhead with a seized pivot or a snapped strap. The Allen Sports Deluxe is worth the $99, but it needs more care than the price suggests.
The Hollywood Racks Sport Rider SE is built to survive neglect, but it’s heavy enough that you’ll want to store it indoors, which means you’ll see the dirt and clean it anyway.
Choose the Allen if you want the best value and don’t mind a little sway and a little maintenance. Choose the Hollywood Racks if you’re hauling e-bikes and want a rack that feels like it’s welded to your car. Just clean whichever one you buy. Your future self, standing in a dark parking lot at 10 PM, will thank you.