Excellent product that holds my bike securely in my truck bed.

Gets The Job Done But Difficult To Work Withj

Several reviews talked about ‘wobbly’ bikes. I don’t have an issue with that but…the install directions for putting the bike in the rack are not very good. There are several line drawings on how to do that but for me they were difficult to interpret. Some verbiage on how to install the bike into the rack and secure it would have been helpful. To keep my mountain bike from wobbling the tire is making solid contact with the tail gate. This was achieved by ratcheting the anchor straps which pulled the whole rack toward the tail gate so the tire made contact. I don’t remember if the line drawing directions covered the anchor straps and/or how to adjust them. When I say strap, they and the anchor are actually plastic. The strap can be difficult to push through the ratchet mechanism to get extra slack. I had to make several adjustments to the tire cradle so the tire sat fully in the cradle. At first the tire came up out of the front of the cradle slightly as I ratcheted the anchor straps. I needed to loosen the screws of the cradle rack and slide it back at least an inch, maybe two. I have been putting my front tire into the tire cradle. I’m too short to get enough leverage to lift the bike and shift it left or right in the truck bed to align it in the rack. The easiest way I found to load the bike is to put the rear tire on the tail gate and roll it backwards over the cradle and the locking arm hook and then roll the front tire back into the cradle. The locking arm is very ‘stiff’ and difficult to move. If I don’t make an effort to hold the rack in place, the whole rack and bike will move when I am lifting the arm over the tire. I also feel as if there is a tipping possibility before I can get the tail gate shut which secures the anchors. After the tail gate is shut, I ratchet the anchor straps which then slides the rack forward a little bit forcing the front tire to contact the tail gate. I have not yet tried to put the bike in with the rear tire in the cradle or tried my street bike. I am hoping that no forward or back adjustments will need to be made on the tire cradle. The end result is that my mountain bike is not wobbling while I am driving. There is some lateral movement which can’t be prevented but I would say it does not ‘wobble’. Last, I don’t like the spring return on the locking cable. It made it hard to manipulate onto the male portion of the lock. The locking cable could be a little longer. I like to run cables through my frame. There was only enough length for me to put the cable around the forks.

Versatile And Secure Bike Rack

This is a really good product. It holds the bicycles in place on the truck bed without touching the frame. I also use it for storage since it keeps the bikes standing straight. Having this plus my Thule T2 Pro XTR gives me flexibility: I can leave the big rack on my RV and still carry bikes on the truck with the Insta‑Gater Pro, or use both racks to transport four bikes safely when riding with friends. Highly recommended!

Works As Advertised!

Works great! Noticed better MPG having my bikes in the bed rather than on a hitch rack. Also better protection from road spray and getting rear ended. For this rack, I mount them using the rear wheel, facing forward. With my longer wheelbase XL mountain bike, I do need to turn the front wheel in order to make it fit.

Solid Hold, Improvement On The First Version

I have a couple of the first version of this rack and they work great, except they are a little tricky to use with the back wheel, because it hits the derailleur cage. This new version fixes that issue and holds a wider tire as well. Very happy with it.

Hard To Use

Just bought and have used only once. Not sure if its me or this bike rack but I find it extremely hard to use, problem is you have to put the bike rack in the truck and then put your bike wheel in the slot and then close your truck gate. Maybe if I was 20 this would be easy but as an older women its really hard. Bad purchase for an older person, wish I had purchased the bike rack that attaches to my trailer hitch.

Locking Feature Failure

I like the way it holds my bike in the truck bed, but featured locking cable doesn’t extend long enough to lock bike.

Easy To Use And Great Unit.

I have been using the insta gater pro for several weeks. I like the ingenuity of it. Simple but effective, the stability of this is pretty good when tailgates closed. Easy to adjust and overall, I'm very happy with it.

Great Concept But Slightly Unsturdy

I have a mountain bike. The tires are at 29x2.8, so the tires are slightly fat. They don’t fit well within the tire holder. Even with the tire pressed against the tailgate the bike wobbles in turns and along bumps. I don’t think the bike will will fall, but it stresses me out watching it wobble. I think it’s good for the short ride to the local trail but, having a hard time convincing myself to do it on longer drives. I wish the holder would be longer/higher with an extra strap higher up to provide more security. It probably also doesn’t help I have a shorter truck bed and am having to put in the rear tire and having front tire turned, as it’s easier for the bike to sway. Great concept I want to trust it but it hard to.

Updated Design A Step Backwards

I have an Insta-Gator that I purchased about 4-5 years ago that still works fine. I can mount my bike in seconds. The newer model that I just purchased is a major redesign. I can’t swing the locking arm between the front tire and frame without forcing the rubberized hook as it rubs the frame and tire. It’s probably going to rub the paint off. I bought this newer model to carry my granddaughter’s bike so I hope it works. My bike is a Trek Domane with composite frame and 32mm tires. Will probably work okay with my other Domane with 25mm tires. I’d return it had I known. Too late now. I’ll most likely shave the rubber a little on the top of the hook to make it thinner. The rivets on the original are prone to rust and it looks like this newer model has similar fasteners.

Superior Bike Rack

Installed the Insta Water Pro on my truck bed and it works fantastic. The security and stability of the clamp is very stable. The bike are easily able to be moved in and out of truck with no issue. My Thule bike rack makes things a lot easier to transport mountain bikes. I highly recommend this purchase.

Great Product

User friendly and very well built. I would suggest this product for anyone who doesn't want hitch style system. Thank you for another good product.

Best Solution For Full Size Truck But Not Perfect

The installation is simple but, it requires that the tire is against the tailgate to be most stable. When you tighten the rack against the tailgate with a 29" or 27.5" tire it pulls the rack forward so the tire is not seated entirely in the tire track, reducing stability. Because the track support is so narrow, the bike is secure but not stable. What I mean by that is, once the bike is secured in the rack it is not going to fall over but, it does move from side to side a great deal when going over speed bumps or on rough roads. I purchased three of these for my truck (the most you can fit in a full size bed) and because you can install the bikes forward or backwards, they shouldn't hit each other when rocking back and forth. If they had a way to connect multiple Insta-gaters together it would help a great deal with the stability issue. I settled on the insta-gater because I needed a solution where the bikes are in the bed of the truck and out of the way when I am towing our camper. As well something that is easy to install and remove while not taking up a lot of room when not in use. I had the Apex 4 bike rack for many years and the bikes would frequently get loose in the rack and fall into each other. When my carbon fiber road bike got damaged beyond repair in that rack I decided it was time to finally get rid of it. The insta-gater is a much better solution than that rack. There is a way to lock the rack to your bed by looping your own lock through the rack and attaching it to your truck bed but, if you have multiple racks, you would need multiple cables. Overall, this is a very good solution for truck bed racks BUT you should be aware that your bikes are going to wobble side to side a great deal when on rough roads.

Works Great

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I finally got to use my Thule insta Gator bike rack and it worked like a dream. I have Chevy Colorado and had to secure the rear wheel in the bike rack with the front wheel turned to the side. Had no problem with bike fitting in the truck bed. I will put a strap across the bike frame next putting just for extra stability.

Easy To Use

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] Pricey but works well, I'm going to modify mine to attach to the truck bed. That's my only complaint, the lack of locking attachment, aside from that it's great.