Black Widow Aluminum Folding Motorcycle Carrier
If you only have time to read this first line: DO NOT BUY THIS CARRIER
Still Reading? I’ll expand on my opinion
I placed a deposit at SoCal Honda Powersports for Booger and needed a way to get him home.
Doesn’t look too bad, right? I took a $255 (plus tax and shipping) gamble. It didn’t pay off. Image from DiscountRamps.com
There are a few low-cost aluminum 400-pound capacity motorcycle hitch carriers available online. Most of these appear to be the same carrier with different companies’ names attached. Harbor Freight had a compelling option that I could walk in a physical location to purchase but I thought I would go a tiny step up and order Black Widow carrier from Discount Ramps. It had 4.5 stars after all. More on that later.
I’ve been on the Discount Ramps site a few times and they seemed to have decent quality items for sale. Most of the reviews were good. The final deciding factor to go with them was the option of having the carrier fold up when not in use.
Everything started out normal. I placed my order. My credit card was charged and it was delivered about a week later. +1 point
The trouble wasn’t until I opened the box for assembly.
Now I’m not a welder or a weldiologist. I didn’t go to school for that. Even so, I could tell the welds were sketchy. I posted a brief video with pictures on social media and the people of the internet agreed. It also sits crooked when mounted to a hitch receiver. -5 points
Booger weighs under 260 pounds and I took a chance carrying it back on the Black Widow. I made it home. +1 point.
If you’re keeping track, we are at -3 points.
I received an email soliciting a review for my recent purchase and I obliged. I gave it two stars saying the welds looked like chewing gum. Discount Ramps responded to my review without saying much. No offer of replacement or compensation in any way. Mysteriously, my review never made it to their website. No wonder it has a 4.5 star rating. If you don’t publish the bad reviews, you can give it any rating you want. -10 points
The perils of online shopping in our modern world, I guess.
After I received their response to my review, I tagged them in my Instagram reel which had over 13k views at the time. They responded in the comments saying to reach out in a DM. I did. More nothing, really. Its been nearly two weeks now.
-5 Points
They got the public image of responding but without doing any work behind it. Way to do the bare minimum there, Discount Ramps.
Bottom line: -18 points or something like that. I stopped keeping track.
The e-bike looks bigger but it weighs 200lbs less than Booger. Hopefully, the Black Widow aluminum nightmare is up for the task.
I will never buy another product from Discount Ramps. The anti-rattle device is fine. It worked but it is only a piece of metal with four bolts sticking out of it. The folding mechanism works ok but it is an extra attachment between the hitch receiver and the carrier. It makes the carrier stick out even further and places the carried weight further from the truck.
The manner in which the ramp attaches to the carrier is also sketchy. I can easily see it rattling loose and falling off while driving down the interstate. It also obstructs the license plate on my truck when folded up. I opted to put it in the backseat on the way to the Honda dealer. The mounting bolts had backed out and I lost the nuts somewhere on the interstate along the way.
I ended up giving the whole thing to my dad so he can carry his 62-pound e-bike around. I’m sure it is fine for that.
Maybe I am being too harsh. Shame on them, though. I wonder how much business they actually do. More than they should, undoubtedly.
What Now?
I wanted to get a hitch carrier because I didn’t want to put Booger in the bed of my truck. A hitch carrier is easier to get a bike onto than running it up a ramp into the bed. It also leaves the bed open with room for activities. I’m debating ordering another carrier from a reputable brand like Mototote. It is my fault for trying to conserve financial resources. That’s what I get for being cheap. Shame on me too, I guess.
Disclaimer: I don’t know if I need to mention this but Discount Ramps definitely didn’t compensate me for this review. I’m not sponsored by anyone. This experience cost me $319.75 delivered. I usually link to the product I am reviewing but this product doesn’t deserve it. It isn’t difficult to find if you want to buy one. Just don’t complain when you receive garbage.
