Anyone fitted a Motorcycle rack?

[S0L]

Getting to grips with my Bongo now, but miss my motor bike when I'm away!

I'm thinking of getting a Scooter Rack to fasten in place of the tow ball (we'll never tow anything!) but wondered if anyone had any experience to share.

For the uninitiated it's something like this...



Note I wouldn't be putting my big full size bike on there, but I'm thinking of something small with two seats like a Honda MSX125.



Just to run locally and do the odd bit of light shopping!

[g8dhe]

Tow bars will be limited to 85Kgs of weight, I would have thought any form of motor bike/scooter will exceed that ?

[Bob]

Agree with Geoff, 85 kgs 'Nose Weight' so that's the bike and the rack.

[S0L]

Hmmm, the MSX is over that at 100KG. Not massively so. I'd pop it in the back but that tends to have the other camping stuff in there!

Is the 85KG nose weight to offset the van being pulled down too heavily at the back?

[Bob]

Yep, overloads suspension and you will loose steering.

As well as invalidating insurance and being in breach of C&U regs.

[S0L]

Doesn't sound desirable! I currently have a Skyteam Bongo Monkeybike which weighs 68KG, only catch is it won't take a pillion. Most racks look to be at least 30KG though, so yeah, still over the limit.

There appears to be the Easy Lifter Hydra Trail that'd work, tad pricey at £1195! Don't really want to go down the trailer route otherwise as nowhere to keep it.

I'll have to figure out if the MSX would fit inside with all the other gear we carry. Maybe in front of the middle seat...

Thanks for the advice though, much appreciated!

[Bob]

Might be easier to use a trailer.

[Tertiary]

Isn't a motorbike trailer only about a foot high? Stuck on its side for storage takes up no room at all really...

Its got to be the only way to go I would have thought - then you still have all the room in the Bongo for all the other stuff!

[mikeonb4c]

Noseweight and steering is an interesting issue. For example, does putting an extra/leisure battery under the bonnet, or fitting fender defender bars, offset the problem?

I'd go for a trailer anyway, less hassle in the long run.

[dobby]

Yep, I agree with Mike. Went all through the bike rack ideas for carrying my trials bike. Ended up with a trailer. Having said that though, loads of people fit racks to all sorts of cars and I'm pretty sure that the nose weights are even lower. I wouldn't risk it though for all the reasons stated above

[redz79]

Hi
have you looked at the bike towing rigs on Ebay, the rig fits on the tow ball but the rear wheel of the bike stays on the road, I was thinking of this idea for my Honda transalp, does away with the trailer and takes up no space, figure you would need some kind of light board, I would take the drive chain off the bike though the gearbox on the bike would still be turning at speed, do an ebay search for motorcycle dolly or motorcycle towing rig priced between £125 and £165.
rgds Ian

[Jimbobvfr400]

If storage is a problem then you want a Motolug trailer.
A mate had one, it would fit in the boot of a Vauxhall Vectra Hatch when folded up.

Www.motolug.com

[Bongolia]

Going with a trailer for mine, looked at the "dollies "on Ebay and thought one of them quite frightening. It locked the bike so it was unable to track the vehicle. Watching the YouTube video you could almost feel the torque applied to the the head stock as it went around a roundabout.

[Bongolia]

Yup, Motolug looks good.

[Jimbobvfr400]

Quite pricey though. My mate loves his, it is impressive when it folds up and goes in the boot though and IMO worth the money.