tow bar for bike or trike - help (1 Viewer)

[Neckender]

Hi Movan, It's my trike that is on the ebay advert, the trailer ette is made by the trike doctor in Sandiacre near Nottingham. If you google the trike doctor you can log on to the forum, he is also the man to give you the info on towing an automatic. Hope this is usefull to you.

John.

Ps it comes with a breakaway cable that links up to your hand brake.

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[Fatalhud]

Hi Movan, It's my trike that is on the ebay advert, the trailer ette is made by the trike doctor in Sandiacre near Nottingham. If you google the trike doctor you can log on to the forum, he is also the man to give you the info on towing an automatic. Hope this is usefull to you.

John.

Ps it comes with a breakaway cable that links up to your hand brake.

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The laws on towing are such a minefield
I must admit that the system used for towing your Harley in my opinion is a towing dolly, these should only be used for vehicle recovery and not as a permanent way of towing a vehicle
It would still be of no use to movan, because as stated Her trike is an Automatic

Alan H

 

[vwalan]

hi the trike dolly without the wheels is what i used to make years ago .i still have one .of course its illegal as it as no brakes .useful for recovery only. no good for autobox. i have travelled miles with my spec .shame its illegal ,never took any notice or even thought about it years ago.copied an intertrade one the rac were using at the time. i still use an intertrade non braked a frame as well ,a genuine one from about 1978.of course i only use it for recovery nod nod.cheers alan.

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[SpongeBobsDad]

Check this out on ebay.Click on link below.

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[vwalan]

yes well that just goes to show that some manufacturers of kit dont have a proper knowledge of the law. all trailers if fitted with brakes must have them working. can be used for recovery with very restricted speeds. no good anyway as op.trike is auto. google dft site it tells everything you need to know on trailers and dollies.
cheers alan

 

[SpongeBobsDad]

sorry seem to have duplicated advice given from an earlier thread :Blush:

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[movan]

Thank you all very much again. A couple of people have pm's me so I hope I now have this sorted.....

Regards,


a very confused Movan:thumb::thumb:

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[gazz]

have you tried contacting boom trikes??

last i heard boom trikes had their own towing atatchment, billy connely has a boom trike and uses the towing attatchemnt all the time behind his rangerover when on tour.

what kind of auto box does this trike have??? it's a lightweight trike so may have a CVVT style transmision, or an electricaly controlled manual like smart cars have,

or it could be the old style hydraulic auto box,

basicaly if it's the old style auto box as found on cars, then you cant tow it with the rear wheels on the ground,
but if it has one of the newer styles of auto box, then you may be able to,

as mentioned it will need it's brakes to be operated by the tow vehicle, but that wont be too hard to do,

There are still some a-frame makers out there who claim you dont need brakes when towing a small car, i know of someone who just wont believe anyone but the seller of his a-frame who told him his smart car could be towed on an unbraked frame,

i guess one day he'll be pulled over and get a big fine, points on his licence and possibly the car seized, but he thinks the a-frame manufacturer will rescue him in that case, but if he causes an accident whilst towing like that, he could be the one that causes the law to be changed on a-frames, banning them alltogether.

 

[dazzer]

just as a matter of interest and forgetting the laws about braked V unbraked etc if you were to put the rear wheels on a kind of dolly that lift the wheels off the ground (like the kind of thing you use for shoving your car around a workshop) would that solve the problem of the autobox??

I know nothing like that exists and the ones im thinking of a just 4 castors on a v plate but if something a bit beefier was used would they do the job, they would be easy to store as well??

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[vwalan]

hi dazzer ,they do exist intertrade do them for use in recovery. dont think suitable for long distances.
as a matter of interest if it was based on the old beetle auto it really coul;d be towed as they only had a stick shift with electric hydrolic clutch operation on a conventional type box.
the type 3 variant used a real auto but it wasnt used on the early beetles. cheers alan.

 

[movan]

Hrllo everybody... I am soooo grateful to you all for your help ... I really appreciate it..... I KNOW IT'S ME THAT'S THICK but I'm really confused. I've gone through the notes. Can you just finalise it for me before I go to the people who have pm'd me... (But before |I do than can I say. I DID ask where I bought it from but they were really ejxpensive as they added their cut on, plus even they started disagreeing.)

Right: Was it decided that I needed a trailer because of the weight?
Or because it was automatic
Or did I not need a trailer

BUT if I use a boatlaunching trailer then I need high speed bearings and tyres and be of light construction.k

AND I need to fit a cable to the break pedal.

HOWEVER, I have to revers onto a quad trailer.

then don't need a trailer but need a U channel.

But then I will damage the transmission because it is automatic

And then I could kill the gearbox (if VW... not VW but IS German!)

Because of my lifting problems I need the Phoenix .... but they are in America and havn't answered my email.

:helpsos::blonde2::tears::tears:

I fully understand if you wanna give up on me...:Sad:

 

[vwalan]

hi ,i can make you one you pay for the bits very easy not really worth the discusion . cheers alan.

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[Wildman]

simple answer.
1)As the trike is automatic it will have to be trailered.
2) If the total weight trike and trailer is under 750kg then the trailer does not need to be braked.
3) Hence a simple boat trailer modified to carry the trike will suffice, however it will need high speed bearings
4) the jockey wheel makes handling very easy and no additional complication need be involved
Any further queries just come into chat and we can sort them out.

 

[Fatalhud]

The simplest solution, is to leave the Trike at home, because its as big as a car and buy a scooter, which you can easily stick on the back of the van:thumb:

Alan H

 

[rainbow chasers]

Your easiet option is to buy a trailer! You want a tilt bed, such as an ifor williams, with the full length 'ramp' that will allow the whole thing to be driven on/off. It will amply take the weight, be braked, and not raise any eyebrows from the constabulary should you be stopped!

Covert a trailer and all is well until someone drives up your rear or similar, and the police will start asking about it's construction etc

Buy flatbed, tilting trailer. No need for any u-channels - secure the back wheels with wheel straps, and the front via the bars using bar straps - keep lose to allow slight movement and not to bend bars - alternatively strap from frame.

Always reverse on, so you don't get a wiggle on, and keep the weight on the motorhome.

Sorted!:thumb:

Something like this would do - obviously this is cheap end, £1500 would see a nice galvanised version - just make the ramp go full width, and that will be fine!

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[dryad]

Hrllo everybody... I am soooo grateful to you all for your help ... I really appreciate it..... I KNOW IT'S ME THAT'S THICK but I'm really confused. I've gone through the notes. Can you just finalise it for me before I go to the people who have pm'd me... (But before |I do than can I say. I DID ask where I bought it from but they were really ejxpensive as they added their cut on, plus even they started disagreeing.)

Right: Was it decided that I needed a trailer because of the weight?
Or because it was automatic
Or did I not need a trailer

BUT if I use a boatlaunching trailer then I need high speed bearings and tyres and be of light construction.k

AND I need to fit a cable to the break pedal.

HOWEVER, I have to revers onto a quad trailer.

then don't need a trailer but need a U channel.

But then I will damage the transmission because it is automatic

And then I could kill the gearbox (if VW... not VW but IS German!)

Because of my lifting problems I need the Phoenix .... but they are in America and havn't answered my email.

:helpsos::blonde2::tears::tears:

I fully understand if you wanna give up on me...:Sad:

hope you find the right solution to your trike transport movan.
it can be a right pain the butt, trying to find the right thing, especially when you're not as able as you used to be, and need everything as easy as possible,
can certainly identify with that one as i'm trying to find the right solution to transporting my power chair, so have read this thread with great interest.
(will start a new thread for me in the disabled section so that i don't hijack yours)

incidentally that phoenix link by the way that road runner put on..they're in uk..and that looks to be a very fair price for the trailer, and it should be possible, i would have thought, to have fitted hydraulic thingys (sorry, don't know the correct term) to enable the ramp to be lifted and lowered easily for you..
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i'm still dreaming of a trike, but sadly the penny jar is a bit on the empty side these days..:Sad:

and don't take any notice of that fatalhud man who suggested leaving your trike at home, you got a trike, enjoy it..you go, girl..

 

[TheTwoOfUs]

I think caution should be exercised before assuming that the trike should be reversed on. It may well be that the nose weight is far too high. Smart cars, albeit shorter are'nt reversed on and their engines are in the back. All I can say is don't assume anything. If you are having one made take the trike to the person making it and get them to check out where the best place for the wheels is relative to the trike and towbar to get the optimum balance. The problem with Boon trikes is that you have a mass of weight at the rear but very little at the front due to the raked forks.

 

[Road Runner]

Get a phoenix and ask him to make it to suit your needs

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[Wintonian]

That trailing device is very interesting. I think that anyone who has developed a system, putting in the time and effort and money, deserves to make a profit on it, so the price seems justified. Of course anyone can steal the idea and make a copy and save a few pounds. Especially an impoverished MH owner who can't be bothered to build his own MH!!

One point. If the trike is, itself, considered a trailer and it is being towed by a device that is also a trailer, you may be caught by the rules governing such rigs - speed limits in particular....... Just to bung another spanner in the works, so to speak!

The manufacturers must be assumed to have checked the legal status of the device.