Motorcycle Towing

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mimico_polak

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Hey guys,
I'm looking into getting a small trailer for my car (Elantra Touring) which would allow me to tow the bike to where I want to ride. There's a few I've seen (folding, specific motorcycle trailers) which end up being fairly expensive. I like the trailer in a bag, but for $1400+ I'd rather just ride to my destination.

Then I found this on ebay this morning:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTORCYCLE-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item20ce82dbee&vxp=mtr

Now I know cars can be towed with the rear wheels on the pavement in neutral. How does this work with a bike? Anyone use this method? Thoughts / opinions? Or is it a stupid idea that's unsafe?

My car can tow 750lbs and the max weight on the hitch that I'm looking at (U-Haul) is 2,000lbs.
 
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wow! I woulnd't use that kind of device to tow my bike. Also would to be legal to tow your bike behind your car without tow lights?

Rail style trailers are cheap and simple...and light...
 
I believe you would starve parts of your transmission by towing it with the rear wheel on the ground and engine off.
 
No. As long as car lights and indicators are visable you do not need lights on trailer
 
Didn't think of that inferno! LoL If I kept the bike in gear I think the tire would just skid as it's such a light bike and with me on it trying to bump start it the thing still skidded on wet pavement.

As for the rail type carriers, I'm mostly concerned about a shock load going over a bump at speed. Even if it's rated at 2000lbs (hitch) a good enough jolt may be able to snap the thing? Plus I don't think that the Elantra has enough capacity in the shocks to absorb it.

Alright time to look more for smaller regular trailers. Thanks for the quick response guys.
 
mimico_polak said:
Didn't think of that inferno! LoL If I kept the bike in gear I think the tire would just skid as it's such a light bike and with me on it trying to bump start it the thing still skidded on wet pavement.

As for the rail type carriers, I'm mostly concerned about a shock load going over a bump at speed. Even if it's rated at 2000lbs (hitch) a good enough jolt may be able to snap the thing? Plus I don't think that the Elantra has enough capacity in the shocks to absorb it.

Alright time to look more for smaller regular trailers. Thanks for the quick response guys.
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Its not like you will have 2000 lbs of tongue load.

have a read...http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/towing/towing-capacity/information/tongue-weight.htm


--> Your Elentra with a CLASS II hitch and 100lbs or so of tounge weight should be able to two a 450LB BIKE + 200LB TRAILER all day with zero issues...
 
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just ride

Trailer037.jpg


Toronto.jpg
 
If I put the rail carrier on the car then the weight would definitely exceed the tongue weight of the car (200lb). That's the one I'm concerned about.

I got a good price to install a trailer from U-Haul, and now looking for a small / folding trailer.
 
boooya said:
What the towing capacity of your car?
I'm pretty sure it's under 800lbs.
You can't go by the number on the hitch, that's not your max towing capacity of the vehicle, but rather the hitch itself.
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According to the manual - 750lbs
According to the service manager at Hyundai - 680kgs/1500lbs

I trust the manual. It's a small 4cyl engine.
 
mimico_polak said:
If I put the rail carrier on the car then the weight would definitely exceed the tongue weight of the car (200lb). That's the one I'm concerned about.

I got a good price to install a trailer from U-Haul, and now looking for a small / folding trailer.
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Don't even bother thinking about one of the rails that will attach directly to the hitch for your car. There is to much weight even for my V6 SUV.

boooya said:
I picked up a 4.5x7 trailer that weighs 230lbs. Wasn't cheap but it works well and is very versatile.
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Where did you get it? I will be looking at some point this summer.
 
i bought a harbour freight trailer when they were cheaper for $250, now I think there around $350. I was happy with it and it worked well. I bought the non-foldable model.
 
I wouldn't tow with that, there's a lot moving in the gearbox when the bike is in neutral and with no oil pump running I'd be seriously concerned about lubrication issues
 
I bought the Harbour Freight trailer as well, the foldable model. While the trailer was only $300, with tax, accessories (wheel choke, spare tire), plywood, ramp, hardware etc. ended up costing approx. $700. My tow car was a Mazda Protege5 with standard transmision, very similar in size to your Elantra. I did two long trips towing my bike, Florida and South Dakota, and several shorter ones, in total approk 10,000kms. The trailer, as fragile as it looks did well, and the car had no issues while towing or after. Since my towing capacity was also very limited, I wanted to have a light trailer as the bike itself is about 700 lbs.

Driving with the trailer was mostly OK, but required extra care, the tongue weight lifts the front of the car and during a rainstorm at 100kmh the front wheels started slipping, a friendly reminder to slow down. When climbing on Interstates had to use the truck lane as I could not keep up confortably with the speed limits. Fuel mileage went down (without the trailer used to be 8l/100km, with trailer was 10-11l/100km at 100km/h).

This model as I said is foldable and when stored sits upright, occupying a very small footprint, allowing to store car, bike and trailer all in a single car garage.Back in 2010, here on GTAM, there were a number of very well written threads on how to import, build and register these trailers (they come in kits).

IMG_0107.jpg
 
I have used the dirt bike hitch carrier on my Blazer a lot, even brought home my DL1000 with it, but it was way overloaded and not smart. For a dirt bike or light bike its fine, but for your smaller car it would be a no go. A light rail trailer should be ok for you.
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