Easy Lifter Hydratrail

[Bruce H]

I feel a little bit awkward making this post because having bought a hydra trial unit to carry our small motorbike I found it to be very good. On this occasion it was only carrying two electric bikes, I put full faith in its performance and build quality. Last Wednesday however travelling at 60 miles an hour on the M20 on our way to Southern Spain one of the wheels parted company with the unit This resulted in dragging the rest of the unit for several hundred yards along the motorway until I could get on to a wide enough section of hard shoulder. The wheel and the leg that carries it crossed the carriageway and ended up on the other side of the motorway Having nowhere to carry the assembled unit and not wishing to dismantle it with forty tonne artics three feet away I had to leave the unit on the hard shoulder and put the bikes in the motor home. The damage to the underside of the unit was so extreme it was impossible to see why the failure occurred. I am fastidious with checking nuts, bolts, torque, straps and fixings before making any journey,before making this journey everything was checked including tyre pressures and grease into the wheel bearings. I do not know why it failed but I do know it was not down to negligence on my part. The unit has done several thousand miles without fault. The sad piece is that on contacting the maker and asking if it was possible to claim on the insurance the attitude was it cannot possibly be a fault with the unit and therefore no I’m not interested. This is a shame because I genuinely think that the idea is clever it makes carrying a motorbike easy and does not hinder your speed as a trailer would. The attitude of its not my problem is however very disappointing and had I been able to come to an agreement with the maker and seller I would’ve purchased another unit. Just a warning for anyone with a hydra trail or thinking of buying one. I will make it clear that this post is about the attitude rather than the product. I took numerous photos to support my case but I think even attempting to get any interest in my situation will be fruitless.

 

[st3v3]

Bugger. Post the pics up Bruce.

 

[Bruce H]

There you go

 

[Fazerloz]

No pics showing.

 

[alwaysared]

How heavy are your ebikes? Just asking as maybe they were too light because they say not to use the Hydra Trail without any load on? I've got one and like you I like it and have never had any problems but you've made me nervous now. Although I have to agree with you about the makers attitude, I lost the locking bar and pin for it and when I contacted them they weren't interested in supplying me with a new one so I got one made locally.

Regards,
Del

 

[Fazerloz]

Put it on face book Bikers with a motorhome campervan caravan group as a warning, Plenty on there use the hydratrail.

 

[Bruce H]

There you go again

 

[Bruce H]

£1200 left by the side of the road.

 

[Buckby]

Seen a chap on a site a few years ago in Cornwall and one of his wheels had just about fell off I think a local garage fixed it for him

 

[yeoblade]

£1200 left by the side of the road.

Think I'd do the same if that happened to me, I could never trust it again.

 

[maingate]

A friend of mine has one for sale. It's the type without the wheels. If anyone is interested pm me.

 

[trevskoda]

Was it welding which let go

 

[Drover]

That could have been very dangerous and for them to not want to know is just very bad on their part. Have you a photo of where the wheel parted company with the chassis stub axle.
On another note , how is the Mate electric bike?

 

[Bruce H]

There is nothing on the underside left to photograph, it all tore off, I don’t know what failed as I could not find or see the bits. The locating piece for the wheel assembly was distortEd and the spring loaded pin gone completely. Luckily the two bikes were undamaged .

 

[davidb3]

Sorry to hear of your bad experience and will definitely think twice about buying one now to be honest one guy suggested a box trailer and I may end up going down that route as I like the sound of the bike staying in the dry plus i could probably get two in there ( off to test ride a vstrom on Monday)

 

[Pudsey Bear]

What a disgusting attitude, I'd be inclined to speak to MCN or one of the other magazines and also MMM and just tell the story leaving out their attitude, they should have given sympathy and asked for it to be brought to them or offered to collect it for you if only to see if they could figure out what caused the issue in the first place, and also the wheel would have maybe shown the problem area.

I took an open trailer around Scotland once with a bike on it and I'd never do it again, they just get covered in crap and grit etc, a trailer is a PITA anyway so may as well be a box with a ramp