Easylifter?
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Sharpie
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I looked at both some years ago and liked neither.
Though the nose weight limit on my Ducato towbar is I think 200 kg (that's a homologated one, fitted to a panel van at the proper mounting points, not some add on job bolted onto a coach built with a large rear overhang), that does not mean that it is safe to sling a total of 200 kg, which must include the rack (how much does that weigh?), slung out on a long lever arm, is safe. Towbars are not designed for such huge torsional stresses when you hit a bump, they are for trailers where the noseweight presses straight down on the ball.
That's why I bought the lightest 250cc trailbike I could find, 125 kilos. Haven't selected a rack for it yet.
The hydratrail is IMO illegal, AFAIK it has no suspension. Which is not allowed, nor a great idea. Only recovery services are allowed to use unsuspended towing dollies.
I have seen a superb French design, with suspension, which attaches to the centre towball and also a second towball to one side. You can just clip it on and off. Lowering it to ground level is done by cranking a handle, or there is an electric motor option., the axle swivels, roll on the bike, or quad, or whatever, rotate the wheels back down again, up it comes.
Impressively engineered, substantial wheels, fully galvanised, official plates riveted to it. I looked into them, but couldn't afford it. I thought the cost was entirely justified by the design, engineering and manufacturing quality, it looked like an excellent thing, and the owner was proud to show me his.
In the UK it seems anyone can make trailers, racks etc, even DIY, no strength or durability testing, variable levels of competency or mechanical engineering or structural analysis knowledge or welding skills. Elsewhere it is different.
Though the nose weight limit on my Ducato towbar is I think 200 kg (that's a homologated one, fitted to a panel van at the proper mounting points, not some add on job bolted onto a coach built with a large rear overhang), that does not mean that it is safe to sling a total of 200 kg, which must include the rack (how much does that weigh?), slung out on a long lever arm, is safe. Towbars are not designed for such huge torsional stresses when you hit a bump, they are for trailers where the noseweight presses straight down on the ball.
That's why I bought the lightest 250cc trailbike I could find, 125 kilos. Haven't selected a rack for it yet.
The hydratrail is IMO illegal, AFAIK it has no suspension. Which is not allowed, nor a great idea. Only recovery services are allowed to use unsuspended towing dollies.
I have seen a superb French design, with suspension, which attaches to the centre towball and also a second towball to one side. You can just clip it on and off. Lowering it to ground level is done by cranking a handle, or there is an electric motor option., the axle swivels, roll on the bike, or quad, or whatever, rotate the wheels back down again, up it comes.
Impressively engineered, substantial wheels, fully galvanised, official plates riveted to it. I looked into them, but couldn't afford it. I thought the cost was entirely justified by the design, engineering and manufacturing quality, it looked like an excellent thing, and the owner was proud to show me his.
In the UK it seems anyone can make trailers, racks etc, even DIY, no strength or durability testing, variable levels of competency or mechanical engineering or structural analysis knowledge or welding skills. Elsewhere it is different.
Sharpie
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Further, a trailer with castoring wheels does not use those wheels to provide side force. They just swivel around, which is why you can reverse them without having to have any skills in reversing with a trailer The "trailer" just relies on the strength of the direct coupling to the vehicle to keep it in line laterally. Which in the case of one design of one of these does not fill me with confidence. Think of it as like towing around a shopping trolley, but strongly and rigidly connected hopefully to the vehicle to keep it in line, going forwards and backwards.
Without a rigid lateral connection (with vertical movement allowed in the linkage) it would just wag about hopelessly. And if the castoring wheels aren't designed with damping to prevent oscillation under all load and speed conditions, well that could go wrong too, ever pushed a shopping trolley with a wonky wheel that insists on spinning around and around ?
Unlike my traditional motorbike trailer, which is too narrow to be visible in the van mirrors, so I have a couple of extension poles with reflectors on the ends which I can see, when I use it on the van, not the car. And do regular mirror checks of them just in case of a tyre problem on the trailer, which otherwise might be undetected by me. It is still tricky to reverse, being quite short, but if you know what you are doing and take it slowly its still quite manageable. A reversing camera would be a great help, but I don't have one.
Without a rigid lateral connection (with vertical movement allowed in the linkage) it would just wag about hopelessly. And if the castoring wheels aren't designed with damping to prevent oscillation under all load and speed conditions, well that could go wrong too, ever pushed a shopping trolley with a wonky wheel that insists on spinning around and around ?
Unlike my traditional motorbike trailer, which is too narrow to be visible in the van mirrors, so I have a couple of extension poles with reflectors on the ends which I can see, when I use it on the van, not the car. And do regular mirror checks of them just in case of a tyre problem on the trailer, which otherwise might be undetected by me. It is still tricky to reverse, being quite short, but if you know what you are doing and take it slowly its still quite manageable. A reversing camera would be a great help, but I don't have one.
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alwaysared
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I use a Hydratrail, never had any problems with it and I don't even know it's there. The most important thing is to keep all the bearings and linkages greased.
Regards,
Del
Regards,
Del
Fazerloz
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Glad you are happy with it. Just a heads up though.
Keep a close eye on any oilite bushes in the linkages as mine broke up due to the fact they had only used the thickness of the hollow section wall for for the bush housing rather than making proper housings for them. A large amount of modern greases contain clay and shouldn't be used in oilite bushes as it stops the self lubricating properties of the bush, only use a suitable oil if necessary.
Sharpie
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I have been using my ordinary motorbike trailer, and towing boats, for decades, and like to think I am competent in e.g. reversing them. However I want to take a motorbike with me for future trips without worrying about extra ferry/tunnel/toll charges, so for me a rack on the back of my Ducato panel van seems the best solution. Which is why I bought the lightweight trail bike, to add to my other two big heavy fast ones, BMW 1100 GS and K series). I am quite happy loading using a ramp, even single handed if necessary, it's no different than what I am used to with the trailer.
With the standard trailer I carry a spare wheel, and a sometimes even a spare hub/bearing unit, since I have one anyway for my boat trailers which are regularly submerged in salt water, and bearing failure with those is always a possibility no matter how carefully you look after them. They all use the same hub, fortunately.
I don't expect the wheel bearings on the bike trailer to fail anytime soon, but its wheels do spin around nearly twice as fast as my road wheels, as do the tyres etc. so I do stick to the speed limits for them.
The boat trailers are lightly used, mostly only a few times a year and don't see thousands of miles. Unlike a bike trailer in regular use behind a camper on long trips.
I could fix my trailer myself, or any local garage could, but would that be the case with something like a hydratrail particularly when you are far far away in foreign parts, and it's something more fundamental than just a tyre or wheel bearing that's needed ? What are you going to do, who are you going to call, where are you going to leave the bike securely ? If you can't get it fixed, how are you going to get the bike home, I doubt a breakdown policy would cover that.
That is why I favour putting a rack on the back of mine, where the bike will also get the same comfortable ride as those of us inside, no worries about speed, extra charges, constantly looking to see that the trailer hasn't developed a fault etc. But the compromise is that I am limited as to the weight of the bike, which also adds to the payload. That's ok in my setup, and the bike is great fun.
If I want to take a big bike it will go on the trailer as usual.
Currently favouring http://www.armitagetrailers.com/scooterrackpage.htm? who seem to know their stuff
With the standard trailer I carry a spare wheel, and a sometimes even a spare hub/bearing unit, since I have one anyway for my boat trailers which are regularly submerged in salt water, and bearing failure with those is always a possibility no matter how carefully you look after them. They all use the same hub, fortunately.
I don't expect the wheel bearings on the bike trailer to fail anytime soon, but its wheels do spin around nearly twice as fast as my road wheels, as do the tyres etc. so I do stick to the speed limits for them.
The boat trailers are lightly used, mostly only a few times a year and don't see thousands of miles. Unlike a bike trailer in regular use behind a camper on long trips.
I could fix my trailer myself, or any local garage could, but would that be the case with something like a hydratrail particularly when you are far far away in foreign parts, and it's something more fundamental than just a tyre or wheel bearing that's needed ? What are you going to do, who are you going to call, where are you going to leave the bike securely ? If you can't get it fixed, how are you going to get the bike home, I doubt a breakdown policy would cover that.
That is why I favour putting a rack on the back of mine, where the bike will also get the same comfortable ride as those of us inside, no worries about speed, extra charges, constantly looking to see that the trailer hasn't developed a fault etc. But the compromise is that I am limited as to the weight of the bike, which also adds to the payload. That's ok in my setup, and the bike is great fun.
If I want to take a big bike it will go on the trailer as usual.
Currently favouring http://www.armitagetrailers.com/scooterrackpage.htm? who seem to know their stuff
barryd
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I'm glad Ive read this thread. Been using an Armitage rack for 11 years but its been a nightmare trying to find the right van to replace our current one with enough payload for a rack and small scooter. For a minute recently I considered one of the easylifter, hyrdo trail trailers but they sound like a complete nightmare compared to a rack. Never had a moments bother with ours since it was put on in 2008. I thought about trailing something bigger one year but decided the little scoot was just a better compromise on the rack.
Fazerloz
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There are plenty of Hydra trail users Barry that love them and don't have any problems. My problem is i cant look at such things without picking fault and wanting to make them better. They are built to a price after all is said and done.
No doubt i would buy one if one came up at the right price.
maingate
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You must have missed the one I put on here a few weeks ago.
Fazerloz
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Fazerloz
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Didn't someone send you a PM pretty quickly. Now the lifter is sorted i;m not desperate.
Sharpie
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It is not just a simple payload issue. If you want to sling a rack on the back of a motorhome with any significant rear overhang you have to understand that the lever arm due to it not being directly above the rear axle but some distance behind it, means that the rear axle (and tyres) gets loaded with more than the simple addition of bike+rack+mountings. And unloads the front axle the same (not good if yours is FWD and already can scrabble it's drive wheels in difficult, or just ordinary circumstances). Such as a hill start on a wet road, never mind something more serious.
My Ducato basically has the wheels at each corner, no significant overhang. So a rack on the back should weight up the rear axle, and the tyres, rather lightly, I've calculated it, and it is within limits for my setup, axle plated weight, tyre load ratings etc with my light trailbike.
For big motorhomes with garages behind the rear axle, this is significant. If the load was between the axles it would be quite different, but they aren't made that way. Sure the total mass may actually be within the payload limit, but take it to a weighbridge and measure front and rear axle weights and you might get a surprise, if a lot of that payload is in the garage or on a rack on the back.
My Ducato basically has the wheels at each corner, no significant overhang. So a rack on the back should weight up the rear axle, and the tyres, rather lightly, I've calculated it, and it is within limits for my setup, axle plated weight, tyre load ratings etc with my light trailbike.
For big motorhomes with garages behind the rear axle, this is significant. If the load was between the axles it would be quite different, but they aren't made that way. Sure the total mass may actually be within the payload limit, but take it to a weighbridge and measure front and rear axle weights and you might get a surprise, if a lot of that payload is in the garage or on a rack on the back.
Sharpie
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Just because you can make something like that yourself doesn't mean that it is any way legal. Neither is that narrow lighting board I think, since most of the van rear lights are obscured. It doesn't even seem to have a fog light on it, looks like the sort of thing used to put on the back of a bicycle carrier.
No additional reflector or lights on where the bikes stick out beyond the van, how is someone overtaking you in the dark supposed to know that they are sticking out beyond what little of the vehicle lights can be seen, or someone coming towards you realise that there is all that sticking out ?
My big boat trailer has forward facing white marker lights and rear reflectors for just this purpose, it is wider than any car and a little more than my van.
Neither can a Ducato take that sort of load on it's mounting points. Read the manual, it is quite specific. 200kg ISTR, that's before anything else such as the towbar itself (or whatever other ironmongery is being used instead)
Altogether a very poor job indeed. A dreadful lashup.
I hope not to be behind that if it all goes horribly wrong.
Nice old Honda by the way.
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Sharpie
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OK, basics, a Ducato can take 200 kilos on it's mounting points.
A homologated towbar weighs 50 kilos.
An Armitage rack, with lightweight alloy used in places weighs 30 kilos.
Leaving 120 kilos for the bike.
If you have somehow managed to put your thing together in a lighter manner, to carry bikes that I know are much heavier, well you must be a talented engineer indeed.
Please explain what your mass budget is for these items.
As for what might happen if something went wrong, and your insurers walked away after even the most cursory accident investigation, well that would be your, and maybe some other unfortunate people's problem to sort out.
I have looked into this quite carefully, and ISTM that what you are doing cannot possibly be correct.
I prefer to do things by the book. And not delude myself otherwise.
A homologated towbar weighs 50 kilos.
An Armitage rack, with lightweight alloy used in places weighs 30 kilos.
Leaving 120 kilos for the bike.
If you have somehow managed to put your thing together in a lighter manner, to carry bikes that I know are much heavier, well you must be a talented engineer indeed.
Please explain what your mass budget is for these items.
As for what might happen if something went wrong, and your insurers walked away after even the most cursory accident investigation, well that would be your, and maybe some other unfortunate people's problem to sort out.
I have looked into this quite carefully, and ISTM that what you are doing cannot possibly be correct.
I prefer to do things by the book. And not delude myself otherwise.
phillybarbour
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I use the fixed easylifter with a ramp, the towbar mounted one. Great product and works well.