Personal bike transporter - what's yours and what's best?

[brent j]

I've got a 92 space cab Rodeo that just won't quit. Totally reliable for 245,000km and still more to come.

I've thought about a van but it's got to be my daily driver as well. The extra cab room is good for lock up type stuff and I found the double cab put too much weight too far back for my liking when carrying bikes. The space cab seems a good compromise between handling and room.

I've thought of a trailer but then you need somewhere to park it.

I've thought of a new ute but find it hard to justify the price. The current one is the 2.6L petrol and fitted with a cruise control. This has proven a real bonus on trips to far off race meetings.

A trip to the races for me is either 40km or 10,000, not much in between.

Cheers

Brent

[holeshot buddy]

i still have my enclosed 3 bike trailer i built in 1984
its great can lock it everything is out of weather and keeps car space clearer
ultimate is duel cab ute towing enclosed trailer
i have carried 6 bikes like this
vans are great i used to have a bedford but you are limeted to amount of bikes and room

[Quicksilver]

2001 XR6 ute. Does the job nicely. Now clocked up over 250.000 kms and still going strong. Before that has XA GS ute factory fitted 351 4 speed with AC and power steer in bright lime glaze green, hammered it around for 10 years used as work horse, drag raced at local 1/8th mile, used and used and used. Always was faithful old ute.

[eno]

Hey Brent I've got the same truck, 92 Isuzu spacecab 2.6 L petrol burner. Love it to bits, going strong at 285000 kms. I noticed one time you saying how you thought some batches of fuel affect how much ya truck was burning. I've experienced the same thing, one day on a fill up it's used about 3-4 liters more fuel - nothings changed on the vehicle or driving habits. It has driven me to change air filters, spark plugs even fitted extractors. Fuel comsumption just strangely varies sometimes, it generally gets about 9kms to the liter.

It is just one good tough truck...Ah, trucks they are like dogs - every now & then you get a good one.

[Muzza]

Hey Greg,
  I have a 7 by 4 box trailer with side rails all round, big wheels/near new tyres that will be sale for about $250 if the bike sells! Painted flash massey fergasun red, all lights work rego'd til October 08
Muz

[mx250]

I noticed one time you saying how you thought some batches of fuel affect how much ya truck was burning. I've experienced the same thing, one day on a fill up it's used about 3-4 liters more fuel - nothings changed on the vehicle or driving habits. It has driven me to change air filters, spark plugs even fitted extractors. Fuel comsumption just strangely varies sometimes, it generally gets about 9kms to the liter.

Thats probably variation in  fuel. 'Oils arn't oils' and 'fuels arn't fuels'. Fuels do vary from brand to brand, batch to batch and servo to servo.  I use mainly LPG and I notice the same thing. One day the ute is like a bird and the next ya thinking of selling the 'old dog'.

[Colin Jay]

Tow vehicle is a '98 Rodeo Crew Cab with a canopy turning it in to a H/Duty station wagon. 2.6L 4 cylinder engine running on LPG means it does not have an excess of power but will sit on the speed limit fully loaded. Trailer is currently a home made 2 bike job that is a bit too short as I built it for carrying my bultaco trials bikes years ago. In the process of building a new trailer based on a cut-down pop-top caravan. Will be 4m x 2m fully enclosed and capable of carrying 6 bikes plus tools and other nessecary equipment, with fold down bunk beds for those long trips and over night camping type events.

CJ

[TT5 Matt]

75mod 265 valiant ute on gas,good thing about vals is they use a sedan floor plan leaving all that space beneath the tray right up to the diff totally out of sight

TT5 Matt

[Wombat]

I see the Rodeo utes get a good mention and I'll back that.
'No hungry wheel arches to eat up your payload space' as they say on the ads!
Mine had 320K plus on the clock when I slid into a pole.
It never missed a beat and I would've kept it for years :'(.
Unfortunatey I pranged it juuuust prior to buying my first VMXer - so the bikes are destined to be towed in a box trailer for the foreseeable future. 
At least trailers are low to the ground and easily a one man load.

[crash n bern]

Crash it would be bloody great if the petrol prices were period 

What? ....fifteen cents a gallon. So that's a buck fifty to fill the ute and 30 cents for the bike. Out of the 60 dollar pay packet.  And you could buy a new Maico.

[brent j]

Eno I gave this new ethanol blend fuel a try. It's a bit cheaper and the ute runs quite happily on it but I lost about 20% in distance on the same amount of fuel. I keep a pretty close eye on my km/L and I ran 3 tanks of the stuff to try it. As soon as I went back to regular I got the 20% back.
Did you notice much difference with the extractors?

Here's a cheap power/economy trick for this model. I found this by accident and it makes a big difference. If you have the inlet hose running over the motor to the manifold, remove the plastic section and replace it with a parellel steel pipe. You need to add some fittings for the breather hoses. I also run an K&N filter which makes as much difference. Don't bother with a HYCLONE!

Brent

[pokey]

Ethanol.... Pffft
 Yeah spose its cheaper at the pump but seems you (well I do)spend more time at the next pump.

My tRUSTY 7x4 trailer gets towed (begrudgingly) behind the lil red thang and no its a not a bloody Honda its a 99 Celica.

Just moved from Brisneyland to Gladstone area and my poor lil car was filled to the gills with crap, lucky i dont smoke as i wouldnt have had room to fit a packet of rollie papers. Think I blew my back shocks on the way up.

 Anyways as a comparison  I drove  legal (almost) and arrived with 1/3 of a tank of Shell ultra  left, think its about a 60 litre tank. My girlfriend did the same trip in her Matiz ( sewing machine) and had to fill up at Childers or Gin Gin i forget which.
 Fair enough she has to have the AC on  but she wasnt driving fast or carrying a load and those lil cars are spose to be oily rag chasers.

Anyway my point being my car runs crap on ethanol blend stuff  and the fuel economy is non existant. Seems like its the same as fuel for Dirt bikes.

Good fuel = Good Power= Less required to do the same task= Better Performance/Economy.


Try it out, it may work for you too.


I just had a thought.. what will happen when Ethanol is in short supply? sheesh ........Bourbon will be $200 a litre. Drink it freddie drink it

[eno]

Brent, it made little difference to fuel consumption with the headers fitted (coby brand), it does rev a bit more freely & has more boogy when down shifting to take on other vehicles. Do you ever get the impression that one of these things could run on kerosene?, mine never pings, always fill up with 91. I reckon the compression must be low & you could get a lot more efficiency by raising compression. As it is it's very fuel tolerant & runs at a consistant temp.
I don't qiute understand that intake mod you spoke of, my trucks got a plastic frexible pipe from air box to a still air space in behind the headlight - looks like a savvy arrangement. The headers have a stub for the hot air supply - which now is really hot, won't be taking that off as the last time I did such a thing on a vehicle the carb promptly iced up.

[Denis]

My personal motorcycle transporter is a 1991.5 Dodge W250 4x4 with a Cummins Turbodiesel. Whoo hoo!

[Neilios]

Navara idea for bikes (3 no problems with 3 bloke and kit) also good for work during the week and family all other times. Not a good protection as a van but seats 5!!

Just my 2p worth.