Mo-Tow bike cariers, anyone use one?

[Zakk]

i mentioned in another topic that i was considering buying a 'Mo-Tow' MX bike carrier and was interested to hear from anyone else that was using one.
here's a link to them being sold online..
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/140892044148?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
i have a 4wd so i don't think the weight of a bike at the back would be an issue, but having up to 180kgs sitting maybe a metre of a hayman-reese seems a little unstable to me.

although you do see plenty of caravans with MX bikes hitched to the back.....
any advise would be appreciated

[steve7406]

A mate put one on the back his prado and loves it

[Paul552]

I think there would be a hell of a load on the tow bar.
Would be ok on a land cruiser or prado as they have that chassis mounted towbar that is tough as.

 Have a ford and I recon the towbar would vibrate bad.

Funny as there used to be a dude that had one with a crf450 on the back of a festiva that used to ride at appin.

He had polystyrene between the bike and car. For sure to stop it swinging back and forward.

( maybe the festiva would wheely if you tried

[Zakk]

i did a bit of searching for more info on these and the most common comment seemed to be from guys asking if anyone else had tried one... 
there does seem to be an issue with the bikes rolling off the mounts during cornering, so the tie downs need to be crossed.. one pulling forward and the other pulling backwards. plus ratchet tie downs are recomended.

anyway on the weekend i'm going to see if i can test fit one to my 4wd to check the clearances

[Canam370]

Nah, they are front wheel drive 

[Zakk]

( maybe the festiva would wheely if you tried

Nah, they are front wheel drive 

yeah, i saw that comment 
i would like to see a pic of a festiva with it hitched up, must poke out a fair bit each side

[Matador107]

Way way back in time I knocked up two off these to carry our DT250's (don't laugh) on the back of our panel vans. 4 wd's were't really available to the punters back then unlike today.
Used 4 inch channel with .a short piece kicked out at 30deg to locate the front wheel,therefore make bike as short as possible and not stick out.

The device sat over the towball and with support brackets either side it was pinned to either end of the towbar. To hold the bike on we used 10 mm brooker rod hooked around the frame up high under the tank/seat.

The handling wasn't a concern but noticed tyre wear on a trip from Sydney to Noosa and back. Rode the beaches for days on end and doubled my mate back from the pub with a slab.

Funny but only today I started to make a self loading/sliding ramps/hand winch/stick the bike on a tilt tray/no one around to help when you need them device. 4 wd tray tops are much higher than tub type utes these days.Scary part is I'm still using the same mighty Transarc Junior welder,I should get a life and just let the kids find me a village.
 

[Zakk]

i had a look at a mo-tow and did a trial fitting on my Scout and all looked good, the platform is about 25mm per side wider than my 4wd, so i bought one.. 


the one i bought didn't come with any lights so i've fitted some, plus another rear plate. the YZ sits in the channel nicely and it's easy to load up. once loaded i really couldn't even tell it was on the back, but then the Scout's rated to tow 3200kgs so a 15kg mo-tow and a 95kg YZ would weigh less than a full tank of fuel, even with extra the leverage ratio due to my bike sitting about 450mm out from the back.

after the test fitting and installing the extra lights, i loaded the bike up again using my fork seal saver, some ratchet tiedowns plus an okky strap to hold the back wheel down into the channel and the bike was very stable with no side to side movement at all. although i'm thinking of adding an extra rear strut brace from my towbar mount to one side of the mo-tow incase it rocks too much side to side over bumpy roads, but anyway we'll see how it goes first time out..

[oldfart]

I would be checking with "Main roads" to see if these have been approved.
 

[PEZBerq]

Why Main Roads Oldfart? Surely they don't approve vehicle design in Qld or have I got that wrong  Wouldn't it just be an engineers cert needed if tow bar fitting load rating was exceeded? Otherwise what would be the issue with these things? Cheers

[Zakk]

I would be checking with "Main roads" to see if these have been approved.
 

who's "main roads" ?

to work out your cars maximum tow ball weight just divide your maximum tow rating by 10
the Scout is rated to tow 3200kgs, so the maximum tow ball weight is 320kgs.

[PEZBerq]

Main Roads is Queenslands equivalent to NSW RTA. Look after all State owned road network.

[Rossvickicampbell]

these are legal in most states when I have had a look - however, as mentioned, you need extra lights - aka a trailer  - and maybe another number plate (or move existing one) - cannot obstruct lights or plate vision.

[Matador107]

I too have concerns about this device.To my mind the bike is sticking out too far either side of the vehicle. Does it have any compliance or approval tag, load rating . Unfortunately in this day and age it's got to be legal for when the proverbial hits the fan.I wonder about car insurance if there's an accident. Apart from all that the highway patrol are coming down on unsafe loads, a bloke was fined for not having his esky tied down on the ute tray.You probably can't even make your own number plate either.

[Rossvickicampbell]

jump onto the web site - yes they are load rated etc.