Anyone has the Moto Tote?

I have a Grand Caravan with a Class 3 trailer hitch. I am thinking of getting the Moto Tote for my '03 954rr. Seems like the weight will be right up there to the max - 90lbs + 400lbs bike.

Any opinion will be helpful.


Moto tote

Motorcycle Daily is a trusted enthusiast website. Here's their less than glowing review.

http://www.motorcycledaily.com/26may04_mototote.htm

[DEPO]

Just think of this


400 lbs of bike haning off of a 2 inch piece of square tubing......

at about 8 to nine inches away........


I would not trust this what so ever.....


I would also tell you that you need to treat the hitch as tonque weight since you do not have a set of wheels distributing the load....

A Grand Caravan, with a 400 lb tonque weight...... hmmmm

discussed this on another forum....

the biggest problem i have with this thing is not just the tongue weight, it's the bike's weight at the tongue, "increasing" with up and down movement of the vehicle.

400 lbs will register higher on a scale, if you bounce it up and down. lighter on the ups.....but much heavier on the downs..........

IMHO, even a cheapo-trailer from Harbor Freight with a U-Channel bolted to it would be safer and better than the tote-thingy.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...441&pricetype=

i've seen them, and for the money, they're not too shabby.........

I have this trailer 12 years now. It probably has 30k miles on it. I have had a sportbike and a small cruiser on it. I have also had 3 training bikes on it. I just put tires on it this fall, dry rot, not wear. With the deck and all I have added, its about 240lbs. It's a Harbor Freight model. Just make sure you get the 12in tires.
http://www.fireblades.org/forums/att...achmentid=2984
http://www.fireblades.org/forums/att...achmentid=3535

Back around '63 to '74 my fruit orchards became sort of spread around. So with channel iron & a bit extra I built a way of carrying a small dirt m/c on the front.

It was something for people simply did not ride m/cs in this area. So there I would be with the tractor pulling a 300 gal sprayer & the bike at the front. At the point, unload the bike & put on the rest of my protective gear, then I would be spraying, & if the wind came up, it was leave tractor & sprayer there to ride home & to get into possibly thinning or what ever.

Now that was a sturdy mount & within a year I had picked up a trailer to hitch onto my Jeep & it would carry up to 3 dirt comp irons. Honked all over B.C. Province here in Cdn along with some in Alberta to compete in comp events.

Keep wondering if I should rebuild that with broader channels, for the tyres of my 929 & 954 though it would be costly with new wheels, & such as well plus someway to roll the sportbikes on & off by myself without dragging the bottom of the fairing.

I own an M3 and it works great. I hauled a '99 Honda CR250 to and from Houston - Colorado Springs w/ zero bending or other problems. Then I used it for another 2yrs. once a week to and from the track 30 min. trip each way. It looks to me like the guy in the article has a weak receiver hitch.

[06CBR1KMFNRR]

I'm reviving a thread from January 2005. My question is about the "sport" model of the moto-tote. Anyone have any input on this thing? The website claims a rated weight of 600 lbs. Motorcycles And Dirt Bike Carriers, Scooter Hauler, Motorcycle Carrier Hitch That would make my old suburban one hell of a track-day tool. There's one for sale in my town for a very reasonable price (much less than any towing solution from harbor freight).

If no one knows I'll probably buy it and let you all know what I think.

[lanbrown]

A friend of mine has one for his dirt bike, I feel it makes the rear of the vehicle squat too much. To me it is unsafe, you are driving downt he road with the front of the vehicle raised which can impact handling and braking. It is just too much weight on the tongue.

Look at what the manufacturer rates the tongue weight for and then how mich your bike and the tote will weigh.

[06CBR1KMFNRR]

Originally Posted by lanbrown

A friend of mine has one for his dirt bike, I feel it makes the rear of the vehicle squat too much. To me it is unsafe, you are driving downt he road with the front of the vehicle raised which can impact handling and braking. It is just too much weight on the tongue.

Look at what the manufacturer rates the tongue weight for and then how mich your bike and the tote will weigh.

I agree that the tongue weight is important. I'd be suprised if my 89 suburban couldn't handle the 475 lbs that I would be giving it. I think the truck weighs weighs about 23 tons.

I'm just wondering if anyone with the "sport" model has had any issues with the product bending or failing with a sport bike on it.

I saw one of these being used on the freeway yesterday and it looked like the carrier was working great, no visible wobble.
The 'Sport' version seems like it must be built beefier if it is rated at 600lbs. If you already have a truck set up for towing I don't see the problem. I have airbags and even though my truck is rated at 500 lbs tongue weight the bags make it ride better.
I could rig up tallights for a lot less than $65 and a little time with a welder would solve any wobbling issues. I can see it being hard to build the perfect hitch carrier for every different type of motorcycle out there so a little modification shouldn't be unexpected.

My 2000 K-3500 Long Box Crew Cab with 6.5 turbo diesel would not notice there was a bike back there. But the ramp would be kinda short.

[lanbrown]

Originally Posted by 06CBR1KMFNRR

I agree that the tongue weight is important. I'd be suprised if my 89 suburban couldn't handle the 475 lbs that I would be giving it. I think the truck weighs weighs about 23 tons.

I'm just wondering if anyone with the "sport" model has had any issues with the product bending or failing with a sport bike on it.

The carrier is nearly 100 pounds by itself. Your bike should be over 400 pounds, so you have a weight of over 500 pounds.

Your truck doesn't weight 23 tons; which would be 46,000 pounds. I think you mean 2.3 tons or 4,600 pounds. It is not the weight but the placement of the weight that matters here.

[06CBR1KMFNRR]

Originally Posted by lanbrown

The carrier is nearly 100 pounds by itself. Your bike should be over 400 pounds, so you have a weight of over 500 pounds.

Your truck doesn't weight 23 tons; which would be 46,000 pounds. I think you mean 2.3 tons or 4,600 pounds. It is not the weight but the placement of the weight that matters here.

Are you sure? I think it's 23 tons. It's also 400 feet long and has 8000 horsepower.

It was a joke.

I was trying to point out that the long wheelbase and overall weight of the vehicle would make it well-suited for heavy tongue weights.

[lanbrown]

Not always the case. The wheelbase doesn't matter as much as putting the weight over the rear axle. This is why fifth wheels are so stable. Vehicles like the BMW X5 were also good towing vehicles because of the short overhang. GM likes long overhangs and at the rear, can cause issues with towing.

[06CBR1KMFNRR]

Originally Posted by lanbrown

Not always the case. The wheelbase doesn't matter as much as putting the weight over the rear axle. This is why fifth wheels are so stable. Vehicles like the BMW X5 were also good towing vehicles because of the short overhang. GM likes long overhangs and at the rear, can cause issues with towing.

I would say that the wheelbase is just as important as the overhang. You're talking 1st-class mechanical levers here with the axle being the fulcrum. The overhang is the distance that you would multiply by the force (weight of bike and carrier) which makes up one half of the equation and the wheelbase mulitplied by the weight on the front axle is the other half.

So we've both learned something here today. I learned that there are 2,000 lbs in a ton and you learned about the conceptual physics of 1st-class levers. I guess we can take the rest of the day off, huh?

[lanbrown]

The overhang is more important though. I know someone who used a Suburban for years for a camper and then used an X5. The wheelbase is far better on the Suburban but the X5 did much better. Both had a load distributing hitch setup. The X5 was more stable as the weight was closer to the axle where is was further away on the Suburban. He was also over the limit on the X5 but never had an issue. He was below the limit on the Suburban. The shorter overhang also helps in regards to the camper/trailer, etc. from pushing the vehicle side to side as well; but with the tote this is not an issue.

Originally Posted by lanbrown

The overhang is more important though..

Uhh, no it is not more important. It is equally important. A lever is a lever. A longer wheelbase puts the engine (the predominant mass, I think) further away from the rear axle.

Originally Posted by lanbrown

I know someone who used a Suburban for years for a camper and then used an X5. The wheelbase is far better on the Suburban but the X5 did much better. Both had a load distributing hitch setup. The X5 was more stable as the weight was closer to the axle where is was further away on the Suburban. He was also over the limit on the X5 but never had an issue. He was below the limit on the Suburban. The shorter overhang also helps in regards to the camper/trailer, etc. from pushing the vehicle side to side as well; but with the tote this is not an issue.

If you're saying that their was less reduction in front wheel weight in the X5 than on the Suburban, then I would say that if there was such a thing as a stretch X5 there would be even less reduction. If you're saying that the X5 was more stable than the Suburban, then I would say "Gee Whizz. Might be a different suspension set-up, eh?" Because the longer wheelbase helps there, too. Just try to imagine the stability of a stretched X5.

[lanbrown]

The BMW has better weight distribution than the Suburban.

For a vehicle designed for towing (Suburban) then it should do very well. Here you have a vehicle that was not designed for it and put over the manufacturers limit and performs better.

Look at fifth wheels or 18-wheelers. They put the weight on the rear axle. Their sheelbase starts at 140" where the Suburban is 130". Notice the huge difference in weight that can be pulled safely and the stability? They extra 10" does not make that big of a difference,

A stretched X5 would not handle like the current one.

Originally Posted by lanbrown

The BMW has better weight distribution than the Suburban.

The BMW is better than the Chevy. What a surprise.

Originally Posted by lanbrown

A stretched X5 would not handle like the current one.

A stretched X5 would handle better than the current one (from a stability point of view only).