Modern Buddy

I just put a hitch on my minivan and I am looking for options for hauling the scooter. I want to carry it on trips to visit family and ride it while I am there, but i have to haul the family as well.

Is anybody out there now hauling there scoot long distances, currently my only idea is to get a small trailer and tie it down. Any ideas would be appreciated, concerns, etc. How are you doing it if you are?

This is the first thing I came across when I googled motorcycle straps http://www.discountramps.com/motorcycle ... -downs.htm

A small trailer is your best bet.
I own a Versa-Haul - which attaches to your hitch and hangs off the rear end. I totally destroyed my rear suspension transporting a motorcycle back from Michigan and one from Minnesota.
One of the best trailers I have used is the Trailer In A Bag. I just brought a motorcycle back from Minneapolis with no problems.

My initial idea was to put one of the 2' X 5' trays that just hang supported by the vehicle. They are supposed to be good up to 500lbs (and the scooter was way under that). But when I opened it the very first line was "Do not put motorcycle or Scooter on this!".

My species usually ignores such warnings, but I wanted some backup.

BTW, that trailer in a bag looks awesome, but then I saw the cost (ouch)! Good link though.

As tempting as it may be, don't use one of those trailer hitch carriers that your Grandparents utilize to transport a tub of sweaters to their Summer home in Boca Raton.

Linky fixied

I think I have been convinced to drop the basket, there is a 5X5 wheeled trailer at a local HW store that may work. I would add some supports to it for the wheels, I may go that way.

Perkussion, I am coming your way on labor day (just FYI). I am from Pensacola and will be visiting my sisters family that weekend. So I am eyeballing that trip specifically.

For anyone cosidering hauling any two-wheeled vehicle I'd strongly recommend that you purchase a set of Canyon Dancer handle bar straps. They'll make your life a lot easier and secure your front end without damage.

Hi all,
I'm curious about the arguments against the 2X5 luggage carrier. I called the company about this one:
http://www.drawtite-hitches.com/product ... ther,63153

and they told me it would be fine. In fact, I started a similar thread about transporting my buddy and the responses I got seemed to suggest that this would work - other than that it might be a pain getting it on and off.

I really like the idea because the rack is useful for other things. And, it costs about 10% of most of the trailers/motorcycle haulers I've seen.

So, still not clear to me why this wouldn't work. What am I missing?

That what I was looking at...I bought one (not the exact one) and it had a warning on carrying scoots or motorcycles. It was undefined beyond that.

The guy earlier warned against based on suspension problems and I could see that with an unbalanced load on small vehicles (like mine). The warning may have been due to liability for securing the thing too. I wouldn't carry it unless I was confident it was secured. They are much reasonable in price though.

The problem with carriers that attach to your hitch (as I understand it) is that it places a tremendous amount of strain on your rear suspension - as well as making your vehicle unstable.
Of course, all of this depends on your particular vehicle and its "tongue weight" rating.
To give you an example, I have a Land Rover Discovery. The tongue rating is about 500 pounds. After hauling a couple of 400 pound bikes a few times, my rear suspension was shot - resulting in a costly repair.
If you own a dump truck, you will likely be fine.

wolfpackscooter wrote:Hi all,
I'm curious about the arguments against the 2X5 luggage carrier. I called the company about this one:
http://www.drawtite-hitches.com/product ... ther,63153

and they told me it would be fine. In fact, I started a similar thread about transporting my buddy and the responses I got seemed to suggest that this would work - other than that it might be a pain getting it on and off.

This railed cargo carrier has a rail surrounding the carrier’s floorboard and that rail would make it very difficult to load/unload your Buddy. On your previous thread about a different cargo carrier, I made some suggestioned modifications for making that cargo carrier more like a motorcycle/scooter carrier: install a wheel chock and some tie down points. Despite my suggestions, I can not recommend using these cargo carriers for carrying your scooter because I have no experience with them.

If I am transporting only one Buddy I use a VersaHaul hitch mounted carrier. I have the VersaHaul model VH-55 RO carrier. It costs about $300 dollar more that cargo carriers that you are looking at but it is a carrier that is designed specifically for transporting a scooter/motorcycle:

- It has its own ramp that makes it easy to load and unload the Buddy.

- It has scooter/motorcycle specific tie down points so that your scooter/motorcycle can be firmly secured to the carrier.

- It has a built in wheel chock which the front of the scooter/motorcycle can be secured against.

- It is a solidly built carrier, nothing rattles or clanks or makes any noise.

I concur with Johnny in that the vehicle that you are using to transport your Buddy has to be up to the task. I use a 30 foot RV. If I was using a smaller vehicle such as a minivan, I would not use a hitch mounted carrier like the VersaHaul because I don’t think that the frame/suspension of a smaller vehicle is designed to carry a scooter/motorcycle directly on a hitch. If you have a smaller vehicle, your best Buddy transporting method is a trailer.

I went ahead and bought that basket carrier on Saturday and tried it out. I drive a mini-van, so the hitch is maybe 8" off the ground. With the weight of the scooter and the natural decline of the basket it was only about 2" off the ground without moving. This will not work, the slightest bump will be causing havoc back there..

So I brought it back...I am now looking at a 6X5 trailer at Lowe's that sells for $300. I was planning on making some L type brackets to secure the wheels and some latch tie-downs to secure it.

This will work, I just wanted to avoid spending the extra $300.

I have finally finished modding and using the trailer....it worked great. Its a $300 trailer from Lowes, with about $100 of extra hardware to stabilize the wheels.

I also carried a bike and a stroller on it, so it came in real handy. I drove it about 600 miles round trip, no hiccups...thank God.

Thats really nice, care to do a quick writeup? Particularly trailer, extra parts, and a basic install guide? Im sure there are quite a few of us that this might come in handy for, especially being under $500.

Using the Versa-Haul we hauled my Buddy 125 on the back of a Suzuki Xl-7, which was towed by a 40' diesel pusher motorhome from Tucson to Denver, 900 and some miles. There were more straps then shown here, FYI.

Does that trailer fold-up or disassemble quickly? Those of us with limited storage space would like to know.

What I would be worried about is the tounge weight of one of those
Class III hitches are made for a tounge weight of up to 500lbs.
With a 250lb scooter hanging off the back, the carrier works like a lever with the hitch as the fulcrum.
Driving along on a smooth road should be no problem with a class III but hit a pothole & I could easily see the the toung weight jump over 500lbs as the entire thing works like a lever.
Thats just my 2 cents
- I really like the idea of the hitch mounted carriers but am afraid of them for this reason - I am dealing with a trailer for transporting mine.

I will try and post more about parts when I can find links....

As for the carrier pic....I could see that working for some. But for me the tongue weight was too much. Also Carrying it with the minivan it only cleared the ground by like 2". That was not enough to make me feel safe. I bought one and tried it, but you need the right vehicle. Its not worth a mistake on the highway.

I have one of those carriers for my son's dirt bike. It worked well on a lifted Jeep Wrangler. When I got a second bike I bought a cheap trailer. It has also hauled a dead Harley and a dead Vespa. Now I don't have a vehicle with a class IV hitch so I have to use the trailer.

I would guess that the class IV hitch would make a big difference - thats rated at 1,000 tounge weight

olhogrider wrote:I have one of those carriers for my son's dirt bike. It worked well on a lifted Jeep Wrangler. When I got a second bike I bought a cheap trailer. It has also hauled a dead Harley and a dead Vespa. Now I don't have a vehicle with a class IV hitch so I have to use the trailer.

>I will try and post more about parts when I can find links....

Yes, please! I have been trying to get an inexpensive trailer for months now and would love to know the parts needed to put this one together.

PasadenaSue

PasadenaSue wrote:>I will try and post more about parts when I can find links....

Yes, please! I have been trying to get an inexpensive trailer for months now and would love to know the parts needed to put this one together.

PasadenaSue

me too..............i have a honda element, i'm starting to wonder if i can just get a ramp and roll the buddy right into the element (with the back seats out) and tie it down inside....i've had a bicycle standing up inside the car a few times, and there are places to put tie downs...anyone ever try to fit a buddy inside an element???

A fellow from Modesto hauls his Bajaj on a rack on the back of his Element.

- The trailer I bought was not on the internet, but it was like this one without the gate in the back and I bought it new from the local Lowes for $298

http://tinyurl.com/zn4wt

- I cut out a 6" piece of metal from the front so I could move the rear wheel out onto the bar a little to move the weight more in front of the axel.

- I cut a 2X6 to 14" (the length between my center stand and the rear wheel).

- I fastened two angle pieces I bought for about $5 a piece as
anchors to the 2X6. They were about 10" long and 2" on each side of the 90 degree bend. Unfortunately I could not find pictures on the internet of what I bought, but it was all stuff in the fastener department of Lowes or Home Depot. Just stock stuff by the L-Brakets and such.

- Then I took the wheel choke I bought, and measured the lengths to try and re-create it with bending some 2"X1/8" aluminum bar from Lowes. I think I bought like 4-6 ft of this bar for close to $10. This after market choke cost $50.

http://tinyurl.com/67kytb

- I forget exactly what it measured but I cut it at that length and then bent it and fastened it to the two angle pieces above and fastened some flat braces to it in order to keep ot sturdy.

- After I assembled my home made wheel choke I installed it onto the trailer arm using Two U Bolts. I used 1/4" bolts, nuts and washers to put the rest together.

- To insulate it from cutting the tires I bought a pool noodle (technical term, I really don't know what to call it but that) and cut it to fit and then duct taped the hell out of it to compress it more. I also added some to the edges I cut on the trailer.

- I covered the 2X6 with more duct tape, to round off the edges of the bolts I was using, but I probably did not need too. After I was done I took a can of Black Spray Paint and painted everything to match the trailer.

- Of course anyone towing anything like this will need some ratchet tie downs.

http://tinyurl.com/5lu7xb

- It worked well...I would like to widen my home made chock about 1" in order to get wheel a little more snug. It took probably 3 hours in all.

I will add some close up pictures of the hardware when I get home from work to this post.

To answer another question above, this trailer does not fold up and does take up space (about 5X5), and it is too heavy and long to hang anywhere. So urbanites beware.

That is a very nice trailer and a very informative write-up on the additions you made so that you could trailer your Rattler scooter. You should ask the Moderators if they will move this to the Technical Library.

Do you think, width wise, it would hold two Buddies? Weight would be about 450 lbs. What do you think. The total price sure is right.

You would have to set it up differently, but I do think the trailer could handle it.

You would have to back them in like I did.