Towing a bike w/ a car

[thewright1]

Hi All,

Has anyone ever tried towing a bike with a car before? I have a 2002 VW Jetta and wanna bring my bike over the hill (The Grapevine from Bakersfield to LA) but not sure if that would be smart.

[CatatonicBug]

I take it the bike doesn't run? I don't think towing a bike is ever a good idea, unless it's on a trailer. If you rent a small, flat u-Haul trailer, that should work fine.

[thewright1]

Oh yeah, that's what I meant, putting the bike on a trailer. I'm trying to figure out if the car can handle pulling the weight of a motorcycle as well as a trailer. I've never known anyone to do that.

[CatatonicBug]

I don't see why not. Lots of cars have trailer hitches, and I see them towing travel trailers all the time. You might have to take it slow up the grapevine though. I have memories of a failed vacation attempt when my mom drove our old S10 pickup over that hill toward Sequoia Nat'l park, and we overheated and blew a head gasket before we hit the top.

[thewright1]

Just to mention, the bike runs fine, I just need to bring it home which is 200+ miles. I don't have anyone that would take me that far, so I'd have to take the bus out there which is like a 6 hour ride. On top of that, I have a few boxes and stuff I need to bring back too. So my car would be more ideal.

[thewright1]

Cool, well thanks for the response, I think I'll try installing one and trying it out.

[madmax-im]

I do it all the time...mind you your car has to have a trailer hitch and ball on it and have the wiring to connect to the trailer lights... I used my own trailer and a uhaul ramp trailer on many occaisions...my car is a Volvo 850 wagon...if you've never towed before be aware that your brakes wont be as effective and will require advanced planning on your part to slow down....your braking distances will increase...try to use a trailer that has 15'' wheels as they are more stable than trailers with smaller wheels...Good luck

[DGXSER]

Most owners manuals show the towing capacity of the vehicle.

These bikes are heavy for a bike, but that does not mean they weigh that much compared to towing capacities. Check with U-haul, they have a specific motorcycle trailer that I have rented a couple times, cost $15 a day. See what it weighs and add the bike weight. compare to your cars listed capacities.

Does that mean if it exceeds their listed capacities it will not work or do the job? No it does not, but if the route is as tough as C-Bugs post would indicate, I would think it over as it would be a bad time to find out your cars brakes decided the weight wins!! A bus ride seems alot less of a PITA when your sittign beside the road with your car and bike in a twisted mess over a hill...if you got out ok.

[cywelchjr]

You know, I can't think of any car worthy of being called a car that couldn't tow a small trailer with an XS1100 on it. (I don't consider those "smart" cars as being worthy of the name, not that having one wouldn't be fun). You should be able to tow something like that with a class one hitch, and I can't think that the brakes would have too much trouble, just don't put other stuff in the trailer with the bike or you might have trouble.

You would of course need to have a hitch put on the car, as most cars can't use the clamp-on hitches that U-Haul has anymore. I know even my Camaro has enough towing capacity to safely pull a MC trailer, and it's towing capacity is really low.

[jwhughes3]

rent a small UHaul truck

And just put the bike in the back of the truck - then you don't have to worry about adding a hitch and it is a 1 time expense top get the bike to LA.

John in San Antonio

[Guy_b_g]

I have a '99 Solara and a "hidden" Reese hitch, and I have no problem at all towing a loaded bike trailer, hardly even know it's there.

I used to tow the same loaded trailer with a '91 Honda Civic, and it was slower in the hills but towed fine...problem was it pushed the car forever when you tried to stop, scary, tires smoking, lots of noise and drama...and it just kept going and going.

[latexeses]

You might try a neighbor who has a small truck and a hitch and make the offer of "burgers and beer" after the trip. Pay the gas bill and the rental, if you can't get the bike in the back of the pu. It has worked before.

[thewright1]

So I just found out the towing capacity for my car is about 1000 pounds and from what i've found, these bikes weigh about 630 (roughly), the trailer is about 500(something) so it's no more than 1200 pounds for them both. What do you guys think about that?

[thewright1]

cool, thanks for all the info guys. I'm just gonna try it out and see how it works out for me. I found a pretty decent bolt in hitch components for my style car, so I'm gonna give it a shot. Will definitely keep you guys posted.

[XSokieSPECIAL]

Jat

Why not ride the bus to your bike, rent a small uhaul truck 1 way and drive home.

That way you'll only have to drive 1 way, you'll have room for all your extra stuff, and I believe it would be less expensive than installing a hitch that you might only use 1 time.