Dave Hurrells motorcycle carrier

[Armadillo]

I seem to recall hearing/reading somewhere that Dave Hurrell has put a motorcycle carrier on his Ford Transit.

 

I have a Transit Jumbo that I am going to convert and need to carry a Honda CBF 250 on the back.

 

Can anyone give me details of the carrier he has please?

[Clive]

I have given him a poke!

 

C.

 

[Armadillo]

Please Clive, can you ask him again. it's most important and time is running out.Thanks.

[Clive]

 

Just runk him up, he tried to register on this forum but the complex technology defeated him. (Something to do with it not being Apple??)

Anyway

It was made by Watling Engineering in St Albans. Max weight stated for bike as 130 kg. Talk to them. Dave has a Kawasaki 125cc weight 120kg.

 

Details from this link

http://www.watling-towbars.co.uk/

 

Good luck

 

C.

 

[neilmac]

We've got one of these racks and, for the money, they're pretty good.

 

Our scooter weighs 115kgs and the rack 30kg. Watling Towbars were very helpful and fixed it to the motorhome while we waited before picking our newly acquired scooter up on the way home.

 

There's a brief write up and review on our experience with it here if its of any help.

[rupert123]

Armadillo - 2010-11-26 7:42 PM

 

I seem to recall hearing/reading somewhere that Dave Hurrell has put a motorcycle carrier on his Ford Transit.

 

I have a Transit Jumbo that I am going to convert and need to carry a Honda CBF 250 on the back.

 

Can anyone give me details of the carrier he has please?

 

It was, as Clive states, a Watling one. I have one of these and they are fine but cannot see it will carry you bike you have.

[Armadillo]

Thanks Clive. We have actually spoken to Watling in the past. The problem is the bike alone weighs 138kg and they told us that is max weight a towball will take is 130kg. Is there another way? I must stress we do not want to tow a trailer, not even one of those 2 wheel things.

 

Just a little bit of "history". We used to have a Burstner garage model, so no problem there with carrying the m.bike, but last year did our own conversion on a Jumbo, as my husband was fed up with having something he couldn't "drive", hence the requirement for a Transit. We took cycles instead, and it's just not the same. Now we are converting again on '59 reg Jumbo Transit and it would totally defeat the object of having something he feels is great to drive if we had to tow.I know I have seen much bigger bikes than ours on the back of vans,so how is it done? We do not yet have a towball fitted and the conversion is going to begin end of Jan so have no rear axle weights yet. Tried to phone PWS but shut till 4 Jan.

[Guest JudgeMental]

I have never heard of a Transit jumbo, does it have the 2400kg rear axle?

 

Its the weight of the bike is the problem and its effect on rear axle, as well as tow bar capacity..... what about a smaller bike? Surely the easiest and only solution if you want to avoid towing.

[Mike88]

It might be worth you speaking to PWS. They might tell you that they have fitted many towballs and their racks onto panel vans with no problem and seem to discount the manufacturers limit (125gs for a Transit/100kgs for a Fiat). They have an explanation for this but cannot recall what it was but I was unconvinced. But I'm ready to be convinced/reassured.

 

The racks weigh around 30kgs.

 

If you contact them let us know what you are able to find out as I'm interested.

[Brian Kirby]

I guess the problem will be that Watling are using the standard towbar (not, note, towball) attachment points on the rear "chassis" of the van, and the maximum load the attachment points are designed to take is 130kg.  However, it may be worth checking this supposition with them.

Other vans possibly have towbar mountings that can take a greater load than 130kg, or other owners have made DIY bike racks without reference to the chassis mounting point design restrictions.  Bit like a bloke I watched over a few days welding up a rack on a campsite near Limoges.  All done by guess and by God - and I rather think he, and anyone following him, would have needed aid from the latter in shedloads when it was finished and loaded.  Fortunately, we left before him!  :-D

The Transit is type approved, so all mounting points have to have been designed, tested, and designated.  Watling seem generally to know their trade, so I guess there are no other "covert" means of attaching load to the rear of a Tranny, or they'd know.

Lighter bike, or different van, seem the only viable solutions.

[Mike88]

For your information Watling do not have their own towbars to fit panel vans. All their manufactured towbars are for coachbuilts and A Class vans. I've been down this road already.

 

The towbars Watling fit to panel vans are made by Witter and the Witter catalogue repeats the weight restrictions imposed by the manuafacturer.

 

Watling did say to me that they would consider designing and manufacturing a towbar for a panel van but how would I or they know the weight it could support? They could not satisfy me on this point and I could not help believing that anything they produce for a panel van would be no better than a standard Witter towbar.

[Derek Uzzell]

Armadillo

 

You could try this company as there are sample photos of racks that SHOULD easily cope with the weight of your Honda motorbike as long as it's technically practicable to attach such racks to a Transit "Jumbo"

 

http://www.armitagetrailers.com/motorhomes.htm

 

For JudgeMental:

 

The "Jumbo" is a lengthened-bodywork version of the RWD LWB Transit panel van. (I believe there's now a Jumbo variant with a 'stretched' wheelbase, but I doubt that's what Armadillo has if the vehicle is 59-registered.)

 

According to Ford's website, the rear-axle limit of a 'standard' Transit Mk-7 Jumbo is 2300kg (3500kg MAM/single-wheel rear axle), or 2600kg (3500kg MAM/double-wheel rear axle), or 2950kg (4250kg MAM/double-wheel rear axle). Front-axle limit for all Jumbos is 1750kg. Kerb weight (ie. the vehicle weight + fuel) ranges from 2000kg to 2129kg.

 

Overall length is 6.403m, with a wheelbase of 3.75m. The rear overhang is 1.72m, but a motorbike on a rear carrier will be exerting its downwards weight about 2m behind the rear axle, so there will be a fair amount of leverage.

 

Personally, if I planned to hang a heavy-ish bike on the rear of a Jumbo, I'd prefer a double-wheel rear axle variant, but single-wheel rear-axle models should be OK. Either way, I'd be seriously considering fitting air-assistance (ie. air-bellows) to the rear axle.

[Mike88]

As with Watling Armitage only fit Witter type towbars on panel vans. This can be seen from the pictures on their website.

[camperadi]

I remember reading on here about 6 months ago about a m/cycle rack that is the same type of design as the ones being discussed but has a single caster type wheel that is hydraulically lowered onto the road. This takes part of the nose weight off the tow ball/tow bar mounting area. This in turn also reduces the camper rear axle loading. This caster wheel remains in contact with the road while towing. The caster action allows you to reverse and corner etc. If someone is able to work the search facility better than i can a link might be found.

[Mike88]

Here:

 

http://www.easylifter.co.uk/hydra-trail.htm

 

They now only produce a twin wheel version. I've tried contacting them since last November and they do not answer their phones or respond to e mails. I've now given up on them.

 

There is another one here:

 

http://www.ezetow.co.uk/scooter.htm

 

At the end of the day these are trailers and like the original poster I'm reluctant to buy one.

[rupert123]

camperadi - 2010-12-30 4:39 PM

 

I remember reading on here about 6 months ago about a m/cycle rack that is the same type of design as the ones being discussed but has a single caster type wheel that is hydraulically lowered onto the road. This takes part of the nose weight off the tow ball/tow bar mounting area. This in turn also reduces the camper rear axle loading. This caster wheel remains in contact with the road while towing. The caster action allows you to reverse and corner etc. If someone is able to work the search facility better than i can a link might be found.

 

This is the Easylifter Hydratrail, which in fact now has two wheels but believe the poster stated he did not want this. I would think the idea of a smaller bike will be the only answer here unless you can get someone to make up a special rack and strengthen as required. My scooter is a 125 Honda and weighs 100kg, my small van carries this no problem although I fitted air bags to give me some spare weight on the rear axle. I would like a bigger bike but unless I go down the hydratrail route is not possible and I refuse to tow a trailor, may as well buy a caravan if you do this. Our small scooter will carry the two of us, even in the alps, with no problem. bit slow at times but we are rarely in a hurry. The other avenue may be electric bikes, we dismissed this for various reasons but some seem happy with them. Mike beat me to Hydratrail bit so sorry for repeat.

[Armadillo]

First of all a very big thank you to you all for taking the time and trouble to reply.

 

I didn't think it was going to be as complicated as this.

 

Changing the van is out of the question------------we've only just bought it!! We used to have a 125 Honda m.bike, but found it underpowered for the 2 of us,particularly in mountain regions, which is where our main interests lie. Our combined weight is in the region of 27 stone(!!). My husband is not very keen on scooters, he reckons the smaller wheels make them less safe than a motorbike . It seems as if we may have to consider changing the bike for something lighter.........................unless someone else knows differently??

[Mike88]

Not all scooters have large wheels. This 125cc one here has large wheels and is light.

 

http://www.piaggio-scooters.co.uk/uk/piaggio/liberty/125/default.aspx

 

 

[rupert123]

As I said my wife and I use ours in the Alps, that was pretty hilly last time I looked. I would agree about the small wheels but we have a Honda Innova 125 which although not very pretty does have full size wheels.

[Armadillo]

rupert123 - 2010-12-30 11:14 PM

 

As I said my wife and I use ours in the Alps, that was pretty hilly last time I looked. I would agree about the small wheels but we have a Honda Innova 125 which although not very pretty does have full size wheels.

 

What sort of range do you get with this? I notice the fuel tank is only 3.7 litres. I'd be bothered about being in remote areas, I think.

[rupert123]

Armadillo - 2010-12-31 9:37 AM

 

rupert123 - 2010-12-30 11:14 PM

 

As I said my wife and I use ours in the Alps, that was pretty hilly last time I looked. I would agree about the small wheels but we have a Honda Innova 125 which although not very pretty does have full size wheels.

 

What sort of range do you get with this? I notice the fuel tank is only 3.7 litres. I'd be bothered about being in remote areas, I think.

 

The fuel tank is a source of irritation, am not sure how far we get but it must be a hundred miles between fills. It has a pretty good gauge and if I am going out in the country where petrol stations may be scarce always fill it up. Our maximum distance is never more than around a 60 mile round trip so it works out OK. Everything with a M/H is a compromise so you just do the best you can, perfect can never be achieved unfortunatly. Travel from where your van is parked, to us, can be the most akward thing so we have tried several ways and to carry a scooter on the back is definitly the best. Would like a bigger scooter or bike, not only to cover more distance but to be more comfortable on longer runs however we are limited by weight so have to compromise but have found this is a pretty good one. We are thinking of change to another Honda with better seating but still a 125cc, it weighs a few kg more but still ok. The Innova however despite its drawbacks has been totally reliable and does the job so may well stick with it. In France, especially, they seem more used to scooters than we do in the UK and riding a small slow one presents no problems. We used to avoid towns, because of the traffic, but now will ride it anywhere and the big thing is when you arrive simply park it anywhere, the French do, so join in. I would point out I have been a motorbike man all my adult life and well used to big bikes but still find the tiny Honda fun especially riding around in the south of France in a 'T' short shorts open face helmet and sunglasses.

[Armadillo]

Thanks for that. We used to have a Honda 125 motorbike, but changed up to the 250 as we got nowhere fast on the other one, and often found ourselves doing bum-numbing round trips of 100 miles. It doesn't matter as much to me what we look like as it does to my husband! Unfortunately, compromise seems to be the name of the game. At least we can get the layout we want in our conversion. Can't have everything!

[Guest JudgeMental]

who is doing your conversion? as the Transit is to narrow for a bed across the back what bed layout are you going for?

[Armadillo]

Country campers in Fawkham, Kent. It's the motorhome wilderness of the UK here in Kent and there are no other converters close enough to us to be able to go and visit in a day if we need to at some time during the build. Apart from that they were recommended anyway, although we did look at some others.

 

Yes, with the Transit you are restricted in many ways. We have gone for a pullout bed settee along the offside opposite the sliding doorand a washroom across the back .This is immediately in front of a 12" "garage" space across the back behing the rear doors.We plan to swivel both seats and opposite the passenger seat there will be a box seat just for dining purposes. The useable floor space is 1760 x 4170 so loads of length.

 

The layout is the same as we did ourselves on the previous one, so we know it works for us,but it took my husband so long with that one that we decided to let someone else do this one. Wish we could have had a fixed bed though!

[Clive]

OK,

I am sat on a camp site with the Hurrell and a couple of others and Dave said that if your tranny is similar to his it has the capability to take the weight but not with that rack or via the standard tow coupling. The rear overhang is small so the de-rating because of overhang is not too significant. You need to speak to someone who does chassis extensions and to make you a suitable rack. We did something very similar to hang two small motorbikes on the back of our previous Sprinter based Autotrail Scout. The firm who did this work were Newark Vehicle Bodies. I would recommend them. I am sure there are many other equally competant companies. I am not sure it Pete Spreadbury will do it as a one off but he is well worth asking (PWS) . Also ask Dave,s firm as they do a lot of bespoke work as well.

You might have to re-locate the spare wheel.

 

Tke care and use a weighbridge first to be sure.

 

Chive