rupert123 Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 While I agree with Eddie, better to go down the rack route, it is sometimes not possible to do this. If you wish to carry a bike you need to look at the alternatives. Personally i would never tow in the normal manner but these fixed racks act as an extension to the vehicle so apart from the rear swing you can ignore them and I would certainly use one. The single wheel racks mentioned are as far as I am aware no longer made and seemed very unstable. This can be discussed as much as you like but if you do not have the rear axle capacity and wish to carry a scooter just get one, what is the problem, the ezeytow system is now well used and tested and the company seem to be constantly trying to improve the product. It seems to me their are a few on here who love to think up ways not to do anything except talk about possible problems. Still guess their are some who will not walk out the door in the morning without checking with health and safety first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potjoe Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Well I have the Easylifter Hydra-trailer and up to now all good little on the tow ball and all on the wheels and upto 250kgs .works ok to me . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Personally if I wanted to carry a scooter I would get the right van in first place, end of.... Last thing I would want is to be stuck 1500 miles away with a seized bearing or the like, unable to continue the journey. These things are just like towing with all the hassle at least from what I have seen, with my own eyes, and not on little you tube clips on perfect tarmac. By all mean be my quest, but still look like a bodge job to me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairweather camper Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 The Ezetow is a great bit of kit, we have traveled over 3,000 miles with ours, with no trouble at all, it is strong and robust, cant understand what is being said about speed bumps, I go the same speed with or without the Ezetow, which is slow of course, as i dont want to shake my van up. Val Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dicksob Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 From a thread on Motorhome facts, looks like ezetow have gone into liquidation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Motorhome Facks link http://motorhomefacts.com/ftoptitle-131561-ezetow-have-gone-bust.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Oh dear, another idea down the pan. Still back to plan 'A' I guess decent tow bar and rack make do with small scooter our current innova or a new Honda Vision. Knew my image of carrying my Susuki Bandit on the back was never going to work anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Tried warning you H......You are lucky enough to be in the position to buy the right vehicle I dont know what you people are thinking these never looked right..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 O/k Eddie, tell of me a van that you can hang a 250 Kg bike on the back.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 peter - 2012-10-15 9:45 PM O/k Eddie, tell of me a van that you can hang a 250 Kg bike on the back.? Surely you buy a bike to suit the van and not the van to suit a bike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawcara Posted October 15, 2012 Author Share Posted October 15, 2012 Proves the use of the forum, for without it, we would never have known. Will now ask if anyone, has experience of side loading trailers? Going backwards is a problem, but there is less to break. Yes, ideally would like a rack, but there are constraints, so this is last option! At least trailer is half the price and may have more of a resale value. Look forward to your comments :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Peter if you want a real heavy bike surely it has to be a traditional trailer, has to be safer and more reliable!....if the jockey wheels where from light aircraft rather then trolleys you may be in with a chance, but still not for heavy bikes. If you can carry a quad on rear rack it's got to be acheivable as I showed on other thread...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 peter - 2012-10-15 9:45 PM O/k Eddie, tell of me a van that you can hang a 250 Kg bike on the back.? what about a Merc 609, but they are like hens teeth and the earlier models suffer VERY badly with tin worm under the front window, resulting in a major scuttle replacement. The body panels are available though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 JudgeMental - 2012-10-15 9:29 PM Tried warning you H......You are lucky enough to be in the position to buy the right vehicle I dont know what you people are thinking these never looked right..... You did indeed, still nice to dream, probably never realistic though. We have always got along fine with our 125cc and will in the future. Our old rack from Waltling engineering although basic worked very well but I sold it last year, may even go back to them for another. Main problem with the Watling rack is the way the bike is fixed on. fine with our innova but almost impossible with a modern scooter like the Vision which has lots of plastic panels so you need a seat type fixing, will probably go and see Armatige Towbars when we sort the van out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rupert123 Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Mike88 - 2012-10-15 9:50 PM peter - 2012-10-15 9:45 PM O/k Eddie, tell of me a van that you can hang a 250 Kg bike on the back.? Surely you buy a bike to suit the van and not the van to suit a bike. You are sort off correct Mike but our scooter is essential to us, try not to leave home without it, did on one trip last year and could not believe how much we missed it. We all travel in differant ways and do differant stuff so we have adapted to using the scoot, guess we could adapt to being without and using bikes/electric bikes but do not want to. The bike becomes very important so although we choose the van it has to have the ability to carry a bike of at least 100kg so one more tick to sort out when looking around on thursday at nec. We need a van up to 3500kg, payload at least 500kg, know we can manage with this as have done so in the past, ability to carry lot of weight at the front to balance the load so overcab space. Our Sundance, it was a lowline, had loads of spare capacity at the front axle but none on the back so although we are not keen on overcab space it becomes essential to get load balanced properly. Decent bed layout where you do not have to be a gymnast to exit the bed. Other than that no fixed ideas, oh yes must not break the bank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 The alternative is to buy a van with a garage large enough to fit a scooter. There is a 6 metre Hobby near to my pitch owned by a Dutch couple who possibly have one such van with beds over the garage. Whether a scooter will fit in or the weights stack up is anyone's guess but at least you are in the position to look into this alternative and there is no better place in the UK to do that than the NEC. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Maxi chassis with 2400kg rear axle....simples Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairweather camper Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 flicka - 2012-10-15 8:26 PM Motorhome Facks link http://motorhomefacts.com/ftoptitle-131561-ezetow-have-gone-bust.html Does anyone know if this is correct, have they gone into liquidation or just ceased trading? Would love to know where the actual welding broke, as it is quite worrying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postnote Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 Hawcara - 2012-10-15 10:27 PM Proves the use of the forum, for without it, we would never have known. Will now ask if anyone, has experience of side loading trailers? Going backwards is a problem, but there is less to break. Yes, ideally would like a rack, but there are constraints, so this is last option! At least trailer is half the price and may have more of a resale value. Look forward to your comments :-D As I mentioned before I do have an ezetow, although expensive that are well worth paying for good English craftsmanship and they are not mass produced and once they have made it for you fit it as well. All round excellent service. Check their site out http://ezetow.co.uk/ezetow.co.uk/Home.html It can carry a maximum of 300kg. As for side loading trailers they do take a bit of getting used to but doesn’t anything new. And going backwards is no problem at all, as they are connected to the toe bar assembly in three places it cannot pivot. So whichever way you reverse the ezetow goes, no opposite lock on the steering wheel, just reverse as normal. I can’t remember the exact weights, but if you’re carrying a 300kg motorbike then the actual weight is a fraction of that, so no vast loading on the back axle of your MH. When I bought mine and there is a waiting list, they were building one for a disable cart. I also think he makes them for quad bikes. I would highly recommend you call them have a looksee at one see how well they are made and take it from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawcara Posted October 16, 2012 Author Share Posted October 16, 2012 Apparently Ezetow are finished, the company that is. Whether anyone takes it over is another thing. They say they won't start up again, but who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 English craftsmanship indeed.....But! No type approval, need your collective heads examined. I will stick with German TUV approved products Quote MHF: "we are away and have witnessed what can happen when a speed bump or pothole is spotted late" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebishbus Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 IT would be interesting to know why and what failed on this Ezetow unit. The concept seems fine to me, and a good way of taking a scooter or motorbike with you, at less risk of overloading the van, as long as the engineering is up to the job. I do not see why this should be any more prone to speed bump damage than any other type of trailer or motor vehicle. Brian B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 thebishbus - 2012-10-16 4:17 PM IT would be interesting to know why and what failed on this Ezetow unit. The concept seems fine to me, and a good way of taking a scooter or motorbike with you, at less risk of overloading the van, as long as the engineering is up to the job. I do not see why this should be any more prone to speed bump damage than any other type of trailer or motor vehicle. Brian B. Well,I haven't come across any other "trailer or motor vehicle" that relies on "castors",flip-flopping backwards and forwards when ever it changes direction or hits a bump!?... ;-) Granted,it's a "novel" approach..and I'm not saying that a similar idea could not work...but unless it was going to be heavily over-engineered and underwent massive amounts of testing,to my mind,it was always going to little more than a "handy novelty", for occasional use. (..and that's before you get into any legality "grey areas"...Is it a trailer?...maybe not ,as it doesn't fully articluate?..it can't be a rack,as it's got wheels...So,is it an "additional axle"..?..if it is,shouldn't the wheels be braked and operated along with the vehicle brakes? etc etc )... A pity really...and I do feel sorry for the blokes who gave it a shot... :-( ..but all said and done...it's all due to folk trying to "get a quart,into a pint pot"...and it can be solved by just getting a big enough van to carry and/or support what they intend to lug about.. ;-) (...failing that,get a trailer...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barryd999 Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 rupert123 - 2012-10-16 9:34 AM JudgeMental - 2012-10-15 9:29 PM Tried warning you H......You are lucky enough to be in the position to buy the right vehicle I dont know what you people are thinking these never looked right..... You did indeed, still nice to dream, probably never realistic though. We have always got along fine with our 125cc and will in the future. Our old rack from Waltling engineering although basic worked very well but I sold it last year, may even go back to them for another. Main problem with the Watling rack is the way the bike is fixed on. fine with our innova but almost impossible with a modern scooter like the Vision which has lots of plastic panels so you need a seat type fixing, will probably go and see Armatige Towbars when we sort the van out. How do Peeps! The Armitage Scooter racks are superb. Ours is a modern scooter and I reckon I could pretty much put any bike on it no problem (weight permiting of course). Takes 30 seconds to get the bike off and about 1 minute to put on. Armitage fit it to the Alko Chassis and its solid as a rock and also makes a great battering ram. On this trip so far I have managed to demolish a wheelie bin in Figeac which I sent spinning down the main road, uprooted a lampost near the Spanish border and demolished an Aire de camping car sign in the Dordogne! :-D On a serious (ish) note. Whilst I would love a 650 paris dakar type bike our 100cc Peugeot Speedfight suffices really. On a motorhome trip your seldom having to bike more than 20 miles in one go as the vans done most of the leg work and even our little bike has managed to get up to 7500ft 2 up in the Pyrenees so I think a small light bike isnt a bad compromise really. I would hate to have to tow something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairweather camper Posted October 16, 2012 Share Posted October 16, 2012 pepe63 - 2012-10-16 5:11 PM thebishbus - 2012-10-16 4:17 PM IT would be interesting to know why and what failed on this Ezetow unit. The concept seems fine to me, and a good way of taking a scooter or motorbike with you, at less risk of overloading the van, as long as the engineering is up to the job. I do not see why this should be any more prone to speed bump damage than any other type of trailer or motor vehicle. Brian B. Well,I haven't come across any other "trailer or motor vehicle" that relies on "castors",flip-flopping backwards and forwards when ever it changes direction or hits a bump!?... ;-) Granted,it's a "novel" approach..and I'm not saying that a similar idea could not work...but unless it was going to be heavily over-engineered and underwent massive amounts of testing,to my mind,it was always going to little more than a "handy novelty", for occasional use. (..and that's before you get into any legality "grey areas"...Is it a trailer?...maybe not ,as it doesn't fully articluate?..it can't be a rack,as it's got wheels...So,is it an "additional axle"..?..if it is,shouldn't the wheels be braked and operated along with the vehicle brakes? etc etc )... A pity really...and I do feel sorry for the blokes who gave it a shot... :-( ..but all said and done...it's all due to folk trying to "get a quart,into a pint pot"...and it can be solved by just getting a big enough van to carry and/or support what they intend to lug about.. ;-) (...failing that,get a trailer...) Could you tell me where the "Castors" are please, as there dont appear to be any on mine?. Or are you thinking of the Hydratrail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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