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Carry a small motorcycle on the back of the trailer?


John E Davies

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I have seen pictures of the rear cargo tray that is, or was, a factory option. How much does the tray weigh and what is the factory recommended max cargo load?

 

Has anyone considered relocating the Ollie spare tire/ wheel to the tow vehicle, to allow more weight and better clearance in back?

 

I am playing with the idea of carrying a small street-legal dual sport bike, like a Honda CRF230L (267 pounds wet), on the back on an alumium motorcycle tray, something similar to this, but utilizing two main mounts like the Ollie receiver uses....

 

C1455C63-AE91-4C37-9891-1797DE15F3C2.jpeg.a0ae9c94b96aa3ec1106ecda92f4a549.jpeg

 

I know the perils of upsetting the trailer balance, I just would like to know what is the heaviest load at the butt end of the trailer that would be flirting with instabilty (yaw) or over-stressing the frame.

 

FYI, my front cargo tray weighs about 18 pounds and the max load is 140 pounds.

 

I could carry the bike on the front of my Land Cruiser, but that would make me very unhappy for a large number of reasons.... Any ideas? Doable or crazy? I do think it would look very cool.... but not if it broke off the rear frame.

 

I have considered an electric bicycle or electric motorcycle, but none of them have enough range. There are a number of mountain bike/ gas hybrids, like the FX Bikes (134 pounds), but I have not found one that could be plated for street use here in WA...!

 

http://www.fxbikes.com

 

Thanks,

 

John Davies

Spokane WA

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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The back frame weighs about 20 pounds. Oliver rates it to carry 100 pounds. I built a frame utilizing the dual receivers a few years ago and Oliver used this as the prototype for their bike rack platform. I use mine to mount a basket that I carry large, but bulky, items like tables and chairs in. My total (empty) setup weighs 65 pounds. Aside from any concerns about upsetting the balance of the trailer, I would be ok with up to 400 pounds back there. The rear platform and attachment points would fail before the trailer frame would.

  • Thanks 2

Steve, Tali and our dog Rocky plus our beloved Storm, Maggie, Lucy and Reacher (all waiting at the Rainbow Bridge)

2008 Legacy Elite I - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #026 | 2014 Legacy Elite II - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #050 | 2022 Silverado High Country 3500HD SRW Diesel 4x4 

 

             801469912_StatesVisitedTaliandSteve08-23-2021-I.jpg.26814499292ab76ee55b889b69ad3ef0.jpg1226003278_StatesVisitedTaliandSteve08-23-2021-H.jpg.dc46129cb4967a7fd2531b16699e9e45.jpg

 

 

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The back frame weighs about 20 pounds. Oliver rates it to carry 100 pounds. I built a frame utilizing the dual receivers a few years ago and Oliver used this as the prototype for their bike rack platform. I use mine to mount a basket that I carry large, but bulky, items like tables and chairs in. My total (empty) setup weighs 65 pounds. Aside from any concerns about upsetting the balance of the trailer, I would be ok with up to 400 pounds back there. The rear platform and attachment points would fail before the trailer frame would.

Thanks Steve, I guess it was your platform I remember. Can you please repost a pic or two?

 

What do you think about removing the spare tire/ wheel to get some extra clearance and load capacity? The wheel and tire are about 65 pounds and the fiberglass cover is maybe 10....That might allow a bike to be carried closer to the hull, reducing the leverage effect on the mounts. And you could possibly brace or tie off the load to the rear tire mount, which would be a sold anchor.

 

Thanks,

 

John Davies

Spokane WA

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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A friend of mine pointed to this website recently. Cruiserlift.com. The swivel wheel is what he was referring to. May or may not work for your back road travels but it should give you something to think about.

Mike and Krunch   Lutz, FL  
2017 LEII #193 “the dog house”

 

 

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  • 1 year later...
Did you ever mount a bike back there? I’m thinking of trying to squeeze 2 light 2 strokes back there totaling about 400lbs. I also thought removing the spare and tying into the mount would be a good choice.

 

Nope, I built a rack to support the factory cargo tray, which I removed from the tongue. I did not remove the spare tire, though the fiberglass cover has been off since new.... I carry 100 pounds of fluids and chocks there.

 

Having towed about 1500 miles with a 500 pound tongue weight, I cannot imagine how unsafe it would be with a much lighter number. You would need to have a big load on the tongue, and then you get into the pendulum effect that could unexpectedly induce catastrophic sway.

 

Please forget completely about putting 400 pounds back there. It is not a wise move.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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We have been looking at e-bikes, the fold up models, these weight around 65-68 lbs. with the battery attached, remove the battery and it's around 8 lbs. less. This way I could get the weight down to around 120 lbs. for two bikes. I have the Oliver bike rack hitch, but would modify it to probably a two receiver hitch vs. the one that Oliver puts on there hitch. These bikes fold up and I believe you could put two in one with the correct size basket, or bike rack. Go to YouTube and type in electric bicycles, the RadRunner, RadMini, and the Lectric XP have good reviews and are becoming popular with the RV crowd. These 20" wide tire bikes are great for street and off road riding, just watch some of the videos and you can see why they are becoming so popular. https://www.radpowerbikes.com/pages/2019 https://lectricebikes.com/

 

trainman

2019 RAM 1500, 5.7 Hemi, 4X4, Crew Cab, 5'7" bed, Towing Package, 3.92 Gears.

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We have been looking at e-bikes, the fold up models, these weight around 65-68 lbs. with the battery attached, remove the battery and it’s around 8 lbs. less. This way I could get the weight down to around 120 lbs. for two bikes. I have the Oliver bike rack hitch, but would modify it to probably a two receiver hitch vs. the one that Oliver puts on there hitch. These bikes fold up and I believe you could put two in one with the correct size basket, or bike rack. Go to YouTube and type in electric bicycles, the RadRunner, RadMini, and the Lectric XP have good reviews and are becoming popular with the RV crowd. These 20″ wide tire bikes are great for street and off road riding, just watch some of the videos and you can see why they are becoming so popular. https://www.radpowerbikes.com/pages/2019 https://lectricebikes.com/

trainman

 

Those are definitely rad and affordable, if a little crudely made (check out the sloppy welds). A buyer needs to be aware that most states prohibit them from going on bike/ pedestrian  trails since they are not 100% pedal assist. For tooling around a campground or riding a back road into town for supplies they would be dandy, if the distance is very short. The range is not great...

 

If I had the ca$h and wanted this sort of utility ebike I would get one of these....https://www.ubcobikes.com/us/

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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  • 1 year later...
On 9/19/2019 at 8:22 AM, John E Davies said:

 

Those are definitely rad and affordable, if a little crudely made (check out the sloppy welds). A buyer needs to be aware that most states prohibit them from going on bike/ pedestrian  trails since they are not 100% pedal assist. For tooling around a campground or riding a back road into town for supplies they would be dandy, if the distance is very short. The range is not great...

 

If I had the ca$h and wanted this sort of utility ebike I would get one of these....https://www.ubcobikes.com/us/

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

I thought if the ebike were Class 2 (limit to 20MPH) then they are permitted on "Off road Trails," Class 3 are not. Isn't this correct? 

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