Pull behing Trailer for a scooter

[DV8]

Back when the Gas prices were so high, I purchased a 250cc Gas step thru scooter, which gets great gas mileage, & is perfect for local commuting for my wife & I..

BUT I would like to find or build a trailer to pull behind it so we can use it for farm chores as well as to haul groceries etc..

I have been looking at baby carriers made to pull behind a bicycle, but besides the fact the hitches wont seem to work, it seems the trailer's cloth material will be too close to the muffler, and would soon melt or worse, catch fire. Also, if I carried my dog anywhere, I wouldn't want her breathing the muffler fumes, tho the wind on the trailer may dissipate it enough for it to be safe (what are your thoughts as to this? )

Has anyone ever used one of these behind say a bicycle? & if so, how easy is it to pull ? anyone have any thoughts as to the legality of pulling one behind a scooter ?

TIA for any input or helpful advice you can offer, & if anyone has any blueprints for a cheap homemade trailer or hitch system, I'd appreciate that as well !!

~DV8

[tufhelp]

Your scooter trailer will have to meet DOT regs for towing behind a motor vehicle and it probably wouldn't hurt to check with DMV re this project. You might look at a place like Harbor Freight, they have a really small utility DOT approved trailer that just might do the trick. You may have to design a hitch and fit it to the scooter but that shouldn’t be insurmountable. Here is a link to their site and their little trailer with 8” wheels is on sale right now.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42708

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/photos/42700-42799/42708.gif

[velojym]

http://www.scooter-sidecars.com/

How about a sidecar? 8)

[Mac_Muz]

The trailer as shown weighs 130 pounds. How I know is that is what my trailer is , plus 1/2" ply wood decking and assorted items I added. I removed the short leaf spring as well to get overly stiff springs to flex with a apx 200 load.

This is a good idea and a poor trailer for such a light scooter with brakes that probably won't like a trailer like that.

No doubt that trailer can be used to do yard work, even with one less leaf, but I think it is too big for a scooter. The main problem being to stop.

I am not aware of any thing smaller.

If you go with this, it will need the center bar moved forward to get a longer tonge, and then you still should add apx 18" more to that.

on edit:

That trailer needs about 20 pounds to 28 pounds tonge weight, which might just over do the scooter suspension system as well.... I have major concerns with any scooter pulling any trailer not designed to do so.

[Buck]

One point often overlooked for cycle trailers
is...profile..i.e. is the trailer WIDER than
the cycle by to big a margin?

ALL automobile trailers are designed to NO WIDER
than the width of the towing vehicle. A correctly
built cycle trailer will, likewise, be not much wider
that the the towing cycle.

Added......
Since the scooter is a motorize cycle one neede to look
for a BICYCLE trailer that would be both in profile and
easy to tow. So google Bicycle trailers to visit a world
of equipment that most don't know exist.

[bgarrett]

ALL automobile trailers are designed to NO WIDER
than the width of the towing vehicle.



Thats a curious statement. ALL trailers capable of carrying a car MUST be wider than the car, in order for the car to fit onto the trailer.
My car hauling trailer has a surface 83" wide.
This website
http://www.fordvehicles.com/trucks/f150/features/specs/
shows a Ford pickup at 78.9" wide

I see a lot of very small trailers pulled behind touring motorcycles but thats all I know about them.
Maybe you should look for a Touring Motorcycle forum

[Mac_Muz]

I looked at a few pedal bike trailers and have many problems, thinking one might be towed by anything with a gasoline engine as the power source.

First of all these can carry only 100 pounds, which isn't that much of a problem if a scooter was the tow source.

The problems come in NO suspension systems what so ever.

The wheels are not close to hi speed wheels. *Same goes for the tires.

None of these have a tongue long enough, and no real means of being able to follow a vehical that leans to steer.

No illumination, which could be added no doubt.

Probably most of all no street certifications and so you really would have a bad time registering it.

No doubt in a crash the INS Co would tell you tuff luck.

A bike trailer as home made does have a problem empty, as the suspention on most of this type does bounce...

Adding weight as cargo help. making sure the cargo does not shift in transit is a must do.

A scooter trailer can be designed, but so far as I know no one has.

It would need a certain geometry, a working suspention, and a setting of down weight at the hitch as a given with +- figures a person can live with.

For example my very heavy Nomad which is heavier than a full dressed Harly and a bigger over all bike, has a cary weight of about 450 pounds.

Not to much huh? 2 food sized people could use it all easy. The figure seems a tad light to me, but for legaleese likey.

I weight under 150 pounds most of the year and in winter hit that 150. My loving bride has some good squeeze, so she is about 150 too, and tall at 5' 7", so we make 300 easy.

Add crap in my saddle bags which say 15 pounds is their limit and I always push that to apx 25 each so thar's another 50.

The trailer when set up adds another 28 pounds apx.. That's 378 apx pounds and the rest is left over for the suspension to preform.

The trailer is over 130 alone+ 200 pounds of gear. That is 330 the brakes have to stop, plus us, whats in the bags, and the bike, which is damnned close to 900 with nothing on it...

Stopping with 3 disk brakes which are huge can and is a problem, when and if you are required to do so suddenly.

Probably a good scotter trailer would have motor bike wheels and tires. These would have suspention and hopefully because it needs to take shock, some form of independant suspention. It would probably be rated to 100 pounds load MAX.

The distance bewteen the tail lights on the scooter and the base frame for the trailer would have to be balanced.

Assuming a scooter has a rider weight rate of apx 300 pounds at best, since most scotters are more or less solo rigs in the first place, even though there might be a pillion seat more for show than anything else. A some what similar tongue weight, to eliminate bounce would be in order, but that much weight might lift the ft wheel right off the ground in a bump.

You can guess what happens then.

As it is I HAVE some 15,000 miles towing a trailer behind a Nomad... I have a pretty good idea of what this takes...

A well planned trailer made for this professionaly would compete the price of a scoote or be close. You could look at a figure like 2,500 bucks pretty easy.

[suijurisfreeman]

Back when the Gas prices were so high, I purchased a 250cc Gas step thru scooter, which gets great gas mileage, & is perfect for local commuting for my wife & I..

BUT I would like to find or build a trailer to pull behind it so we can use it for farm chores as well as to haul groceries etc..

I have been looking at baby carriers made to pull behind a bicycle, but besides the fact the hitches wont seem to work, it seems the trailer's cloth material will be too close to the muffler, and would soon melt or worse, catch fire. Also, if I carried my dog anywhere, I wouldn't want her breathing the muffler fumes, tho the wind on the trailer may dissipate it enough for it to be safe (what are your thoughts as to this? )

Has anyone ever used one of these behind say a bicycle? & if so, how easy is it to pull ? *anyone have any thoughts as to the legality of pulling one behind a scooter ?

TIA for any input or helpful advice you can offer, & if anyone has any blueprints for a cheap homemade trailer or hitch system, I'd appreciate that as well !!

~DV8



I purchased a cart from a Amish manufacturer that I pull behind either my mountain bike or recumbent trike. I'll try to figure out how to post pictures.

[velojym]

We have a Nashbar trailer we pull Zoe in, but it comes with a warning that it has a 10mph speed limit... uh... yeah, suuuuure we stick to that...

A popular style for bicycle use, especially on trails, is the BOB single wheel trailer. It's narrower than the bike, and it'll lean with you as well. While the BOB or other similar trailers are probably a bad idea for a faster vehicle like a scooter, I'm sure a handy individual could fashion something out of a fork and some spare parts, using a scooter or light motorcycle wheel.
So long as the trailer isn't hitched solidly to the scooter, and is allowed to swivel and tilt, having a two wheel trailer on a scooter isn't really a bad idea. Lots of motorcyclists use 'em this way and do pretty well.
Also, I haul stuff for a living (when I'm not tinkering with airplanes) and frequently haul stuff that's wider than the tow vehicle. The DOT is more concerned with the overall width than with the relative tow/trailer widths.

[West_TX_Desert_Rat]

If it were me, I'd build a knock-off of this:

http://scootboot.com/index.html