[Closed] Is this legal? Ed Masters mtb moped rack

Obstructing lights and number plate on vehicle - it will need a lighting board w/numberplate at the very least.

My Irish pal used to ride his MZ250 from Ripon up to Aviemore in winter with a pair of skis attached each side of the bike and joined behind the number plate. He never got stopped.

http://www.mono-trail.co.uk/single-wheel-trailer-law.html

I think that using the bike as the actual trailer may mean it has to meet construction and use requirements.

I'd also be a bit concerned about bearing and tyre life towing a bicycle any distance - it'll bounce round like mad as it's so light.

TJ has been looking at doing this for his tandem for as long as I can remember - only hitching it onto a car. Most folk express concern over bearing life in the rear wheel and the effect of undamped wheels hitting potholes and other road imperfections. A short journey towing an unladen trailer illustrates the problem really well,

Maybe he's planning to put Julie on the back?

Cheers, that's useful. i live about 20 mins from my local DH trails so would only be nipping up there on the back lanes. The bike's pretty long and not very light so could hack it but yeah it looks sketchy if you had to turn fast or something unexpected happened.
Think a rack like this might be favourite, but the bike is mega long so actually longer than the Vespa. I reckon I could get something like this to work but will take more planning than Ed Masters effort.
Pinterest scooter mtb rack

Cool... you can ride the moped to the top of the mountain then race down on the bike, and then...er....wait

Loves back wheel

"Cool… you can ride the moped to the top of the mountain then race down on the bike, and then…er….wait"

You swap the mount around and tow the motorbike down the trail. Durr

Think a rack like this might be favourite, but the bike is mega long so actually longer than the Vespa. I reckon I could get something like this to work but will take more planning than Ed Masters effort.

Think you might be getting into the realms of dangerous or projecting bodywork. Immediate confiscation?? Multi points on licence??

Well yes, they all look potentially lethal. But no idea where any of this is written down in law. Is the line between 'bit sketchy' and 'give me your licence you idiot' that well defined? Here's another very well made but equally potential death trap...

Vespa bike rack

I was looking at doing this both with a motorbike and a car. I asked somone who builds motorcycle trailers and knows the law. Neither he nor I could find any legal reason why not to do it and I know of someone in the states who tows a tandem behind a goldwing like this with no issues. NO bouncing around.

What I would do tho is use a donkey wheel and remove the chain - although the chap in the states does not bother

You would need a lightboard

I came across this being used by a bike shop in New York for delivering bikes.

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I asked the shop owner if it was legal and he said that he had never been stopped. He had asked a police man about it and was told he had no idea if it was breaking any law.

It works well for a light road bike but not sure how the scooter would handle with a mountain bike on the rack.

that photo is in queenstown, and he doesn't need to go very far, as there's nowhere to go.

probably only does his house to the gondola.

Someone on here has a rack for their BMW bike.
Superflii iirc

Something like this?: http://www.bikeexif.com/motorcycle-bike-rack
Would need an alternative positioning of the straps that are currently on the upper stanchions, though.

I'd be worried about the bike being pulled bouncing and twisting. The law around sidecars seems fairly settled and would mitigate some of the concerns; there must be some sort of sidecar style carriers around.

@otsdr Yeah I'd come across that but I'd have to do it in reverse as the bike is pretty slack (64.5 head angle) so the forks come out quite a way across the seat leaving no room for me. I worked out I could secure the forks down near the number plate, secure the downtube somewhere where the existing luggage rack is on my scoot then effectively have the rear triangle right behind my head. Then have one wheel each side. It seems as long as it doesn't look too crazy and nothing sticks out too much I might be ok. Rule 98 of Highway Code covers loads and trailers and just mentions things sticking out, guess that might include 780 mm Fatbars...

Rule 98

The comments section on cycleexif also mentions the 2x2 moto rack ( https://2x2cycles.com/product/moto-bicycle-rack/ ), which should be legal, given that it is a commercially available product.

Reviewed here: https://racingredsreport.kinja.com/2x2-cycles-motorcycle-bicycle-rack-first-impressions-1773776186

Thanks, I'd worry that would overhang so far off the back of the scoot it would be insane. The bike's as long as the scooter. I'm gonna come up with some ideas though and test them out.

Fork mount low down by the number plate ( motorbike trailer mounts are available) front wheel strapped on the side of the bike, rear wheel on the ground. Light board on the back of the bike.

As above - I looked into this and its been done with no issues and neither I or a chap who makes custom motorcycle trailers for a living could find any reason why not in the UK. Perfectly legal, perfectly practical

@tjagain Thanks. F*ck it then, might give it a go.

Do check carefully tho. contact DVLA? IMO its a better bet than strapping it on the bike as that could be seen as an unsafe load

A guy who rides with us is ex-police, possibly traffic so he might be useful. I'd still worry about fishtailing and it snapping around behind me. And I'll get through Minion DHRs a bit quicker too!

I've been trying a solution a bit like this for towing a bike with a bike. Assuming you allow a pivot on the fork mount so the towed bike doesn't just jump up and down, it's easy for the towed bike to flip over. I'm sure this is pivot point critical, but high up on a pannier rack type position seemed like it would be a problem.

Yu need a pivot in two planes but not the third. Ie it can move the rear wheel of the towed bike up and down in relation to the tow bike - the axle of the towed bike front wheel will do that - and you need side to side movement - the headbearing of the towed bike will do that. You need it rigid in roll tho - so both bikes are always in the same angle to the ground. so just an axle clamp will do nicely IMO

I'll see if I can find the pics from the guys in the states who did it

My jury-rigged experiment seemed to make that work a bit like an elongated universal joint. So when going around a corner the towed bike would move out of alignment and the front axle pivot would allows the forks to move towards parallel with the ground. This is then exaggerated by the headset pivot and the towed bike effectively falls over.

I suspect though, while actually moving forwards this may not happen. I was just experimenting with everything being stationary. I'd love to see some further pictures / ideas though. If it can be made to work it would be a useful solution.

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/transporting-pushbikes-by-motorbike/

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/towing-tandems-with-bikes/

@tjagain - I would imagine that would work better as the fork clamp is low down. Having that pivot high up is makes the problem much worse.