Forum Discussion

bolivier's avatar
bolivier
Explorer
May 26, 2013

Hauling a motorcycle between rear bumper and trailer

So here is what I want to do. We haul a small canoe behind or 21' class c motorhome. I would like to bring an enduro bike with us to tool around on instead of moving the rv. Something like a Honda 230 or suzuki 350. Around 400lbs or less. I have seen the bike racks for a 2" reciever. I would like to mount that on the hitch, then hook up the trailer to the bike rack. Has anyone done this?? Trailer is an old dilly that weighs nearly nothing. 80lb canoe. What are your thoughts?

13 Replies

  • That was my first thought. The trailer would easily hold both. I plan on upgrading soon to a small bass boat. Probably something like a 16' aluminum boat, where putting the bike on the same trailer is not an option. I had also thrown the idea around of having the bike on the front.
    So, with the new larger boat in mind, what would you do?

    Brent
  • I would think its better to offset the canoe and mount the bike next to it. Since it nothing more than an old boat trailer it could handle the load back near the axle. Get a load ramp and either back the bike on or just load it up backwards, no biggie. I used to load my sportster facing back when I had a hill or something to load off of.
  • Hauling a scooter or motorcycle on the back of a C has been discuses many times. Here are the problems
    1. The See Saw Effect. Any weight behind the rear axle takes weight off of the front axle and that weight is transferred to the rear axle. And the farther back it is from the rear axle the more weight is transferred. I have seen the math formula on the forum that can tell you just how much but that is beyond my ciphering capacity. If your front axle does not have at least 70% of its rated load you will have handing problems.

    2. The maximum weight load for most hitch receivers is at most 500 pounds

    IMHO figure out how you can put the motorcycle on a trailer with your canoe.