How do you haul?

[Bandit9]

What type of truck/trailer combo do you use to haul your bikes and gear around? Give me the pro's and con's of it. What do you like and what ya hate about your setup? I need to upgrade from my 4cyl Tacoma and 4x8 utility trailer!

[Dave.Smtih]

Crew cab, long bed pick-up. Can carry three bikes, gear and riders with room to spare. Add a hitch mount bike carrier and four of each is possible.
Pros: It's really big, all but semis yield. Nothing to hitch up or store. Great station wagon when not used for hauling.
Cons: It's really big, it won't fit in many garages. Sucks large quantities of fossil (diesel in my case) fuel. The cost of admission is high. Ride quality is ok at best.

[Clyde]

An enclose trailer, as small as is practical. It holds all spares and tools. A portable garage, everthing is with you. No laoding crates and tool boxes, take thm out when you need them out. Come home Sunday, pull the bike or bikes out, unhook the trailer and relax for the night. When you get up Monday morning for work you don't have any unloading to do.

[huskymatt]

Dont laugh but I traded my Tundra in on a new Chevy Astro van with a tow package. Its rated to tow over 5000 lbs, I have an open trailer I use with a diamond plate truck box mounted to the front for gear. Ride quality is very good. It also gives me some place to sleep at the races. I havent had one regret for buying it so far and I average 18 miles to the gallon.

[Mike Nash]

A Dodge B 3500 van with the long wheel base. The front has a folding bench seat that goes in to a bed and a wall to seperate front from the back . The backwill hold up to 3 bikes with room for your gear and toolbox.The nice thing about a van or a trailer is that if it rains all stuff will be dry and you have a place to change. The gas mileage is nothing to write home about 12 per gal.

[Bandit9]

Thanks fellas! The Vans sound pretty sweet.

[kyle]

83 Toyota pick up. 4 cyl 1.8 liter.
advantages: fit 2 bikes in back with tailgate closed, good on gas
disadvantages: can bearly pull up most hills with 2 bikes without drivers behind me getting real pissed off, very slow, no king cab, it's gonna blow up soon.

[jmd]

'99 Chevy full-size van with Explorer conversion: four leather bucket seats, rear bench that folds into bed, two CD players, 17-inch television, video player, adapter for Playstation 2. It's the nicest conversion van on the market, and I tow a 10-foot open trailer with drop-ramp gate and three wheel chocks. I like the open trailer because it's easy to load and unload; we just ride the bikes on and off. When traveling, I lock everything to the trailer with Kryptonite cables for security, and lock the trailer to the van's hitch. Lighter than a covered trailer, and more convenient.

[Bandit9]

wow jmd! I want to travel to races with you! Can play dirt bike video games all the way there. That thing have a fridge for my brews?

[Andy Winters]

30ft fifth wheel toy hauler, full kitchen, full bathroom...full refridge (holds 3 cases of beer)

[jmd]

No fridge yet; I'm going to buy a little generator to power a fridge, a space heater, and a small microwave; then we'll be set up.

[Dave.Smtih]

Andy,
How much is toy hauler and how much is living quarters? I've got a 21' camper with full bath, refrig, etc. and it's tight for three unreleated adults. I saw a 35' outfit like yours recently(10' for bikes, 25' for riders), but the idea of having a 53' rig rolling down the highways is a bit much.

[Andy Winters]

when the bikes come out, it's all living space, there are two beds/sofas in the back that fold up out of the way when the bikes are in. I really wasn't looking for something this big, but we got a great deal on it. The only problem is that I had to upgrade my truck to pull it. I was using a 00 gmc 1500 (good thing it was a lease) now I've got a F-250 Power Stroke. We pulled it from NJ to Florida for the Alligator last year, and sometimes you forget it's even back there....

[CrazyTed]

2003 Avalanche and a 4X8 open trailer. I'm currently shopping around for an enclosed trailer around 6x12 or 6x14 with full height. So far I've missed two great deals on trailers and one that was just scary. A person my parents know got rid of a 6x10 Haulmark for ,,,,get this,,,,$50 bucks,,,, even if it was too small I could have bought it and resold it with pure profit. I'll keep looking.

[Dave.Smtih]

Hey Ted you're lucky you didn't get that trailer for $50 because you'd have had to turn around and arrest yourself for stealing it.
Good luck with your search.

[dubbs]

if you get a truck make sure its a extra cab. My reg cab gmc does not have enough room for gear if you go away for the weekend.

[jeb]

When we go to the races, we haul the 19.5'x8.5' enclosed trailer that's behind our old 99 3/4 ton Suburban in this picture:
http://home.att.net/~jejb/pictures/B_HILLS.JPG
with this:
http://pws.chartermi.net/~jejb/pictures/winnebago3.jpg

When I just go for day rides, I haul that trailer with my 01 Chevy HD2500 Duramax/Allison:
http://pws.chartermi.net/~jejb/pictures/duramax2.jpg

I think a full size Utility van, especially with a diesel, would be a great way to go for a one person. I have a couple of friends that do that. Simple and easy way to go.

[jobyfoley]

2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0 4wd 4 door. I have an Add-A-Bike carrier on it that uses no tie downs. The bike loads up in about 10 seconds and I am ready to go. I have trailer to store anywhere and I just leave the bike stinger on the back attached all the time. Everything else I need at my level fits in the back of the jeep with the seats down.
I did a lot of looking into this and I felt that this scenario was the best for the money until I can afford an enclosed trailer. This scenario will not work for anyone who is a serious racer and requires a shop type scenario. For $250 you have solid and simple bike transportation.

[huskymatt]

Let me know when your ready to sell that bike carrier Joby and I will take it off your hands. Thanks again for all your help on the trails last weekend.

Matt Arnold

[DRZgod]

'98 Jeep Grand Cherokee with an 8' flat trailer. Cheap and very useful for other types of hauling.

[HiG4s]

Chevy Silverado, regular cab, short bed. I can carry 3 bikes with the tailgate closed (by angling the bikes) with 3 sets of gear, and 3 riders with absolutly no room to spare.

[Bandit9]

bump

[Cannon00]

I'm very impressed HiG4s !
I've got a shortbed toyota and I can barely fit two bikes in the back!! You are truly my hero of space management!

[rich63]

99 Dodge Ram quadcab hauled bike in back for while but it can be hard sometimes pushing a 280lb bike up a ramp esp alone, went and got a 5x8 utility trailer with ramp gate (much easier loading)

[enduroguy250]

92 ford ranger xtra cab with aluminum checker beefing up the front of the box and the caps as well. Truck decorated with various dirt bike stickers ( I don't put too many on the bike ) as well as some bullet holes , empty beer cans etc....

[skinut]

94 ford escort with 130,000 miles and a really crappy used trailer that is about to rust to pieces.

That is what I used last summer.

I have since sold the trailer, car and my 92 cr250.

Ill be getting an 03 crf450 and a small crappy truck s10 or ford ranger.

:}

[hlinar]

Lincoln Towncar w/ a 5x10 utility trailer

[Lew]

Here is my set up. 30 ft Weekend Warrior, towed with Dodge 3500 club cab 4x4 with Cummins diesel. It has a queen front bedroom, full kitchen, bath, shower, queen bed in rear and 2 fold out couches. It is very roomy for the whole family. I have it set up to carry 5 motorcycles. Best of all - My Wife likes it...

[OnAnySunday]

'90 Bronco duece pulling my old trusty 4'x8' stakesided trailer.
Usually just hauls my xr650r or xl500r, but has hauled 2 full sized bikes and a small 3 wheeler/ or small minibike.
The 2.9l V6 does an admirable job of pulling it. (3.90 rear gears/auto trans.)
Benefits: Manuverable as hell, almost no parking spot inaccessable to this thing.
Drawbacks: Could be a couple of feet longer, would like enclosed trailer, but then theres more weight to haul. Gets a bit squirrely above 85 mph.

[number9]

1999 Chevy Z-71 with fiberglass bed lid. I store all my gear / tools / etc... in the bed safe from the elements and prying eyes. The bikes go on a 5' X 10' open trailer.

[jeff141]

The only way to go

[Bandit9]

Your gas bill must be outrageous!