TOPIC:

Has anybody seen the Mototote? Slides into your tow hitch and supposedly is good to hold a bike up to 550lbs. What would your confidence level be driving with this? Would you buy it?

www.mototote.com/

My neighbor has one and hauls his Kawasaki 600(4) around on it...doesn't seem to have any troubles.

Hmmmm. I think that if I had a small dirt bike or really small street bike (250 Ninja,etc), I might consider it. One thing he did not mention was maximum tongue weight. A 550 pound bike plus 50-75 pound carrier would likely exceed the max tongue weight for light duty trucks.

IDK.
Steve

Max tongue weight would vary according to vehicle and the class towing package you have.

However this is very intriguing and would be nice not to have to haul a trailer.

Here's an alternative. Notice for much of the climb he uses no hands on the bike! Ed

That is pretty impressive,

I've got one of the Ultimate MX Hauler hitch mounts I use for my dirt bike (CRF450) when I'm going riding by myself. I tried the rail types. The problem I felt was there's no angle on tie downs. I always felt like the bike was going fall off. The one I have now has a platform with "J" bolts over the foot pegs. This wouldn't work for a street bike with an under frame exhaust.
The good rail carriers have struts on the ends that attach to the tow vehicle and shims for the receiver insert. Just a little play between the receiver/insert can allow 2-3" of rocking in the rail. I never felt comfortable looking in my rear view mirror and seeing my bike rock like a ship in a storm at 60mph.
Last, the weight is carried way behind the rear axle and the leverage multiplies the effect on your suspension. My set up is about 300 lbs with bike and carrier. I've got a class IV hitch on Suburban with Z71 off road suspension. It really squats the rear of the truck and you know it's back there.
I wouldn't trust it for anything but a really small street bike.

MDZ1rider wrote: I've got one of the Ultimate MX Hauler hitch mounts I use for my dirt bike (CRF450) when I'm going riding by myself. I tried the rail types. The problem I felt was there's no angle on tie downs. I always felt like the bike was going fall off. The one I have now has a platform with "J" bolts over the foot pegs. This wouldn't work for a street bike with an under frame exhaust.
The good rail carriers have struts on the ends that attach to the tow vehicle and shims for the receiver insert. Just a little play between the receiver/insert can allow 2-3" of rocking in the rail. I never felt comfortable looking in my rear view mirror and seeing my bike rock like a ship in a storm at 60mph.
Last, the weight is carried way behind the rear axle and the leverage multiplies the effect on your suspension. My set up is about 300 lbs with bike and carrier. I've got a class IV hitch on Suburban with Z71 off road suspension. It really squats the rear of the truck and you know it's back there.
I wouldn't trust it for anything but a really small street bike.

That's some pretty good feedback, I would worry about the swaying big time as well. Great thought, but looks like a trailer or a truck bed is the way to go for a larger bike.

Ive used one for MX for years. They sell a 2 bike version too made for 2 250# bikes. Id have no prob putting a 500# bike on a single carrier.

I thought about modifying one of these with a trailing swivel wheel. This would relieve tongue weight for the truck and relieve anxiety for me.

That boy got some mad balancing skillz.