Easy Lifter Hydra Trail: Question

[Poppy Williams]

Hi

I would like to take a motorcycle with my Bessacarr 597. We are thinking of an Easy Lifter Hydro Trail to tow behind MOHO. Has anyone used one or can tell me if this is a good solution? Any Pro’s and Cons would be more welcomed.

 

[Cheshirecat57]

I assume you are looking at the thing that hangs off your tow bar.?

Have you considered your rear axle weight?
What is your current rear axle lading when touring? (Weighbridge)
How heavy is your motorbike?

 

[bigtwin]

I assume you are looking at the thing that hangs off your tow bar.?

Nope, he’s asking about the one that is towed. The clue is in the “Trail” part of the name.

Ian

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Ahhhhh, my mistake

 

[Vic]

I have owned a Hydratrail for just over a year. I got mine after crushing my left hand extracting my scooter from the van's garage and having petrol fumes rising into the bedroom above the garage.

Pros:
The weight of your bike/scooter does not affect your payload.
You are not limited to a bike weighing 125 kgs or less when using a rack.
Your overall length is only increases by 1.5 metres.
Reversing is not an issue - THIS is probably the main advantage.

Cons:
More expensive than a conventional trailer, from £600 used to £1200 new.
Can be difficult to load on an uneven surface at first.
Limited to a bike/scooter weighing 250kgs.

I hope this helps,

Vic

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[Poppy Williams]

Thank you very much for your feedback, we are definitly interested for the main reason of not impacting on our payload and being able to take something bigger than 150kg. We do have a garage which we initially thought would be suitable for a scooter but we realise now that it’s not ( still useful for lots of other bits though which we love!)
We just need to find the right scooter now

 

[Wknight23]

I looked at this and decided against it after reading split reviews. I have bought an Easy Loader from cmf trailers and it’s fantastic. He also sells a side loading trailer but he told me they are difficult to load.

The Easy Load trailer is expensive but I am a lady on my own and it’s so easy! You winch the bed down, ride the bike on and it grabs into the clamp, winch it back up, strap down. Because it’s so easy I am happy to tow it anywhere so it’s money well spent

 

[maison]

We had the Hydra Trail for just over a year. We towed over 8500 miles with it.

It is heavy in itself but 80%of the trailer and bike weight is taken on the wheels so rear axle loading is much less than towbar mounted carriers.

It is more expensive than other trailers but makes reversing dead easy. No articulation to worry about and conventional short trailers get out of line very quickly.

It is very well engineered and sturdy.

The only reason we changed back to a conventional trailer is that the vertical arm supporting the motor bike prevented us from opening the rear doors of our new PVC, (it was fine on our previous coachbuilt). When at the Channel Tunnel you have to demonstrate that your Gas is turned off. With our gas locker being behind the rear doors we couldn’t do that without taking the trailer of, and you have to disassemble the Hydra Trail to do that.

One point, if you do buy one, the vertical arm holds the seat clamp to secure the bike. We had to alter the arm slightly to make sure it lined up with our particular bike. A simple case of using a hacksaw and removing 1.5” of tubing.

We carry a Honda PCX 125 on our trailer. A great and very reliable scooter weighing just over 100kgs. It carries two @ 50mph all day and, being a fully automatic transmission is a doddle to ride. (I have been a “biker” for over 50 years and it is, without doubt, the easiest scooter to get on with I have ever owned. I rode “proper” motorbikes at home, and have carried scooters on m/hs for about 25 years now.)

 

[prb]

We have had one for a year or so and like it. It carries a Speed Triple with ease although getting on and off is a bit of an evolution. I might try using a ramp rather than disassembling it every time.

 

[maison]

We have had one for a year or so and like it. It carries a Speed Triple with ease although getting on and off is a bit of an evolution. I might try using a ramp rather than disassembling it every time.

We carried a ramp with ours.

Only disassembled when returned to home.