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Thinking of putting a dirt bike hitch in my civic

CRUZer said:
Wtf? Was he rear ended or did his civic self destruct from the hitchhauler?
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given how the trunk is smashed, i'm betting rear ended....probably because the bike was blocking the brake lights (and maybe they had to stop suddenly).
 
"No this product did not fail in anyway. It actually saved myself and my spouse from bodily harm, we were on the freeway, and came to a construction zone that brought traffic to a stop, the driver behind me still doing 65 not paying attention didn't start to stop until 20 feet before my car. Thank god I had this carrier and dirt bike because he sandwiched me into a pickup truck and would have gone a lot further into my vehicle if my carrier wasn't there!"
 
Don't do it. The tongue weight would be the same as pulling at 3500lb trailer. Stick to trailering your bikes.
 
tgrrdr said:
What's the total load capacity of a civic, 800lbs? I'm pretty sure it's not designed to have 40-50% of that hanging off the ass end.

You're not one of those guys who thinks it's OK to fill his mid-80's half ton pickup with broken up concrete (if it fits it must be OK, right?), are you?

OP, go buy 10 bags of sand at home depot and put it in your trunk as far back as you can. Go drive around and see how it works and report back. Maybe most of us are wrong and it's a fine idea :dunno.

Will only cost $40-50 and when you're done if you don't need the sand you can return it.

:thumbup
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Double yellow wasn't designed to be crossed, speed limit wasn't designed to be exceeded by 1mph, but you can practically do some things even when word on paper say otherwise. I weigh an eighth ton, you're saying the front end would be at high noon and he'd crash if I were sitting on the bumper? A $5 plastic chair from China can hold me, but an entire car would lose control??
 
byke said:
Double yellow wasn't designed to be crossed, speed limit wasn't designed to be exceeded by 1mph, but you can practically do some things even when word on paper say otherwise. I weigh an eighth ton, you're saying the front end would be at high noon and he'd crash if I were sitting on the bumper? A $5 plastic chair from China can hold me, but an entire car would lose control??
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But the weight wouldn't be sitting on the bumper. It's on a lever sitting 18-24" off the bumper. Huge difference.

No fucking way would I put a hitch carrier on a Civic if it were mine. But I'd pay to watch someone else do it...
 
I'd be very cautious about that. My old Ford Explorer was fine with a dirt bike and the light weight aluminum ladder-style carrier but, anything more was firmly getting into the un-wise category. I assume that it would be much worse on any sedan.

Pulling a couple of bikes on a trailer with many sedans is probably fine though. If you have a car port or better the folding ones will probably fit in the end and out of your way. The Harbor Freight one, while not nearly as good as a Kendon, more than does the job and is only $300. There is the lame 55MPH speed limit issue though.
 
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Have you considered a folding trailer? I have space issues as well but my Stinger folds up pretty small. You might also be able to find a used Trailer in a Bag or HF small folding trailer. It would definitely be cheaper to get a used trailer than a truck and you'll save money on gas as well.
 
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Archimedes said:
But the weight wouldn't be sitting on the bumper. It's on a lever sitting 18-24" off the bumper. Huge difference.

No fucking way would I put a hitch carrier on a Civic if it were mine. But I'd pay to watch someone else do it...
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The back end of the trunk is likely ~24" behind the rear axle and you could definitely put 500lbs in the trunk, which is roughly the same as putting 250lbs 48" behind the rear axle. The issue isn't that the car is going to go all squirrely and wheelie over every rise in the road and lose control, it's that the hitch doesn't attach to a frame and will need plates and welds to keep it from pulling bolts through the body. Weld it in with plates and put some airbags in there to keep it somewhat level and realistically it would be just fine.

Burning1 said:
The $5 plastic chair isn't designed to go 65MPH.
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Pretty sure most plastic chairs weren't designed for a 250lb person either, but hey look, they still work!
 
Get a cheap pickup. :2cents

Trailers are great but going 55 from here to T-Hill would suck and the cops are all over those highways

Autos with trailers and trucks are still limited to 55 MPH as specified in California Vehicle Code 22406.
 
byke said:
The back end of the trunk is likely ~24" behind the rear axle and you could definitely put 500lbs in the trunk, which is roughly the same as putting 250lbs 48" behind the rear axle. The issue isn't that the car is going to go all squirrely and wheelie over every rise in the road and lose control, it's that the hitch doesn't attach to a frame and will need plates and welds to keep it from pulling bolts through the body. Weld it in with plates and put some airbags in there to keep it somewhat level and realistically it would be just fine.



Pretty sure most plastic chairs weren't designed for a 250lb person either, but hey look, they still work!
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The bike has its own dynamics of height, weight distribution, & COG, the hitch carrier is only attached at the hitch and not stabilized along the length of the carrier to ensure there's no left-right sway/wobble, and it's just not the right vehicle for the task.
 
The fist part, that's an issue inherent to all hitch carriers and I fully agree it's not the right vehicle for the job.
 
byke said:
The fist part, that's an issue inherent to all hitch carriers and I fully agree it's not the right vehicle for the job.
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Dunno about using your fist for this....

I modified my hitch carrier to eliminate sway, so there's that... :teeth

And holy sh@t, you agree with us on something?? :wtf World ends, women & children worse off.
 
Dan typos. :p

A buddy installed two receivers about 2ft apart on his explorer and made a hauler to match, the thing was amazing.
 
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Lieutenant Dan typos? :teeth

If anyone wants pics of what mods I made to my hitch carrier, let me know & I'll post up.

Fair warning - work was done by Independent Machine Works (Conn & Co) in Oaklamd, and added a good 15 lbs to the overall weight, but the increase in stability and weight distribution is well worth it. :thumbup
 
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