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Post by motorhead on Mar 12, 2011 9:16:17 GMT -5
Fall 2009 I moved from TN to FL and left my scoot behind since we were traveling by car. In FL I had the scooter itch really bad. The first scoot I bought was a little Madami (keeway venus like). I removed the panels and stuffed the scoot in my trunk. Took it home and fixed it. That's when I realized I could do this money. Stuffing scoots in the tunk was not a long term solution. A truck was too expensive. My car could not carry a hitch mounted rack. So I built one from wood and hung it under the frame of our Toyota Tercel. The pic is Version 3 wiht my wifes Meitian (the best used chines scooter ever). We used it to drive from FL to AZ and to TN. Problem free. Wood, is verry underrated.  |
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Post by Goosey on Mar 12, 2011 9:33:54 GMT -5
That's sweet. More pictures of how it's connected to the car? I have the truck, but no ramp, and I regret that I got rid of the metal from the bottom of the scooter shipping crate. Would have been a pretty stable stand in the back of the truck. What you buit is very symilar to how that was made.
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Post by Fox on Mar 12, 2011 12:39:01 GMT -5
It's very clever! Cheap alternative. You gotta be real careful on the dips or you'll bust those 2x4's.
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Post by 90GTVert on Mar 12, 2011 14:25:15 GMT -5
That;s pretty cool, and you get bonus style points for the sombrero... though it would have been better if the scooter were wearing it.
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Post by motorhead on Mar 12, 2011 20:37:26 GMT -5
I had a feeling that fellow scooterists would like this. On the road I run into 3 kinds of people. Most of the time it's the guy that points and laughs. The middle group is the dumbfounded guy who slows down to get another shot with his camera. And every now and then there are people who get what I do and give me "the nod" and "the thumbs up." The best parts is that no one tailgates me with a scoot on the rack. By the way this is very sturdy. I've never had one break on me (and I've taken this on some crappy highways) with the correct timber. Only one rack ever broke on me, 1 mile into its life it was made from a really light 2x4. The heavier denser 2x4 have never broken on me, I just retire them after 1000 miles. I can do 70mph in my car with a scoot on it. As you can see from the pic I have metal slats on the top and bottom of the 2x4 at the hanging point where it's prone to break. You can also see that I hang the rack from two towing loops under the car's frame on each side. That single connection you see is all the secures the rack on each side.  Yes, the rack does scrape the ground when moving below 20mph but at highway speed it never touches the ground unless we hit a big bump. I can say from experience that the worst roads I've seen in the USA are on I10 Louisiana and I40 New Mexico where I swore we were gona loose the scoot. I also didn't always tie the wheels down but one scoot jumped off twice during a 60 mile trip, wheel tie down became standard after that. Also Never have been pulled over for this set up. |
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Post by 2strokd on Mar 13, 2011 9:40:32 GMT -5
Now thats the "diehard, im gonna get my scooter there" kinda attitude :thumb: . I like it! :cheers:
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Post by stepthrutuner on Mar 13, 2011 16:21:10 GMT -5
Some air bags in the springs would probably work well to help prevent bottoming.
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Post by motorhead on Mar 13, 2011 16:33:09 GMT -5
Unfortunately  Last august when leaving TN to go to FL we towed a trailer behind that car you see. 5x8 held my wifes scooter and another, along with our clothes, tools, and a other belongings. I saw a brand new handsome boy / hockey mask scooter in Jacksonville for $100. Since I didn't take a rack with me to FL and didn't have time to build on, I packed the scoot in the trunk. On the way home. Wham! A guy in a tacoma smashed into us totalling the car and the scoot. Fortunately his insurance covered everything. BTW: anyone wanting to make a similar rack, I'll help. |
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Post by motorhead on Mar 14, 2011 11:33:23 GMT -5
The rack lives again on our current Tercel. Pic is from 2 Fridays ago.  |
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sctrdawg
Scoot Enthusiast
scooter bum
Posts: 149
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Post by sctrdawg on Mar 14, 2011 19:33:54 GMT -5
:clap: :riding: SSWWWEEEETTTT!!!!!
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Post by voorhees on May 1, 2011 16:11:35 GMT -5
Brilliant, two fuel-sippers in one! Great set-up.
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Post by razmoo on May 13, 2011 1:21:07 GMT -5
wow lucky that guys insurance covered it.
im pretty sure a home made rack wouldnt cut it over here and you'd probably be liable for everything
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Post by Reign on May 13, 2011 8:52:45 GMT -5
wow lucky that guys insurance covered it. im pretty sure a home made rack wouldnt cut it over here and you'd probably be liable for everything He wasn't using the rack when the accident happened. He had the scooter packed in the trunk of the car when the guy rear-ended him. |
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