Dual Sport On Front Receiver?

[vandiesel]

Originally Posted by 86Scotty

Have fun with that. I've driven a forklift plenty in my life. No interest in doing it on public roads.

True story. I don't actually like carrying anything upfront. My episodes in the past were purely necessity. My favorite use of the front hitch is to hook up a trailer and then use the winch to drag big boulders into it for my yard.

[arctictraveller]

I'm not a fan of a heavy bike on front that blocks the headlights, turn signals, and possibly some forward vision. Rather than use a hitch mount carrier on the back, on my last van I welded two square tube hitch receivers to the existing hitch frame, one on each side of the hitch. Then I slid in two pieces of square tube long enough to lay a ramp across. It carried my huge BMW R100GS easily with absolutely no movement what so ever. I'm planning on doing the same on my current van.

[JRO]

Excuse the hijack...

Originally Posted by arctictraveller

“on my last van I welded two square tube hitch receivers to the existing hitch frame, one on each side of the hitch. Then I slid in two pieces of square tube long enough to lay a ramp across. It carried my huge BMW R100GS easily with absolutely no movement what so ever. I'm planning on doing the same on my current van.”

I carried a 250 pound enduro off the hitch without thought. I’m questioning hanging a 650 pound sport touring bike from the hitch. Your BMW must have weight 450 pounds... What do you think? Is 650 pounds worrisome?

[jrtozer]

Watch your engine temp if the weather is hot. I noticed a significant rise in coolant temp (scan guage) when I had a bike rack on the front inhibiting airflow to the radiator.

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by JRO

Excuse the hijack...
I’m questioning hanging a 650 pound sport touring bike from the hitch. Your BMW must have weight 450 pounds... What do you think? Is 650 pounds worrisome?

I welded up my carrier the way I did to eliminate movement and to divide up the load between two receivers. Standard hitch carriers seem to flop around quite a bit, probably not a big issue on smooth roads, but over bumps, potholes, speed bumps or dirt roads, my single hitch mount really moved around and I was afraid of fatigue and cracking. A class IV hitch has a tongue weight limit of 500lbs, and add in the leverage of some sort of longer hitch adaptor and I'd be quite concerned about a 650lb load. That much weight may affect steering and handling too, but then again it might be just fine.

[simplesez]

In other words...a 650 lb motorcycle is too much for just about any stock hitch rack on the market. Go custom or use a trailer.

[carringb]

Yup. Over 400 pounds, you'll want a 3-point hitch setup. My motorcycle rack is a double so it's rated at 800 total, but it is infinitely more stable after adding an outboard pair of receivers. I cut some extra 2" tube for the outboard support arms, added some camber, and the rack simply sits on those outboard supports. I use a ziptie on each to prevent any rattles, but the center tube handles all the lateral forces.

Also, probably a good idea for any heavier bikes, is to swap to a Class 5 hitch. The Class 4 hitches most vans have are only good for 500 pounds of hitch weight, and that's assuming an 8" load-center, vs the 20" load center with a bike hanging off it.

[Ron_Nunan]

Honda CT90... not too heavy

[Beejmac]

Here is mine.

[Cali Native]

I had a Honda 230 CRF on the front and a boat on the back rolling through Mojave on a warm day.
The temp on the scan gauge started climbing from 210 or so to over 235 and I called it quits because fortunately I was travelling with my Escalade and transferred the bike to it.
The van instantly cooled back to the 210 range for the duration of the 1500 mile trip.
That was it for me. I've put bicycles on the front and noticed they effected the cooling as well.
That front hitch is amazing if you need to put a trailer in a tight spot easy as can be.