Don't overload your bike trailer

ST1100Gold

ST1100Gold

Joined
Sep 14, 2018
Messages
170
Age
63
Location
Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Bike
'99 ST1100 AX
Copied from FB, but this vehicle was pulled over by a traffic patrol in Manchester, England for the trailer being overweight for the towing vehicle ... ... driver issued with ticket and instructed to organize an alternative towing vehicle ...

ST1100 Pan Euro (Trailer).JPG

May have been easer to put the Reliant on the trailer and tow with the ST1100 ... :)
 
I wonder if they've ever seen a 3 wheel Reliant in the States.
You can blame the creation of the vehicle on the following legal definition of a motorcycle.
“motor cycle” means a mechanically propelled vehicle, not being an invalid carriage, with less than four wheels and the weight of which unladen does not exceed 410 kilograms.
So the picture actually shows a motorcycle towing another motorcycle on a trailer.
 
I think (?) the maximum weight you can tow with a motorcycle in the UK is 150 kg. But that depends on the kerbside weight of the motorcycle. So I'm guessing none of those would be road legal here.
But someone will know more than I.
 
STFlips said:
Top Gear had a hilarious segment on the tippy Reliant a few years back.
Click to expand...
Was that with the British guy who kept taking corners too fast and rolling it over onto its nose?

All the while laughing and asking people to help him right it, and then going on his merry way?

Never saw it. :biggrin:
 
Having done the bit specifically about the Reliant Robin, throughout the rest of the show - whenever someone was doing their 'piece to camera' about some other vehicle, in the background would be a Robin sliding through the shot on its side.

This is the main extract about the Reliant Robin. I've not found the rest of the show.


And just think on sithee, if tha's recknin on tekkin t'pee out of t'way we natter in t'north else tha'll be gittin thisen in spo' o' bother.
 
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Upt' North said:
I think (?) the maximum weight you can tow with a motorcycle in the UK is 150 kg. But that depends on the kerbside weight of the motorcycle. So I'm guessing none of those would be road legal here.
But someone will know more than I.
Click to expand...

@Upt' North you just knew someone was going to do this didn't you :giggle: UK rules are shown below.... they vary for all other European nations!

'You can use motorbikes with an engine size of 125cc or more to tow small trailers.
Your motorbike has to be clearly and permanently marked with its ‘kerbside weight’.
Kerbside weight is the weight of the vehicle without passengers or any load but with a full tank of fuel and filled up with the necessary oils, water and fluids.
The trailer must be no more than 1 metre wide and must be clearly and permanently marked with its unladen weight.
When the trailer is loaded it must weigh no more than 150 kilograms or 2/3 of the kerbside weight of the motorbike - whichever is lighter.
When hitched, the distance between the end of the trailer and the rear axle of the motorbike must be no more than 2.5 metres.'

Source: www.gov.uk
 
I have to wonder if the trailer is overloaded, too (as the title says).
 
There was a TV series ("Good Omens") that featured a running joke about the Reliant. One of the characters had one, which he called "Dick Terpin". He kept trying to bait people into asking why but of course nobody did, until the final episode of the season. He explained that once upon a time there was a famous highwayman named Dick Terpin, and he named the Reliant the same because they both held up traffic wherever they went.
 
Flexit said:
@Upt' North you just knew someone was going to do this didn't you :giggle: UK rules are shown below.... they vary for all other European nations!

'You can use motorbikes with an engine size of 125cc or more to tow small trailers.
Your motorbike has to be clearly and permanently marked with its ‘kerbside weight’.
Kerbside weight is the weight of the vehicle without passengers or any load but with a full tank of fuel and filled up with the necessary oils, water and fluids.
The trailer must be no more than 1 metre wide and must be clearly and permanently marked with its unladen weight.
When the trailer is loaded it must weigh no more than 150 kilograms or 2/3 of the kerbside weight of the motorbike - whichever is lighter.
When hitched, the distance between the end of the trailer and the rear axle of the motorbike must be no more than 2.5 metres.'

Source: www.gov.uk
Click to expand...
Yes, I'll go along with that, but find a traffic cop who knows it!
 
Upt' North said:
You can blame the creation of the vehicle on the following legal definition of a motorcycle.
“motor cycle” means a mechanically propelled vehicle, not being an invalid carriage, with less than four wheels and the weight of which unladen does not exceed 410 kilograms.
So the picture actually shows a motorcycle towing another motorcycle on a trailer.
Click to expand...
Vehicles like this filled a (market) gap in the 50ies and 60ies, enabling people owning only a motorcycle license to operate some form of a "car"...
Hence they're quite frequently seen on the streets till the late 70ies, even some commercial vehicle types (read trucks with flatbed or even tipper) where common...

Today's equivalent would be the "micro cars", which use a similar legal loophole with their 500cc, 2-cyl diesel engine and a max speed of 45kph, thus are "mopeds" (code 79.02), hence were actually "license free" (they'd changed that now as too many DUI serial offender with revoked car license simply got a Ligier to continue terror on the streets...)

I'd quite a number of encounters, hence a skepticism...
Imagine you running along a rural road at your legal 100kph and spot the silhouette of a "compact car" ahead... then need to hammer your brakes over that Ligier crawling along at barely 40kph...
Or they're pulling out right in front of you... with the brute acceleration of an old lady on a walker...
 
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