Towing a DuneBuggy

[slowshadow]

Ok, my wife and I were talking about letting her do some gambling while I do some riding on my Valk in Cherokee, NC.
Gambling doesn't interest me and she is sensible enough to have fun with it.
She has a 68 Maxi Taxi fiberglass buggy to ride around in but does not want to drive it up there while I'm riding my bike.
My wife suggested hooking a trailer to the buggy and hauling the Valk up there.
Besides not having a hitch on the buggy, I just didn't like that idea.
Then the thought hit me. We have the towbar that attaches to the front torsion rails of the buggy and I have a hitch on my Valkyrie...Hmmm...
The valk also has 100 hp compared to 40-50 hp on a good day for the VW engine. I don't know the torque comparison but I'm sure the Valk wins there too.
Only real question is how would the drive train hold up to pulling an extra 1500 pounds. The tow bar would not put any weight on the tongue but would be pulling against  the 4 bolts at the fender mounting and putting considerable stress on the differential, clutch etc...
I think it would be an awesome sight to see a motorcycle towing a car but hate the thought of ripping my bike apart just for grins!

[old2soon]

What ZACKLY iz yer plans for a QUICK HARD stop? Answer HONESTLY and git back to me. RIDE SAFE.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Should work great ... Go for it 

[RDKLL]

Ditto on the reply to your inquiry. Physics can be a bitch!

[Tfrank59]

I'm with you on the head turning, but it's probably not a good plan. Going to be hard on your drive train – final drive, driveshaft, U joint, not to mention clutch and transmission.   I mean if you're only talking about 20 miles, and it's relatively slow on secondary roads, and no big hills, well you could probably get away with it, but if it's more than that, or anything at higher speeds, well I know the Washington State patrol would probably stop you and cite you, though I don't know about your state.  If you decide to do it, don't forget to post some pics

[..]

Should work great ... Go for it 

[..]

 Chattanooga to Cherokee. Such a nice straight flat road with lots of room for gentle braking

I don' remember ever using this emoticon but for this I'm going to 

[slowshadow]

I had no plan for stopping. Just going to Cherokee with my bike no matter what . I have done stupider things but that was years ago and I healed a lot faster back then. Y'all know the phrase "watch this" originated around these parts. 

[..]

Some of us are not so subtly "BLUNTLY" trying to tell you it's a REALLY bad idea.

[..]

I had no plan for stopping. Just going to Cherokee with my bike no matter what . I have done stupider things but that was years ago and I healed a lot faster back then. Y'all know the phrase "watch this" originated around these parts. 

Have you ridden this road?

If so have you forgotten that the road elevation changes quite a lot?

[gordonv]

Forget whether or not you "could" do it or not. What does your dept of motor vehicles say?

I know here with regards to towing, that there is weight ratio of the tow vehicle and the towed vehicle. If you where to exceed that, then you are subject to a fine and not having valid insurance.

Is that something you would like to do?

Then there is the issue of, could you live with yourself if you where to injure someone else, including your co-pilot?

[Grandpot]

Trying to turn a four wheeled vehicle is going to be much harder than turning a two wheel trailer.  You may not make the turn out of your driveway.

[Hook#3287]

Sounds pretty crazy

I remember a story of someone towing a Chevy pickup that run out of gas some years ago.

But that was out of necessity.

So your valk would probably do it, but I wouldn't.

[Steel cowboy]

Even thou I don't agree with your plans it might be better to Get a hitch for the buggy and tow the Valkyrie.

[czuch]

We towed a motor-less 56 Chevy pick-up 35 miles one night with a 305 Honda Dream.
The clutch cover glowed red and we got stopped in every little burg along the way.
The Police Officers just wanted to make sure we were OK and only stupid, not drunk.
It was 1974, and I was 17.
Go to plan B.

[Gryphon Rider]

[slowshadow]

Just thought this would be fun to kick around on the board.
Sittin' around talkin' crap.
I think SmokinJoe and a couple of others get it. Take the extreme and laugh at it. Make fun of how stupid and crazy a situation could get.
Sorry the last sentence of my original post wasn't expressive enough for some others to understand. Loosely translated it says, ""this would be fun but not likely to have a good result".
It's all fun and games until somebody rolls through a guardrail 

[allanbegg]

If you could rig up a brake controller from the bike to the buggy, it "might" be feasible....
But that buggy is really going to try to push that bike out of the way, otherwise....

[Edvalk]

it's not going to be that easy towing the valk with the buggy.Buy a toy hauler .

[Houdini]

If y'all really want to see a bike hauling a car then buy one of these...

[Bagger John - #3785]

[hukmut]

Back in the day, I used a VW crewcab van to tow Vw bugs and the like and when it came to turning at an intersection, the towed vehicle would "push" my somewhat larger vehicle like my tow had rear steering. NOT fun.
Most of the time, I simply got lucky and we made it. Man, am I glad I no longer do that stuff. Made some good money though.


Ride safe and see you in Morgantown.

[Ramie]

You could always take it a piece at a time.

[gordonv]

Tow your boat instead.