I am in the early chassis stages of my locost, and im planning to put in a towbar. It would be for a caravan as shown on this website. I am going to make my own, and as the car will be r1 powered i will make it as light as possible, hopefully under 100kgs. it will be carbon fibre fabricated not the fibreglass on the real thing. What do you guys think? Am i really crazy or do i have a good idea? ps. the website link used to make them to fit onto larger motorbikes, but obviously a motorbike doesnt have the weight of a locost. any help/ideas would be appreciated!!
Joel

Thats what im thinking, but its just like having quite a fat guy sitting in the passenger seat! ive not actually driven a bec, thats why i started the post as i dont know how/what they can pull. cheers
Joel

I've seen somebody with a really old Spartan dutton thingy who was happily telling me he'd filled the front chrome bumper with Lead to balance out his caravan

It does make you wonder what posesses some ppl!

if you have got the torque, go for it!

I tow a teardrop with my XS1100 Trike (see my website).
It can be a bit dodgy on hill starts, but once rolling it's OK. Do what you can to uprate the clutch.
Don't tow and carry the fat bloke at the same time - that's asking for trouble

Why don't you just have a 'minimalist' trailer and a tent (old drop tank split longitudinally?) What needs to be considered is decelerating in corners, the trailer will have an influence on a back end that has little weight on it. Make sure you use a sway brace of some sort to damp out any resonance, I imagine a small trailer on a light car wouldn't take much to set it off. Interesting aerodynamics, small brick followed by another!

hey, 100kg isnt fat! its just big boned!!
oh-err misses

i think you could pull it with a R1

but you should uprate your clutch,
and use a 3,92 diff.

with other words think you will gear the car for 160km/h topspeed and the rest for pulling.

In the end to drive 160km/h the bec and the CEC need the same amount of torque on the wheels on the same car, its just more a clutch problem.

with my bec i also needed to go out in a car garage it was a 3floored below the ground one,

i just dipped the clutch and the give full ch*t it then starts pulling away like hell and then you fast loose the throttle..

once rolling it should be fine power wise, clutch wise will be testing..

anyway i just would bag up a tent its lighter and proberly the better choice
You donīt want rain and a bec anyway!

Tks

have fun towing something 4to5 times the weight of the car

The recommended towing weight for any trailer, i.e. fully laden, is 85% of the car's kerb weight. So for a 500kg car that's only 425kg. You ignore this at your peril - it's not whether it will tow it but will it stop, corner and handle properly? Excess trailer weight is becoming an issue partic. at this time of year when all the caravanners hit the road. It will attract the attention of the authorities, Police and DOT inspectors and in an accident invalidate your insurance. If you want to tow buy a Volvo! Cheers, Pewe

quote:

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Originally posted by zxrlocost
have fun towing something 4to5 times the weight of the car

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Have a look at this from my favourites Link here .There are lots of websites and a webring for teardrop trailers but if it exceeds 2/3 of your vehicle weight I would make sure it's braked as it will spin you if you stop suddenly without. From the same page is THIS which would probably be a lighter alternative.

Motorbikes are allowed to tow never knew that.

What about a full cage and a roof-box for a decent amount of camping kit, I've seen that work well.

Problem with a lightweight caravan is all the cr*p it will get loaded with which silently pushes the weight up if you aren't careful.

100kg caravan

Like the look of that.

found another onelinky

My MNR is a little heavier that a bec so no problems for me - And the missus says the Kit car isnt practical !!!!

regards

Agriv8

The problem with other designs and other tents is that the teardrops just look soo damn cool! im thinking gloss black all over.... I would be making the caravan for a product design course, so have the recources and qualified help to make it good! my 100kg weight was just a guess, but im glad to see it backed up with the link above, and i think in carbon a fair bit could be knocked off that too One thing that ill have to keep in mind is that on a holiday i will probably be wanting to take someone else, which is unaccounted for weight. i was planning to uprate the clutch springs to barnett, would they be sufficient or would it need heavier duty? cheers,
Joel

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Originally posted by iank
Motorbikes are allowed to tow never knew that.

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do you need some kind of roadworthy assurance for a caravan? ive seen some pretty dodgy looking ones going round, but they must have to undergo some kind of test to be allowed on the road?
Joel

The 'camper trailer' that Pete recommends would be my choice, if I had to. Less drag under way as well.

If you are resourceful, you could make it as foldable flat panels, and it would end up looking like one of those F1 'paddock facilities.

Cheers,
Syd.

I don't how this will affect you, but towbars have to be authorised/certified nowadays.

LINKY

David

The Caravan Club website has a tech. section on towing in general. Towsure also have details on tech. specs for towbars etc. Cheers, Pewe

Ģ999 for a caravan (As a kit) . We build a car for Ģ250 how come the shoe boxes are soooo dear.

I think peterriley2 should write a book "build a itsy bitsy caravan for 250p and sell it to Haynes.

I'm not so convinced that it go under 100kilos ...

only the axcel is 30kg + the suspension and frame/floor ... I'm not convinced

I've a detachable tow hook on my Locost. The spare wheel carrier bolts in place when the tow hook is not being used. I plan to make a trailer that mimics the rear end of the locost. Not sure if the tow hook arrangement can be approved at SVA or not, but I'll find out in a year or two!

You'll have to have a load plate on or near the tow hook! Max towing weight & bumph like that.

David

As was mentioned before the killer is the stuff you put in the trailer. Start adding blankets, food and beer and you will get heavy real fast.
Anytime the trailer weight is approaching the same weight as the car you should have electric brakes with a pushbutton. This keeps the trailer from passing you when stopping. Also, I cant think of where a structural way to attach a tow hitch to the rear of a locost. There isnt much behind the rear axle sturdy enough.
If you do go for a trailer remember the golden rule of lightweight packing......
Bring hard liquor, beer is too heavy
Cheers.

i wouldnt want to tow much more than this!!