Detachable towbars and bike trailers

[the_lone_wolf]

For a '53 Focus hatch...

Anyone have any brands or companies to recommend?

Cheers:cool:

[lookskyward1]

Dead easy for the towbar;
http://www.towsure.com/product/5212-EC_Towbar-_Ford_Focus_Hatchback_Oct_98-July_03

Personally I like having a fixed towbar on the back of my cars, they make excellent mechanical reversing sensors:rolleyes: and give a bit of rear protection for the car should someone rear-end you.

Keep an eye out for second hand bike trailers in the Adtrader local paper. You are looking for something that has a wide (stable axle) and secure mounting system for the bike as well as ramps etc.

If you are struggling to find one, look at other small trailers you can adapt.

[tomjones2]

I have only had one trailer and its was good and heavy so you could tow it at a good speed, I think I had a detachable whitter towbar which worked well but was a bit of a pain to fit. I liked the detachable because I had to parrell park my old omega and sometimes tocuhed the cars behind me.

The only thing I can recommend when you are looking at the trailer is to check its stable and well balanced both empty and loaded, they dont have to be expensive either, mine was £150 of ebay and made of bits of angle iron. Suspenstion can be a bonus as well

[arenalife]

Fully detachables where you can use a key to take the ball arm on and off are about £75 more than regular ones. I just fitted one to mine and recommend getting a car specific wiring kit, costs about £65 compared to about £30 DIY with a load of bodgy connectors and relays. You just plug the unit into the light clusters feeds and it sorts out all the flashing and bulb monitoring for you. I was warned that modern cars can have the ecu damaged (CANbus electrics on mine) if you do it the traditional way.

Took about 45 mins to install the wiring and worked first time, towbar took about 2 hours to do a good job. All post 1998 cars have to have ready made points for tow attachment (unless the manufac decides to prohibit towing, such as Ford Ka, Pug 107 etc).

You should be able to get a bar for about £65 for a std version or 120 - 150 for detachable depending on the quality of detach fitting.

[the_lone_wolf]

thanks guys, anyone know of any brands to avoid or are they all much of a muchness really?

[gemma1675]

Don't know of any brands to avoid but I can recommend Witter. I have a witter detachable on my car and am quite happy with it. I went detachable as I hate the look of tow bars, unless it is a utility vehicle, plus I didn't want to interfere with the parking sensors.

[ricky]

what about getting one from a breakers that what i will be doing with my new car

im on the look out for a good cheap bike trailer, will get one, one day

[tomjones2]

[quote=arenalife;1501487] I was warned that modern cars can have the ecu damaged (CANbus electrics on mine) if you do it the traditional way.

(unless the manufac decides to prohibit towing, such as Ford Ka, Pug 107 etc).
quote]

My omega did through a wobbly the first time I started it after I sliced the wiring, it was fine the the end but with the complications with modern car wriring what your saying does makee sense.

I doubt the manufacturers prohibit towing, I though it was more to do with legal issues such as the car being very light or the manufacturers not wanting to pay for type approval of whatever it is called on vechile that are never likley to tow.

[embee]

I fitted a Toyota-supplied detachable to my Yaris, it was a re-badged Brink towbar.

Some small cars simply aren't constructed to accept a towbar, and it's an offence to fit a non certified towbar to recent cars (forget the exact date).

Check with the insurance folks about trailers, my insurance will only cover "proprietary" manufactured trailers, i.e. not home made ones.

I use an Ifor Williams P6 trailer which will take one bike nicely, but it is a big lump to have sitting about if you don't have a need for a general purpose trailer. Very good quality though, different class altogether compared to the normal DIY tin tray affairs.

[Wideboy]

why have a detachable one? fixed ones are good for when people box you in :)

[the_lone_wolf]

thanks for all the replies folks, i'm looking at these ones:

http://www.trailertek.com/trailers_motorcycle.php

more specifically the double one, i did look at ifor williams but they are quite expensive and probably beyond the requirements i have, this one you can flip up againts the side of the house when not using it.

The focus should be alright for towing a small trailer, haven't checked the manual, will do before i do anything, but it's quite a big car and the diesel has plenty of grunt:D