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To TOAD or Scooter


Linda Winter

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You state that you have a Class A. That type of RV can tow just about anything. You may think of getting a small used pick up that can be towed 4 down and you could put the Vespa in the back of the truck and have both with you. I have a Class A and put a Hydrolift on the back for my Harley and tow a Jeep, another option but more expensive. 

2015 Itasca Ellipse 42QD

2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Hard Rock Edition

2021 Harley Street Glide Special 

Fulltimer

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On 9/27/2018 at 11:20 AM, Linda Winter said:

I drive a 32 ft Class A

One thing that I don't believe we have addressed is the Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) or the maximum towing weight, which every motorhome has and which for safety reasons should not be exceeded. Since you have a class A of 32' length, I am guessing that you probably have a gasoline-powered coach and likely is powered by a Ford, V-10 chassis?  In that case you probably have a maximum towing weight capacity of 3000 to 4000 pounds and most have a hitch receiver rated to tow up to  5000#. The main issue to consider in a tow dolly and car for this will be the combined weight of the two. 

I think that all of us have assumed that you will be traveling single? It just crossed my mind that we could be mistaken so thought I'd verify this. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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Linda - here are sage words from Flyover County, Alberta:

“If you close your eyes and relax, you can remember something from every motorcycle ride you have ever taken. You pretty much forget every car drive you ever take.”

My Camry I had one time was a wonderful appliance. Motorbikes and scooters are “woo hoo! Freedom!” 

So, is full timing about experiences or taking house chore routines with us? 

Bag of laundry? A few Groceries? Looks like I have to take the long way to town again. Darn.

Best boondocking spot ever, 1 mile off the pavements? Gee, can’t get to it dragging a car. You can come and go from it with a motorcycle/scooter. 

Anyhoo if you were 4-1/2 days closer we would fab up a nice safe to use carrier something like in the video for a nimble 2 wheeler and you could tow that Camry on a dolly. 

Motorhome moto carrier

It doesn’t have to be either or. It can be both. 

And your bike doesn’t have to be a 900lbs tub o’lard. 

Oh and you don’t have to have everything perfect when you leave ... cause it never will be 🙃

 

 

 

"Are we there yet?" asked no motorcycle rider, ever. 

 

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I love riding motorcycles both on and off road. So when I bought a class A I went out and bought a motorcycle carrier that fitted on the tow hitch and a Yamaha 225 dual sport. 

It was a good decision.

They are more stable than mopeds  with small wheels.

I did miss the amazing carrying capacity of a scooter. I strapped on a small crate to the back carrier of the 225 and used a backpack. 

But best of all I loved getting off the beaten track. 

FT since September 2007

Safari Trek + M/C

http://johncarolandcharro.blogspot.com/

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3 hours ago, noteven said:

Linda - here are sage words from Flyover County, Alberta:

“If you close your eyes and relax, you can remember something from every motorcycle ride you have ever taken. You pretty much forget every car drive you ever take.”

Best boondocking spot ever, 1 mile off the pavements? Gee, can’t get to it dragging a car. You can come and go from it with a motorcycle/scooter. 

 

I'm not understanding your comments....

You can also remember every car drive you take including the gravel backcountry roads and 4-wheel driving if you have the proper car - many of which you wouldn't take a scooter.

If you can't get to the boondocking spot one mile off pavement with a car then how will you get the RV there?  We took our 40' motorhome twenty miles on gravel roads and then used our Jeep to explore farther.

Full-timed for 16 Years
Traveled 8 yr in a 2004 Newmar Dutch Star 40' Motorhome
and 8 yr in a 33' Travel Supreme 5th Wheel

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Late to the conversation but I'd vote for Dual Sport Motorcycle with the other couple I see that posted the same.

Great Gas Mileage.
Dirt or Street.
2Up possible.
Good Mule to haul around groceries or whatever.
Low Maintenance.
Not hard to tow at all, many towing options available.

Riding in weather is part of the adventure...LOL



 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have spent over 6 years full-timing in a 32' Class C without either a car or a scooter, and have done just fine.  I do my grocery shopping between campgrounds, and when I want to run out for sightseeing, I "break camp" and take the entire motorhome.  For me, "breaking camp" means unplugging electric and possibly unhooking my water hose, plus putting in my slides.  I can do it in 4 minutes, tops!  Any chairs or anything else stays at the campsite, but I am a minimalist, so don't leave a lot around anyway.  Never had anything stolen. 

And laundry is something I only have to do every couple of weeks since my wardrobe consists of shorts and t-shirts, mostly.  (I do have an electric bike for within campgrounds and areas where there are bike trails.)

When I started out, I decided to postpone the toad decision and ended up deciding that having one would be more of a bother than it is worth.  And if I am someplace near a city where taking my motorhome along would be difficult, I rent a car.  I figure I can rent a car a lot for what a car would cost me, and not having a car means I can pull into and out of gas stations easily. 

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I have not started RVing yet, so my opinion may not be worth much. I HAVE gone through the Toad/NoToad/WhatKindofToad process though. While I agree with Solo18 that proper planning prevents plenty of pitstops, I also realize there may be times/places when I want to leave the RV where it is and take something smaller. I have ridden motorcycles in the past, and thought something small might be ideal. I was leaning towards a TW200 myself, for small errands or sightseeing in the boonies. What pushed me away from that is age. LOL

My knees are already tired. I don't want to throw a leg over a bike or soak up bumps on a small-wheeled scooter (which might not be good on crappy trails in the boonies). I also haven't given up on the idea (perhaps over-optimistically) that I may not be RVing by myself. LOL So I found a good Jeep Wrangler to be my toad. It'll be easy to set up for towing, relatively cheap to operate, can go about anywhere, and won't be a PITA when the weather doesn't cooperate.

 

Just my $.02.

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There is a third alternative. Carry your toad inside! these new electric bikes come in big comfortable cruiser bikes:

dmIlVftl.jpg

Here is an article showing several including a scooter looking one. These guys have plenty of range to go wherever. And adding one or two on a rack will not adversely affect fuel mileage or stress your frame as motorcycle racks can do.

That pic is just one of the new breed or personal transport. We do follow the sun right?

I'm going to make this a  separate topic: https://cleantechnica.com/2018/10/31/retro-is-high-design-in-electric-two-wheelers/

 

 

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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10 minutes ago, RV_ said:

There is a third alternative. Carry your toad inside! these new electric bikes come in big comfortable cruiser bikes:

I can no longer throw a leg over one of those bikes but the scooters look like fun.

Linda

Blog: http://sandcastle.sandsys.org/

Former Rigs: Liesure Travel van, Winnebago View 24H, Winnebago Journey 34Y, Sportsmobile Sprinter conversion van

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RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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One thing that hasn't been mentioned, but which could be an issue for you to consider. We shifted to a motorhome after a series of trailers and at first, we didn't tow anything but carried bikes. We found that on occasions that we needed transportation it seemed that we always had a neighbor who was willing to let us ride with them. After a time it began to bother us the amount of time that we seemed to ride along, never being the one to drive. As a result, we started to tow and we have never looked back. Since starting to tow we have discovered that some of our friends were tired of always driving but were too kind to say so.  I would never accuse anyone of being guilty of taking advantage of fellow RV people, but it is something we were concerned about. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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Wow Jim!

You've already got the bikes! Here's a guy that did this DIY:

WeZsN7al.jpg

Here's the whole article with how and with what he did it. He even has pics of his side-seat for his daughter to ride on. THat recumbant sidecar ios awesome and they said for a recumbant it was more stable at speed than a trailer. Read the article.

http://www.electricbike.com/recumbent/

 

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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I made this a separate topic rather than hijack this thread here:

I'll bump that other thread.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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59 minutes ago, RV_ said:

Wow Jim!

You've already got the bikes! Here's a guy that did this DIY:

 

I used to ride a recumbent that was very similar to that (Tour Easy).  It's still out in the shop waiting to be sold.

 

We've also got a pair of RideKick trailers to go with our recumbent trikes - they will push us 20-25 miles (electric) and each one adds space for a couple bags of groceries.  Sadly, I don't think we'll be able to find a place to stow them when we go full-time.  We're keeping the trikes, though.

This probably isn't what the OP was asking about, so I'll stop here in an attempt to un-hijack the thread.  Sorry guys.

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Good for you! You could use the electric bikes with no cross bar too that fold up in the links above if you want to keep pedaling some.

I never heard of rideKick trailers . . . awesome! https://ridekick.com/

MY sonm in Denver who we are moving near is a bicyclist who does 20 -30 mile rides in sumer!

He used to do that when he lived here in 100 degree humid temps!!!

I have been researching the eBikes because I can lose weight just free pedaling at mile high altitudes and I can beat him up the hills! LOL!

Thanks for the link, any advice about them pro or con?

 

 

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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  • 3 months later...

I have been thinking about the same thing.  I have owned motorcycles all of my life so I am comfortable with them.
Concerns will be how you wish to haul the bike and what kind you wish to buy.
My biggest concern would be the weather.  For me alone it is no big deal but making the wife get on the back and get wet?

Many express a concern about shopping.  Well that depends on the scooter you have.   I have a 2007 Suzuki Burgman 600.
It is a big scooter and the storage is immense.  Someone on youtube posted a video of him transporting something like 30 cans of beer under the seat.  I never run out of space when shopping. 

As far as hauling it,  I have a versahaul which can be bought from versahaul.com.  I found mine on craigslist for only $250.  It comes with a ramp so you better be good at balancing the bike and tying it down at the same time if you are alone.  You also better have a hefty tow receiver if you plan on hauling a bigger scooter like this one.  My tow capacity is 10,000 lbs so my hitch can handle 1000 lbs of down force.  The scooter weighs in the 400s and the hauler weighs probably 100 lbs but it may be lighter.  For me this is workable but it may not be for everyone.  Also this scooter is an automatic which is great.  They also make a 400cc version but I am not sure about the storage.   I have had other scooters with ample storage as well.   I also own a Kawasaki Concourse 1400 which I have hauled the same way but it is just too awkward to load and tie down very often, especially by myself which I have done a few times.  

The great part about using a scooter instead of a car is just less worry in case you need to back up.   
It is great unless you want to get dressed up for a nice dinner.  I suppose you could always rent a car if you are going to be in one place for awhile but that is costly and defeats the purpose. 

I would not want to have to load it up and tie it down every day.  

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