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Towing with my trike

Posted: Sun, 16 Jun 2013, 5:52 pm
by fitz
I know this may be a long shot as most of you guys tow with cars.I am trying to find out if I am still largely able to tow my 69 portafold with my trike because trikes have recently been put in the bike category and it states you can only tow a one meter wide trailer of no moor than 254kg weigh. My trike is a car engined trike of 1800cc and weighs in at 520kg and is MOT-ed as a car group four now some say the law only applies to bikes and sidecars and bike engined trikes under 410kg and not car based trikes. I have just come back from a bike rally with my trike and portafold and people love it. I have never been stopped by the men in blue whilst towing and would hate to have to sell it after all the hard work my wife and I have put into it and to be honest there is nothing to touch it on a bike rally field. I only have a full bike licence with added B1 for trikes and in my 59 years have never been interested in cars and love my trike and portafold but to stay legal I may have to very regrettably sell the old girl. I cant seem to get a definitive answer on this even DVLA are not sure so I will throw it out to you guys. :? :? :?

Re: Towing with my trike

Posted: Sun, 16 Jun 2013, 7:15 pm
by bigbird
Hi Fitz, I would say that you would have a very good argument for being legally able to tow the portafold with your trike. As you have said, your trike is a 'car' based trike and is legally MOT'd as such, therefore the only towing restrictions you should have, I would have thought, would be weight restrictions?? ie. kerbside weight etc., and another thought is the 'licence to tow'.....I'm not sure if there is a restriction on that, apparently you do have to take a seperate test these days to tow...maybe you could do that, with your trike and still be covered?? One thing I am concerned about, is there not a restriction on driving a car based trike with no full car licence?....They do seem to keep changing the goal posts these days and even as a retired Motorcycle examiner, I still loose track?!!!

I have a bike trike and sadly, even though it's a big twin harley, it would be very cruel to tow my portafold with it, but she does sit very nicely behind my VDub camper! :D

Re: Towing with my trike

Posted: Tue, 18 Jun 2013, 9:51 pm
by fitz
Hi Bigbird I took my bike test in 1980 and can legally ride any trike regardless of engine size or type as long as it is not over 550kg in weight. What has happened is that from 13th January this year They moved trikes into the bike category only so you need a full bike licence to ride one. If you passed your car test before 13th of January 2013 you can still ride a trike with your car licance but if you pass a car test after that date you can no longer ride a trike on a car licence and will need a full bike licence. Trikes up to 410kg are MOT ed as group three but after this weight they are MOT ed as group four the same as cars even though you ride them on a bike licence. It is all totally confusing but then again it always was.

Re: Towing with my trike

Posted: Wed, 19 Jun 2013, 3:30 pm
by bigbird
Ah, that's interesting, I'll pass that info onto my friend.

In that case, surely you must be able to tow with it, if the DVLA can't make up their mind, then they can't descriminate surely?? The only fly I can see in the ointment is the new towing law, but presumeably you would have grandad rights as you were already towing before that came out??? Sounds like you'd have a valid case in favour of it.....If you've got an old trike insurance that state that you were insured to tow as well, that would help?!!!

Jan :thumbup:

Re: Towing with my trike

Posted: Wed, 19 Jun 2013, 3:45 pm
by Admin
I briefly looked into the towing changes to newly passed drivers and unless you're attempting to tow a twin axle caravan with a 4x4 you're generally fine.

Basically a lightly loaded Portafold behind a small/medium car comes in under their weight restrictions anyway. (From what I remember anyway, I stand to be corrected) :lol: