Legalities of towing by bicycle?

I'm sure this varies state by state, and I'm most interested in NH,
followed by MA, but any input from any other states would be welcome
as well.

I know (er... believe) that no plates, paperwork, etc. are required to
tow a small BOB type trailer by bicycle. What about larger trailers?
Say a kayak? What if the trailer carries a motor vehicle, say a dirt
bike? Also, what about a utility trailer for in-town dump runs?
Anyone have any experience with anything like this?

Thanks,

Dan

On Sep 30, 1:17*pm, " wrote:
I know (er... believe) that no plates, paperwork, etc. are required to
tow a small BOB type trailer by bicycle. *What about larger trailers?
Say a kayak? *What if the trailer carries a motor vehicle, say a dirt
bike? *Also, what about a utility trailer for in-town dump runs?
Anyone have any experience with anything like this?

I don't know of any specific state laws on this, but you could check
with these folks:
http://www.bikesatwork.com/
since they sell pretty large trailers and may know if any customers
have had legal issues.

I've towed my kayaks by bike in the past and have never been
questioned about it. The larger one is a double with a length of 18',
width of 3', and weighs almost 100 lbs. incl. the usual gear in it.

wrote:
I'm sure this varies state by state, and I'm most interested in NH,
followed by MA, but any input from any other states would be welcome
as well.

I know (er... believe) that no plates, paperwork, etc. are required to
tow a small BOB type trailer by bicycle. What about larger trailers?
Say a kayak? What if the trailer carries a motor vehicle, say a dirt
bike? Also, what about a utility trailer for in-town dump runs?
Anyone have any experience with anything like this?


Off the top of my head I'd say that license laws are written with
"motor" vehicles in mind. I have occasionally hauled oversized loads in
my Nomad (e.g., a mailbox post) with no hassles. (I do put a blinkie on
it when I tow it at night.)
Maybe such things are simply too uncommon ~ to have attracted the
attention of the powers that be?


Bill

__o | Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live.
_`\(,_ |
(_)/ (_) | -- Mark Twain

On 2008-09-30, wrote:

I'm sure this varies state by state, and I'm most interested in NH,
followed by MA, but any input from any other states would be welcome
as well.

I know (er... believe) that no plates, paperwork, etc. are required to
tow a small BOB type trailer by bicycle. What about larger trailers?
Say a kayak? What if the trailer carries a motor vehicle, say a dirt
bike? Also, what about a utility trailer for in-town dump runs?
Anyone have any experience with anything like this?

I hauled a couple half-barrel of beers in a bike trailer once. :-)

I suspect the plates requirement depends on the weight of the trailer,
and a bike trailer is unlikely to get to the mass needed to require
plates. If it does, make sure you have brakes to match! :-)

--

John )
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Sep 30, 9:05*pm, John Thompson wrote:
On 2008-09-30, wrote:

I'm sure this varies state by state, and I'm most interested in NH,
followed by MA, but any input from any other states would be welcome
as well.

I know (er... believe) that no plates, paperwork, etc. are required to
tow a small BOB type trailer by bicycle. *What about larger trailers?
Say a kayak? *What if the trailer carries a motor vehicle, say a dirt
bike? *Also, what about a utility trailer for in-town dump runs?
Anyone have any experience with anything like this?

I hauled a couple half-barrel of beers in a bike trailer once. :-)

I suspect the plates requirement depends on the weight of the trailer,
and a bike trailer is unlikely to get to the mass needed to require
plates. If it does, make sure you have brakes to match! :-)

--

John )
** Posted fromhttp://www.teranews.com**

Thanks for all the replies. I expect the heaviest thing I'd be towing
is my dirt bike, which weighs in around 200lbs. Add anouther 50 or so
for a suitable trailer, and that should be about max. The kayak is
more of a size burden than overly heavy. As for runs to the dump, I
don't see exceeding the dirt bike weight. I've actually been thinking
about putting brakes on the trailer itself so that when going downhill
with the dirt bike I can brake the trailer, rather than try to stop it
with the bike.

What does a couple half-kegs of beer weight? How was stopping that
working out for you?

I also shot an email to bikes at work, we'll have to see if I hear
back from them.

On Sep 30, 3:17*pm, " wrote:
I'm sure this varies state by state, and I'm most interested in NH,
followed by MA, but any input from any other states would be welcome
as well.

I know (er... believe) that no plates, paperwork, etc. are required to
tow a small BOB type trailer by bicycle. *What about larger trailers?
Say a kayak? *What if the trailer carries a motor vehicle, say a dirt
bike? *Also, what about a utility trailer for in-town dump runs?
Anyone have any experience with anything like this?

Thanks,

Dan

When the conference bike came out, there was a town in Penn. that was
going to ban it, I researched their laws and concluded they could only
ban any bicycle was by declaring the road a freeway, and a bicyclist
could apply for a permanent permit to ride on the freeway. (I don't
think the roadway met the limited access requirements.) One
restriction would be the vehicle width restrictions (max 7 ft or
whatever), and if you are getting that wide, the weight is going to be
a limit too.

On 2008-10-01, wrote:

On Sep 30, 9:05*pm, John Thompson wrote:

I hauled a couple half-barrel of beers in a bike trailer once. :-)

I suspect the plates requirement depends on the weight of the trailer,
and a bike trailer is unlikely to get to the mass needed to require
plates. If it does, make sure you have brakes to match! :-)

Thanks for all the replies. I expect the heaviest thing I'd be towing
is my dirt bike, which weighs in around 200lbs. Add anouther 50 or so
for a suitable trailer, and that should be about max. The kayak is
more of a size burden than overly heavy. As for runs to the dump, I
don't see exceeding the dirt bike weight. I've actually been thinking
about putting brakes on the trailer itself so that when going downhill
with the dirt bike I can brake the trailer, rather than try to stop it
with the bike.

What does a couple half-kegs of beer weight? How was stopping that
working out for you?

A half-barrel of beer is about 58kg, so 2 half-barrels is about 116kg,
which works out to about 255#. I pulled the trailer with my trusty Trek
720, on which I had installed Mafac "tandem" grade cantilevers with
Mathauser pads. Stopping distance was definitely increased (!), but the
trip was on lightly travelled rural roads with few hills.

Nonetheless, I was not eager to repeat the performance.

N.B. empty half-barrels are much lighter! :-)

--

John )
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Sep 30, 3:17*pm, " wrote:
I'm sure this varies state by state, and I'm most interested in NH,
followed by MA, but any input from any other states would be welcome
as well.

I know (er... believe) that no plates, paperwork, etc. are required to
tow a small BOB type trailer by bicycle. *What about larger trailers?
Say a kayak? *What if the trailer carries a motor vehicle, say a dirt
bike? *Also, what about a utility trailer for in-town dump runs?
Anyone have any experience with anything like this?

Thanks,

Dan

This isn't a direct quote but for purposes of registration both NH's
and MA's legal definition of a trailer is a non-powered vehicle
attached to a *motor vehicle*. IOW, you don't need to register any
trailer that is towed by a bicycle regardless of what you are hauling.
Personally, I can't imagine ever wanting to haul a motorcycle with a
trailer attached to a bike but to each his own. :-)

Regards,
Bob Hunt