MotoTote

[NibbanaBanana]

I'm thinking about purchasing a MotoTote hitch carrier. I want to pick up a small (around 300lb) dual sport that I can take camping. Ride trails and the BDR but also tour around local roads. Which might require short highway stints so I don't want any tiny dirt bikes. Will be mounting on 2026 Toyota Tacoma SR. The MotoTote weighs around 60lbs so that would be right around the tongue load capacity for the Tacoma with a 300lb motorbike.

Was interested in Honda CRF300 and Kawasaki KLX300. Honda seems to have a recall going so unavailable now.

Any thoughts or experience. Especially with the MotoTote.

 

[AZjeff]

No experience with either just that these receiver mounted motorcycle carriers seem like they'd put more leverage on the hitch than the same amount of trailer tongue weight. Are there any/many failures reported?

New truck + new bike sounds like good times.

 

[Astro14]

We used to put my RM125 on the bumper of our 1976 Chevy Impala wagon. Back then, bumpers were steel, and the mounts connected directly to the bumper. Then loaded up the car with siblings, dogs, luggage, and off we went.

The issue back then, as now, wasn’t strength, or load capacity, it is center of gravity.

Putting the weight behind the bumper is putting it very far back, and that weight that far “aft” will unload the front wheels of your truck far more than the same weight in the bed of the truck. So, just the bike? Probably OK, but I would put extra gear and other weight as far froward as possible.

 

[NibbanaBanana]

No experience with either just that these receiver mounted motorcycle carriers seem like they'd put more leverage on the hitch than the same amount of trailer tongue weight. Are there any/many failures reported?

New truck + new bike sounds like good times.

I haven't heard of any problems. Not a lot of YT videos out there on it. One YT'er did it with a total of 500lbs on his Tacoma. It worked pretty good but he said he didn't have a lot of spring left.

 

[NibbanaBanana]

We used to put my RM125 on the bumper of our 1976 Chevy Impala wagon. Back then, bumpers were steel, and the mounts connected directly to the bumper. Then loaded up the car with siblings, dogs, luggage, and off we went.

The issue back then, as now, wasn’t strength, or load capacity, it is center of gravity.

Putting the weight behind the bumper is putting it very far back, and that weight that far “aft” will unload the front wheels of your truck far more than the same weight in the bed of the truck. So, just the bike? Probably OK, but I would put extra gear and other weight as far froward as possible.

Yea. In the manual, Toyota says the center of the ball should be 7 inches out from the hitch pin hole. The MotoTote is adjustable, but I'd be surprised if you could get the center of mass of the bike that close to the back of the truck.

Then again, all those specs are given with an abundance of caution. Taking reasonable care and common sense can extend things.