10-13-2012, 10:39 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Master EcoModder
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Location: Windsor ON Canada
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Civic towing a trailer and bike
Today I went to a drag strip and took my sportbike in a small, u haul trailer. I just put a hitch on my civic a few weeks ago so it was my first time towing with this car.
The trailer was a 4x7 open trailer with sides and combined weight with the bike was about 1000 lbs
I was getting about 32 mpg @ 58 mph...at that speed without the trailer and extra weight of the bike, I would usually get about 45 mpg
I wanted to do a test pulling the trailer without the bike, to see how much of a difference 400 lbs makes without changing much of the drag, but i didn't get a chance.
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10-13-2012, 11:37 PM
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#2 (permalink)
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Human Environmentalist
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GRU
I wanted to do a test pulling the trailer without the bike, to see how much of a difference 400 lbs makes without changing much of the drag, but i didn't get a chance.
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Taking the bike off the trailer will drastically reduce the drag, unless it sits lower than the Civic. |
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10-21-2012, 10:25 AM
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#3 (permalink)
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EcoModding Lurker
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here's my civic pulling a bike from indiana to colorado, a trip of 2k roundtrip. last year I did the same thing but I left my saddlebags and windshield on the bike. I ended up getting 30mpg which wasn't to bad, although my normal mpg without the trailer is 44. this year I took off the bags and shield and streamlined the bike a bit.(good thing it didn't rain) my mpg this time jumped to 38mpg. just a little bit of effort made a big difference. here's some pics to show what I did.
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10-21-2012, 12:54 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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Corporate imperialist
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Is the civic rated to tow anything?
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1984 chevy suburban, custom made 6.5L diesel turbocharged with a Garrett T76 and Holset HE351VE, 22:1 compression 13psi of intercooled boost.
1989 firebird mostly stock. Aside from the 6-speed manual trans, corvette gen 5 front brakes, 1LE drive shaft, 4th Gen disc brake fbody rear end.
2011 leaf SL, white, portable 240v CHAdeMO, trailer hitch, new batt as of 2014.
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10-21-2012, 08:19 PM
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#5 (permalink)
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Master EcoModder
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nice cardboard dustbin fairing!
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10-22-2012, 01:06 AM
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#6 (permalink)
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Smeghead
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4
Is the civic rated to tow anything?
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The civic may not be rated in the US but most small cars have a ~2000 lb rating in the rest of the world. The hitch manufacture puts a rating on it and you can bet their lawyers had a say in the rating they put on it.
Would doing boat tail travel fairing help?
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10-22-2012, 10:20 PM
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#7 (permalink)
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Master EcoModder
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many people won't even consider towing with a 4 cyl car but the truth is they are more than capable of towing 800 lbs or more...when i was a kid living in europe, i remember seeing cars with 900cc engines towing small trailers
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10-22-2012, 11:09 PM
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#8 (permalink)
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Corporate imperialist
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In Germany I saw lots of cars pulling good sized trailers loaded down with junk.
Dont know what they had under the hood.
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1984 chevy suburban, custom made 6.5L diesel turbocharged with a Garrett T76 and Holset HE351VE, 22:1 compression 13psi of intercooled boost.
1989 firebird mostly stock. Aside from the 6-speed manual trans, corvette gen 5 front brakes, 1LE drive shaft, 4th Gen disc brake fbody rear end.
2011 leaf SL, white, portable 240v CHAdeMO, trailer hitch, new batt as of 2014.
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10-22-2012, 11:25 PM
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#9 (permalink)
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Smeghead
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Quote:
Originally Posted by oil pan 4
In Germany I saw lots of cars pulling good sized trailers loaded down with junk.
Dont know what they had under the hood.
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most tow ratings are not based on power plant, but braking. The hitch I mounted on my Subaru GL was 1000lbs, or 2000lbs with trailer brakes.
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Learn from the mistakes of others, that way when you mess up you can do so in new and interesting ways.
One mile of road will take you one mile, one mile of runway can take you around the world.
Last edited by bestclimb; 10-23-2012 at 02:07 PM..
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10-23-2012, 02:35 AM
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#10 (permalink)
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Corporate imperialist
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You normally don't see trailer brakes on trailers with an empty weight of less than 1500lb.
__________________
1984 chevy suburban, custom made 6.5L diesel turbocharged with a Garrett T76 and Holset HE351VE, 22:1 compression 13psi of intercooled boost.
1989 firebird mostly stock. Aside from the 6-speed manual trans, corvette gen 5 front brakes, 1LE drive shaft, 4th Gen disc brake fbody rear end.
2011 leaf SL, white, portable 240v CHAdeMO, trailer hitch, new batt as of 2014.
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