Video of tiny folding FG trailer

[Andrew Gibbens]

If the sound of an appallingly 'hearty' Brit doing the voice-over won't turn your stomach, this

video of a fiberglass folding trailer

, towed behind a scooter sidecar outfit, might amuse.

And if you thought a sidecar and a trailer wasn't enough to pull with a scooter, they put a dinghy on top of the trailer too!

Andrew

[Rick]

Thanks for the laugh! It seems that this was recorded prior to the age of political correctness. Listen to him talking about how easy it is to set up - hilarious. I also noticed that the parents value their lives more than the kid in the sidecar. No helmet on the youngster.

[BOBSMITH]

If the sound of an appallingly 'hearty' Brit doing the voice-over won't turn your stomach, this

, towed behind a scooter sidecar outfit, might amuse.

Andrew

I didn't mind the guy's accent, but his voice was rather too much from the nasal.

Even (insert favorite politician's name here) could assemble that caravan!

[Frederick L. Simson]

We need to recommend those caravans for all the people with 1000 LB tow limits!

[Lizbeth]

I alway wear high heals riding a scooter and camping. Don't you?

[Roger H]

I alway wear high heals riding a scooter and camping. Don't you?

Ahem... no, Lizbeth... not that I'll admit to in public anyway...

Roger

[Alf S.]

I alway wear high heals riding a scooter and camping. Don't you?

Hi: People who are "well Heeled" don't do camping Alf S. North shore of lake Erie

[Rick]

ok, enough with the bad puns, now everyone scoot!

[Andrew Gibbens]

I forgot to provide the necessary translation: a 'hundredweight' is 112 pounds (1/20th of a ton), so that little trailer weighs about 390 lb.

Andrew

[Pete Dumbleton]

The narration reminds me of American news clips from the '40s and '50s!

I forgot to provide the necessary translation: a 'hundredweight' is 112 pounds (1/20th of a ton), so that little trailer weighs about 390 lb.

Andrew

Umm, that must be some other kind of ton than the one we use here in the USofA (not sure what our neighbors to the north use -- Someone please fill that gap in my knowledge!), which is 2,000 pounds (And 1/20th of that is an amazingly pure 'hundredweight', not a fuzzy 'hundredtwelveweight'...)

OK, I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and the proper term for the 112 lbs is Gross or Long Hundredweight and the 100 lbs is Net or Short Hundredweight, being based on the 2,240 Long/Gross/Imperial Ton and the 2,000 Short/Net Ton respectively. I presume my neighbors to the north are using the Metric Tonne of 2204.623 lbs, for which there doesn't appear to be a Hundredweight.

[Joe MacDonald]

You could always try this one, it's a molded fiberglass pop-up, currently in production

[Roger H]

You could always try this one, it's a molded fiberglass pop-up, currently in production

Joe, that's a variant of the Danish Combi-Camp. I had one in the early '80s in SoCal. I bought it for $300 from a couple in Escondido. I used that trailer for a number of years and sold it for what I'd paid for it. I've seen a few of them around since, but they're pretty rare in the U.S. They were really trick!

Combi-Camp '06

Roger

[Brian B-P]

...I presume my neighbors to the north are using the Metric Tonne of 2204.623 lbs, for which there doesn't appear to be a Hundredweight.

"Ton" or "tonne" are not SI units, but in casual use of "metric" units it has crept in (as "tonne"), meaning 1000 kg. (Properly, 1000 kg is one millon grams, or a megagram, Mg, but no one uses that.)

In traditional common use in Canada, "ton" always meant a short ton (2000 lb), despite the fact that we generally used Imperial units (such as imperial gallons, not U.S. gallons). In current metric units people just use kilograms (so a 2200 lb trailer is 1000 kg, not any kind of ton/tonne). In practice, while the country has gone metric use of old units (pounds, etc) continues.

I'm middle-aged, have lived in Canada for the whole time, and have never heard the term "hundredweight" used except by British people. They also use "stones" for the weight of people, and to me both units are lumped with rods and chains (surveying), fathoms (depth of water), shillings and so on (old British money) as obsolete and quaint terms encountered in old literature; they can lead to fascinating discoveries about culture and history, but are silly ways to express measurements.

[Pete Dumbleton]

But, but, a gross (British) hundredweight is eight stone, for goodness sakes!

I believe the move to metric in Canada has had some amusing occurances -- A Canadian lady on Cape Breton Island once reminded me that Canada was now metric and I said I'd believe it really happened when newspaper receipes didn't use cups and ounces, meat in stores wasn't priced in dollars per pound and communities like One Hundred Mile House, BC rename themselves to the appropriate metric dimension.

[Andrew Gibbens]

In practice, while the country has gone metric use of old units (pounds, etc) continues.

Curiously a 'pund' is used in shops in The Netherlands for 1/2 kg - so 500g versus the pound of 454g.

Andrew

[Mike Watters]

I believe the move to metric in Canada has had some amusing occurances -- A Canadian lady on Cape Breton Island once reminded me that Canada was now metric and I said I'd believe it really happened when newspaper receipes didn't use cups and ounces, meat in stores wasn't priced in dollars per pound and communities like One Hundred Mile House, BC rename themselves to the appropriate metric dimension.

Although it's been something like 30 years since they switched - Canada remains schizophrenic when it comes to metric. Meat and veggies are still priced (on the in-store displays) in $/lb or oz although at the register the official ring-up will be in $/kg. If you ask people for driving directions you'll get a bizarre mixture of the two. Example (not made up): "That's 10 clicks (kilometers) down the road, turn left at XYZ and the building is about 100 feet back from the road". My FAVORITE mix-up I remember seeing while I lived in Canada though was an ad for a bike that was posted at the University (UBC). While describing the bike they said it had 26 inch wheels and an 80 cm frame (might have those numbers wrong). ?????? I stood there wondering what the heck bolts were on the thing.

Mike

[Joe MacDonald]

the leesurelite is a really cool camper, my Brother pulls one behind his Harley from N.Ontario to Sturgis every year.

If my Dnepr lasts, I may look at one as well.
I'll never get rid of my egg, but a 32hp motorcycle just shouldn't be pulling a 3500 lb trailer.

[Roger H]

the leesurelite is a really cool camper, my Brother pulls one behind his Harley from N.Ontario to Sturgis every year.

If my Dnepr lasts, I may look at one as well.
I'll never get rid of my egg, but a 32hp motorcycle just shouldn't be pulling a 3500 lb trailer.

Joe... I can't believe you actually RIDE one of those antiques! Geez, get rid of it and get yourself something MODERN... you know... like a Ural! Maybe with the side hack driven wheel and a machine gun mount... a REAL hauler...

Roger

[Joe MacDonald]

Joe... I can't believe you actually RIDE one of those antiques! Geez, get rid of it and get yourself something MODERN... you know... like a Ural! Maybe with the side hack driven wheel and a machine gun mount... a REAL hauler...

Roger

I have the two wheel drive version, no machine gun mount, with Canadian laws, that might make it a prohibited weapon

[Brian B-P]

...My FAVORITE mix-up I remember seeing while I lived in Canada though was an ad for a bike that was posted at the University (UBC). While describing the bike they said it had 26 inch wheels and an 80 cm frame (might have those numbers wrong). ?????? I stood there wondering what the heck bolts were on the thing...

The wheel size issue is worldwide. It really doesn't matter exactly what the wheel diameters are, as long as wheel and tire interchangeability is understood. As a result, nominal wheel sizes for cars and trucks are still in inches everywhere, while the rest of the tire dimensions are in metric units - thus, 205/75R14 tires on my trailer (205 mm wide, 14 inch wheel/bead seat diameter).

The bolts on the bike are likely all metric.

The U.S. has its own strange mixing of units. Cars, for instance, are now entirely metric (unless there are still inch-sized fasteners in those engines derived from 1950 designs), and have been going that way for at least 30 years... but of course the speedometers are in miles per hour. Like the hundredweight reference, the measurement system used gives one a bit of a hint about the history of the machine.