Scooter Towing

Scooter Towing 101

In 1989, Brian Dahl and I came up with the idea of the scooter tow rig for Paragliding and Hang gliding. We were given credit as the co-inventors of the scooter tow rig after we sent it into Hang Gliding magazine. There may have been others at the time, but I believe we definitely were the 1st to tow Paragliders with one. Here's the story:

The 1st one we built out of Brian's old Yamaha scooter and we actually rode it to a field near the Newport Beach Police station overlooking Newport bay. One of us drove the scooter, while the other carried the wing on his back, the bag containing the rear hub with the tow line, and the bag of tools to assemble our machine. Brian deserves most of the credit, I was mostly his wind dummy in those days. Back then we just welded some washers to the 'V' kick stand and then drove some rebar stakes into the ground to prevent us from being pulled over by the wing.

Here's what you do:
1. Find a used Honda Elite 175 to 250 or similar machine (I just bought one at a Junkyard for $100) It doesn't need to have registration since you won't be riding it.

3. Remove the front rim from the hub and attach an 'L' bracket to the trailer to bolt on the front hub using the original holes that held the rim about 10" back from the rear of the trailer. Also at this time pull out the speedometer cable.

5. Remove the back wheel and separate the tire. Then take and cut some metal or aluminum oval sides for the wheels. You can either weld it on, or drill the sides and pop rivet the sides on to the wheel. Either works, just be sure to grind the inside smooth to the line doesn't snag. Also, be very sure the wheel doesn't rub anything.

clean. I hope you realize that you will need four of these so that at no time th

7. Remove the original Battery and bolt on some long battery cables to the original battery cables and then extend the new cables along the side of the rig to a boat battery box. Here I have placed a regular 12 volt car battery, since the moped batteries are unreliable. Starts every time and it has plenty of power to haul the line in without starting the scooter.

Be safe, have fun...

The rest of the story:

After walking the line out a few thousand feet every time; we decided to find a device to bring the line back to point 'A' being the start the point. We took a small lawn mower edger that has the blade located on a pivoting arm on the front. We removed the blade and attached a small spool to the arm. Then we attached a moped centrifugal clutch to the small motor so it would not pull against the tow line unless the motor was engaged. We used very small 1/8 inch line here so it would only be used to bring back the tow line to point 'A'. Oh, and we also welded some washers to the edger so that it could be staked down as well. This worked extremely well and we didn't have too many problems except with getting the bloody edger started sometimes. Ugh!

If you are to disconnect the scooter from the tow vehicle, then you will want a boat trailer jack installed on the tongue of the trailer to level the scooter. Also it is a nice touch to install a locked box on the trailer tongue for all your towing supplies. You can even attach a small tube to which a wind sock can be mounted when towing. Another important factor is to weld an extension on the exhaust tube to direct the gasses away from you during towing. The exhaust is always upwind from you while towing - bad for the lungs.

Today I enjoy teaching on my scooter due to the simple fact this allows me to teach several students at different levels of experience at the same time. I can tow someone relatively new only a few feet off the ground for hundreds of feet down low, and next tow a more experienced student several hundred feet high in one tow at the same site. Talk about the ultimate training hill, and it can also be moved around depending on the wind direction.

When I'm towing I use the back brake a lot. I will take up the slack slowly in the beginning and then I will apply the brake. When the tow pilot is ready I have already applied some gas and I just slowly release the brake. Then when they are under tow I can regulate their height by applying either the back brake or more gas. The use of the brake allows me to smoothly transition from power to no power and also to 'Kite' the pilot if we are towing with wind. In an emergency such as lockout I release the brake fully and immediately let off the gas, then the centrifugal clutch will allow the line to pay out very quickly and it also gives me extra time to cut the line if necessary even if the motor is running. Important safety feature of the scooter.

Here's some photo's of our scooter in action:

After you put it all together don't forget to tie it to a tree or something or you may find you're the one being towed !

I hope you enjoy your scooter as much as I enjoy mine.

Pete