Is Motorcycle Trailering For Me?
So, lately you’ve been thinking about pulling a trailer with your motorcycle. Is trailering the best solution for you? The only way to come to the right conclusion is to get the answer to a few basic questions which we’ll consider in this section.
Here’s the first one: What does owning a trailer help me achieve as a rider? Why am I even thinking about owning a trailer? For most people, the answer to this question can be summed up in a word—convenience.
How much time do you spend before a trip trying to figure out how to get all your gear on the bike? How many strategies have you concocted for getting all your gear on board? Ever had a fight with your co-rider about who gets what space? Adding a trailer to your bike will almost surely eliminate the fussing and carping that precedes any long ride.
Packing up in the morning is a snap. Toss your gear into the trailer, drop the lid, and ride off. When you’re riding with friends, you’ll make the whole trip more enjoyable for your buddies when you offer them a little extra space to pack some gear in your trailer. And you’re not limited to towing your trailer with your motorcycle. You can easily tow your trailer with any vehicle.
Pulling a trailer has some potential safety benefits, too. Trailering makes your bike more visible on the road. Your physical size on the road increases, making you easier for other vehicles to spot. Your trailer also improves your conspicuity at night with its extra lights. And, if you’re the type who stacks their bike high with gear and a co-rider, a trailer will make your ride safer simply by eliminating the top-heavy feel of your bike and restoring its balance.
Trailering with a pop-up camper makes motorcycle camping a blast. Have you passed the age when sleeping on the ground was fun, but still enjoy sitting around the campfire with other riding buddies? A pop-up camper will allow you to really enjoy this aspect of riding. Campers not only making setting up camp easier, they are also more comfortable when you need to ride out a bad weather spell. And have you priced hotel rooms lately? Even at middle-level hotels? For the price difference, you can recoup the cost of a motorcycle camper in just a year or two if you attend a couple of rallies each year or take a couple of long trips.
Trailering your gear means it will stay dry and secure. It means you won’t need to stop to put rain covers on your soft luggage, and your rain gear, kept on top of everything else in your trailer, will be easy to get to quickly without unpacking a bunch of stuff.
Your gear will be far more secure, too, than when strapped to your bike in a couple of soft bags. When you stop for lunch or call it a day, you can easily secure your trailer and its contents without spending time securing your gear or worrying about it when it’s out of sight for a few minutes.
The bottom line is this—a motorcycle trailer will help you enjoy the motorcycle touring experience and, quite possibly, encourage you to ride further and take more trips. How can that be a bad thing?
Putting all the weight in the trailer, properly loaded of course, is often a pleasure to tow with an empty bike as it will handle much better as you noted with “restoring the balance”. And if you are travelling with another bike – share the trailer – load everything into the one trailer, and take turns towing it – one day on, one day off. We did that a few years ago, and it worked out great. If you find that gem of a road that just needs to be ridden without the trailer, lock up the trailer to a post at a local gas station or bike shop with their permission, and go ride that road. Your trailer will be waiting there on your return (so make sure you carry a secure chain and lock with you to secure it – also handy in case of a roadside breakdown where you have to leave the trailer for whatever reason). And don’t forget to check the spare tire before the trip.
That’s a great observation. I don’t think it occurs to a lot of folks that you could put a hitch on multiple bikes traveling in a group and share the towing duties. I think more people would enjoy trailering if they were able to buy something to share.
RE: Dale – the hardest part was making the wiring hookup compatible between the bikes, but it’s not that hard.
I had to laugh about the reference in the original article about
“Toss your gear into the trailer, drop the lid, and ride off.” cause with every trip that darned trailer is packed too tight to begin with, and everything is packed like a jigsaw puzzle. why? cause we take too much stuff LOL – but then again, that’s part of it all.
Cheers all.
I recently bought a trailer kit and for the container I added a wine barrel with a section cut out of course for access. Now the trailer with the barrel weighs approx. 350 lbs. and pulls ok behind my bike which is a 2053 cc Vulcan. The problem being I have a wobble in the front end now. I have the barrel center over the trailer axle and it pulls great behind the bike except for the wobble. Is it possible the trailer weighs to much and putting to much weight on the rear? Thanks for any help.
Dave, you want about 10 to 15% of the trailer’s weight to be present at the tongue. If the trailer weighs 350, you’d like to have 35 to 40 lbs. of tongue weight. I bought a fish scale at Cabelas – the kind that you hook into a gill and lift them to weigh. Very handy for getting a quick read on tongue weight.
If you’ve got something significantly more than that, you probably do have too much weight on the tongue and it’s lightening up the front end by pushing on the back too much. You’d want to shift that barrel back a little to get a little more weight behind the barrel. Or, if you think the tongue weight is too much and don’t want to move the barrel just yet, get something weighty and put it in the back of the barrel to create a different weight distribution that will lighten the tongue.
If none of that works, I’d be tempted to remove the barrel and try pulling the trailer just to see how the bike handles with it then.
The benefits of towing a trailer are obvious.
I just purchased a 1997 Road King with a trailer and hitch as part of the package. I have yet to use the trailer as I have heard of Trailers jacknifing and overtaking on heavy braking, which is kind of scary. Any advise?
Cheers
Neil
Neil, I’ve heard all those stories too but haven’t yet met anyone with firsthand experience. I’ve towed trailers big and small for twenty years, up and down mountains, in good weather and bad, and have never had an experience like that. I’d like to think that I “ride smart” when I tow. I don’t expect the bike to perform the same as it does when I’m riding w/o the trailer and I don’t feel pressure to keep up with anyone if I’m riding with others.
I won’t say those things never happen, but I think if you use your head, it’s not very common.
iam wondering is a honda gl500 silverwing is big anough to haul a trailor and make long trips?
I think the Silver Wing would be okay to pull a small cargo trailer, something like the Li’l Clipper (12 cubic feet, 110 lbs), or a single wheel trailer like a Unigo. Is a Silver Wing big enough to take long trips? All depends on your preferences and riding style. My only concern would be how I’d get it repaired if I had mechanical trouble somewhere. The GL-500 hasn’t been made for years and I doubt any Honda dealer would have parts on the shelf.
Just had to comment about those who have heard stories that their friends heard from their friends who heard from their friends. You state it correctly and it cannot be said enough. Those stories are most likely just that… stories. I’ve known many riders who pull pop-up campers with all kinds of bikes. From Kwik Kamps and Mini-Mate, to Time Out, Bunkhouse and Aspen campers. None have had any problems towing. For many years (few years ago) I pulled a Time Out camper with my 1990 GL1500. Here is a first hand report of handling in an extreme situation. I once had to brake really hard while pulling the Time Out camper. For just a moment I locked up both tires on the Wing, no ABS or trailer brakes here. I also like to think I ride smart, especially when pulling a trailer. The Wing and trailer combo tracked straight on. I was able to get the wheels gripping and spinning again while still maintaining braking but there was no hint of that Time Out jack knifing or coming around. I know things could have turned out different but this time all was well in the end. I still have no issues with pulling a camper or any other trailer. Some riders say they would not consider anything other than a mono-wheel trailer. That’s fine for them. I see no problem with 2 wheels on a trailer. Some benefits to me IMHO. Of course with any trailer you don’t ride the same as with no trailer. Just another factor of situation awareness. Know what you are capable of and ride within that. Just starting with a trailer? Take it easy at first until you gain some experience with it. I don’t intend to scare anyone with this one time event, I have very many enjoyable rides with that camper and this was just a one time event. Who doesn’t have such an event in any vehicle they ride, cage or bike?