| Author | Message | ||
     Greg_e |
Looking for a decent small trailer to haul a single motorcycle up to full touring weight cycles (800 pounds or so). Be great if it comes apart so I don't need to tow it empty. Trailer in a Bag is no longer in production (for whatever reason). If there are no other "knock down" MC trailers, I'd probably just get a Harbor Freight and bolt a rail and wheel chock into it. Just though I would ask first. Lack of a trailer has been limiting me for far too long and I've decided it is time to really solve this issue! Hitch for my car is ordered (200 pound tongue/2000 pound rating), need to get the trailer. Also need a cheap ass bike rack for when the car goes in for service. If I keep to about 800 pounds, this should be within the published weight limits for my car (cargo plus passengers) so the breaks, transmission, etc should be fine. If it matters, I need to deal with New York state vehicle laws. | ||
| Robertl |
I have a 4x7' from tractor supply that I bought used and it is worth its weight in gold. It was 550 new and I paid 400. Same trailer they sell at Lowe's, HD, etc. The Harbor Freight fold up would probably fit your needs rather well. Probably hard to find anything used cheaper. It HF had those when I bought my trailer, I might have gotten that instead but we've used the hell out of our trailer and so have several friends boring it. I towed my M2 and some other items behind our old Honda Element for about 1000 miles. It did well except on the longer hill climbs. It is important not to use cruise and avoid the transmission shifting in/out of overdrive repeatedly. Bicycle rack? Hitch mounted are best since you will have a hitch. Less likely to scratch your car. HF I think has a cheap one of those too. Being a car, you may or may not need the folding option for opening the trunk (depends on the car). Hope that helps. | ||
| 86129squids |
Sifo just picked up a neat 2 bike rig recently- it stands up against the wall when not in use, got to check it out up at the Little Switzerland shindig. IIRC he kinda stole it, but I don't know the number. | ||
| Robertl |
Just saw this on CL when doing my weekly Buell search: http://lakeland.craigslist.org/mpo/5208071580.html You might try the statewide CL searches. | ||
| Sifo |
As Brad mentioned, I picked up a Kendon trailer. The tail folds and then it can stand up on built in dolly wheels so you can roll it around easily. It won't go into a trunk like the trailer in a bag, but it's the next best thing IMO. There's a couple of minor complaints I have with it, but they have been easily addressed with very little extra cash spent. I managed to find mine "used" at a local trailer dealer for $1,800. I'm convinced it was never actually used though. I was planning on picking up the exact same trailer in the spring anyway, but got lucky in the early winter. https://www.kendonusa.com/product/stand-up-dirt-bi kesport-bikescooter-trailer/ I did wind up mixing some sand in a can of Rustoleum and applied it with a paint roller to make a non-skid surface any place that you might step or roll a wheel. The spare tire rides dangerously low under the trailer too. That's easily solved by tossing it in the truck bed, or I just bungee it into an unused wheel chock on the trailer. I also used some angle iron bolted to the deck of the rear to make a rail that would keep the rear wheel from gradually moving sideways. On my first use, I had to mickey mouse a way to keep the back wheels from moving while on the road. The angle iron has proved to be a very worthwhile improvement. It sit low enough that I can load a 500 pound bike without help on level ground. A slight incline makes it really easy. Bigger tires than most small trailers too. Many of the small trailer tires are only rated for 45 MPH! I would still be happy if I had paid the new trailer price. | ||
| Slaughter |
Kendon will be best BY FAR - easy to load and tie down when solo. I'd go to CL before I'd go to Harbor FRIGHT. | ||
| Greg_e |
Thanks, starting to look today. Ordered a hidden hitch for my Fiesta, they say no drilling so I should be able to remove it when I go to the dealer. If not then you stick the bike rack in the hitch so they don't try to deny warranty work (from the towing). I was thinking about the littlest HF trailer, the 40x49 and bolting about 70 or so inches of C channel to it. That would be plenty for any HD touring machine, certainly plenty for any Buell. The extra foot or so hanging off of both ends should be plenty stiff enough to support the weight. | ||
| Tootal |
I picked up a Kendon bike lift for working on the bike. It works great and the quality is top notch. If the lift is built this well then I would recommend the trailer too. Made in the USA! | ||
| Sifo |
My fear with a HF trailer (and I considered that route), is where am I when I'm sitting on the side of the road with a smoking wheel bearing. Can I even get a replacement? If you need a trailer to get a bike from home to a dealer across town, that's one thing. If you plan to travel cross country, I would think carefully about the quality. HF is largely known for junk. Sometimes junk may be good enough. All too often, it's just the money you throw away before buying something of sufficient quality. If the price on a Kendon is an issue, I would suggest looking for a very basic flat trailer of decent quality that you can outfit with a ramp, wheel chock and tie downs. The Kendon is nice in that it was designed to be a MC trailer. It kind of sucks in that it offers little usefulness for anything but a bike. A flat utility trailer can be modified for all sorts of uses. Anyone ever try using a snowmobile trailer that hinges for loading without a ramp? I would think that would be a possibility, but I wonder how it would be using the way you would with snowmobiles. They can often be had cheap in the norther states. | ||
| Sifo |
If it matters, I need to deal with New York state vehicle laws. Is there some law against high capacity trailers?  | ||
| Froggy |
No, but if I remember right trailers with a weight rating over 3000lbs require brakes, and all trailers must have lights from what I understand. Other than that you can do basically whatever you want. | ||
| Froggy |
Yep quick look online confirms what I thought: https://trailers.com/state-laws/new-york.php | ||
| Greg_e |
Yeah, I haven't kept up on trailers, but figured something must have made the trailer in a bag guys stop pricing it. Probably end up with a personal watercraft trailer with C channel and a wheel chock. Price is a concern in all of this, but I don't want to miss and deals on not running cycles again because I could arrange for transport. | ||
| Jim2 |
The HF 40X49 trailer only has 8" tires. These are too small. They have some other trailers with 12" tires that are rated for 1720lbs. I have a friend that uses one to get to and from the track. I have borrowed it when I picked up my M2 and it pulled great behind my Jeep. He added bearing buddies to it which is a good idea. It stands vertical in the back of his garage when not in use. He decked it with 3/4" or 5/8" plywood and mounted a cheapo wheel chock. A cargo strap for the front wheel, handle-bar straps, and a cargo strap to the back wheel all going to bolted in heavy-duty eyelets keep the bike secure. | ||
| Brighton |
I read that the man responsible for designing, building and selling the Trailer-In-a-Bag died in an accident and left no successor for his patent. | ||
| Sifo |
BTW, I had a friend who had a trailer in a bag, may still have it, I haven't seen him for a few years... But he loved the trailer concept. He used it to tow his HD Street Glide. If you find a used one, it might be just the thing, even if you have to pay shipping costs. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
I found an ancient 12' camp trailer that had been gutted and went unloved. I got it for free and removed everything above the deck but the fender wells. This made a dandy bike trailer for the low, low price of 2- seals and 1- bearing. Less than 10 bucks at the time. I have modified and improved it quite a bit over the years and it has and is still serving me well. | ||
| Hughlysses |
The HF 40X49 trailer only has 8" tires. These are too small. They have some other trailers with 12" tires that are rated for 1720lbs. I have a friend that uses one to get to and from the track. I was looking into buying one of these trailers earlier this summer. Both these trailers are rated for 45 MPH max. They may handle faster speeds, but I'd be a little leery of towing them at interstate speeds. | ||
| Hootowl |
I have a 4x8 hf trailer with 8" wheels. I haul 1000 lbs of bagged concrete on it routinely at freeway speeds. The bearings don't even get warm, let alone hot. | ||
| Pwnzor |
I'll go +1 for a Kendon trailer, and I dispute the assertion that they are only for bikes. A double wide will hold a fat quad and a lot of gear. My single rail held my XB12R, 2 tool boxes and all my camping gear, with room for more. Do yourself a favor and relocate the spare tire. One funky bump on the freeway and you'll see the spare flying over the tops of cars in your rear view mirror... DAMHIK | ||
| Brighton |
Hughlysses wrote: I was looking into buying one of these trailers earlier this summer. Both these trailers are rated for 45 MPH max. They may handle faster speeds, but I'd be a little leery of towing them at interstate speeds. Huglysses, can you point me to this max rating? I've searched Harbor Freight and can't find any such rating. However, there is a lot of misinformation about the bearings for 8" wheels spinning too fast at freeway use. The max rpm rating for all these types of bearings (and I've checked a lot of them, including those on HF trailers) translates to speeds way far beyond the speed you could legally or even physically tow the trailer. As far as HF trailers specifically: The ONLY negative I've consistently heard about HF trailers is that the original bearing grease is very poor quality and you should immediately clean and repack them with quality grease. | ||
| Pnw_uly |
Another vote for the Kendon. . . You can find them relatively cheap on CL, and the fact that they stand up in the garage when not in use sealed the deal... Besides, you can use them for other purposes when not hauling motorcycles. . .  Rigged with a Roof-Top Tent for our camping trips (with storage below). Best of luck with the search. | ||
| Ducbsa |
I have a '70's tilting rail Holsclaw trailer and put larger diameter wheels on it. The small increase in the rail angle when loading made it a real struggle to push the bike up the ramp. When I had a wider rail made so that my XB could be loaded, I had it made a little longer to get back to the stock angle. For the second rail, I'm going to make a beveled bolt-on 2x4 extension using carriage bolts and wing nuts. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Huglysses, can you point me to this max rating? I've searched Harbor Freight and can't find any such rating. Brighton- There's a link to an owner's manual PDF on HF's webpage for each trailer: http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/42000-429 99/42708.pdf http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/90000-909 99/90153.pdf On page 5 of the second manual linked above:
(Message edited by Hughlysses on September 19, 2015) | ||
| Greg_e |
Going to skip the HF then, maybe go with a bigger HF because it might be nice to convert to general hauling duties. I still may get an axle and some metal to design some kind of take apart trailer. Wish I could weld aluminum to keep it light. Maybe I should ask, what features and what design would you put into a take apart trailer? Maybe we get a list of things and figure out how to make an open source MC trailer? (Message edited by greg_e on September 19, 2015) | ||
| Robertl |
I suggested the HF because it folds up. I believe most uhaul trailers still say 45 mph max? My 4x7 trailer weighs sub 400 lbs and only requires registration and plate. No title. Do have to have a place to store it though. | ||
| Hootowl |
Uhaul trailers are limited to 45 mph too...probably some kind of liability thing. At 80 pulling my hf trailer, I don't even know it's back there. Stable as you please. | ||
| Pwnzor |
yeah, that 45mph limit is to reduce HF's exposure to liability, nothing more. | ||
| Slaughter |
There are LIABILITY limits and then there are LIMITS. I loaded my XB and my S3 in a Uhaul moto-trailer and hit/held 70 for 2 days. Wish Uhaul SOLD those traliers. They don't fold up and store like the Kendon. If I were a lawyer for the manufacturers, I'd put a placard stating that the trailers were for decorative purposes only. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I have hauled that harbor freight trailer at 70 behind a Saab with two bikes on it, no problem. It will dissolve and shake apart over time, but you can keep welding bits back on and fixing stuff. It's a decent cheap trailer if you want a cheap trailer. |
