how come no one uses trailers?????
 

i have a dommi and i trael around london and europe alot. a trailer seems like agood option.unfortunately i havent found one specifically for off road users. there are big ones for cruisers in the states and a million varieties for bicycles.
i travel two up alot so having a trailer which is lockable seems ideal for adventuring or am i missing something?
does anyone have any info ?
cheers tom

Tom

Why on earth would you want to even try to use a trailer off road and two up. I suppose you could always try to fit one of a Goldwing but would imagine The front end would be so light that it would be dangerous.

Perhaps travelling lighter would be easier, you'll enjoy your trip much more and with a bit of careful packing you can fit enough gear for 2 people and camping gear without any problems.

Ligher is better, I have not had any problems two up with camping gear on a trail bike.

Julio

A trailer shouldn't make the front end excessively light IF it is properly loaded and balanced and if the bike is properly setup and a good hitch installed. (Compared to a fully loaded set of panniers probably better in fact) BUT that's a lot of ifs to be taken care of...

For pavement a trailer works well with a big bike, less well with a lighter bike. The weight of the triler can be a significant portion of the total weight of the rig, and if it's too heavy in relation to the bike it will "drive" the bike too much.

Off-road however a trailer is not recommended because it bounces around too much, causing problems for the rider, and can literally flip over, having a rather nasty effect on the bike. A wider trailer with better suspension would be better, but it's wider and heavier, neither of which is good. Back to square one.

We met a couple on a big trailie (don't remember, possibly ATwin) in Tunisia that had a trailer, and they had crashed several times as a result of the trailer in the rough stuff. Liked it a lot otherwise, and planned to stay on the pavement in future.

Another negative is shipping the bike from continent to continent - increases costs significantly.

Maintenance also has to be considered - no spares for wheels, bearings, tires, tubes etc in third world, so you'll have to carry it all.


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Grant Johnson

Share the Dream!
at: www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

thankyou for your replies,
the reason im a thinking about a trailer is my girlfriend and i play drums and we travel europe do gigs so the majority of the miles would be on tarmac. obviously we ain't going to be tackling the sahara with it and one would have to ride with a new approach but im sure it just takes time to get used to the new set-up. if the load of the trailer is light compared to the mass of the motorcycle two up and is positioned on the trailer to give the rear wheel assistance rather than make it jumpy im sure mild overlanding (dirt tracks) would not be to freaky taken at a sensible pace. i used to ride a mountain bike with a trailer and it had its pros and cons. more feed back please. thanks tom

there are single wheel trailers which can only put weight on the back wheel and as thw wheel is at the rear of the trailer.according to cyclists who use them are more manoverable that two wheels. also only one wheel to maintain. i havent seen any thing suitable on the internet as all the trailers are quite big and road orientated.
if i had enough tools i'd have a go myself.

Though about a sidecar?

well i think a side car would be good for chatting. but getting through traffic would be interesting! ive seen some photos in either this site or www.adventure-motorcycling.com about a guy i think in kashtent who ih travelling with a side car. if it wasnt for traffic jams i recon id go for one.

Maybe this is crazy, but I have been wondering about doing the Canning Stock Route with a trailer for fuel and water. As far as I can see this would be the only way of doing it without a 4WD backup vehicle. After the trip I would leave the hitch and trailer there - hopefully sell it to another like-minded idiot.

i think most people, city folk at least probably thinks going around the world on a bike is crazy. (s'pose thats whats fun about it.) where is the canning stock route?
as time goes on a trailer "feels right" so it'll manifest some time.
go for it. tom

Nick,

I dont think you would get a trailer up the Canning, lots and lots of sand. You can have a fuel dump made at 1 of the wells if you plan well ahead which leaves you needing about an 800km fuel range.

To do the Canning you need to be an experienced outback rider and travel at least in a group of 3 and take a "Flying Doctor" HF radio or satellite phone.

Despite all the difficulties there have been several unassisted bike trips up the Canning but they are major expeditions and not to be taken on lightly.

Greg
Sydney

Tom, the CSR is Australia's longest desert route. Known for having the biggest gaps between petrol stations. Read about it in Chris Scott's book.

Greg, I'm sure you're right, as I'm a naive road rider sitting here on the sofa in London dreaming. But why do you have to team up with other bikes? I can understand the satellite phone - I would definitely take one. But why other riders? Is it just to care for you if you are injured? If I got stuck half way along the route I'd want to just camp for a few days/weeks until the next vehicle turned up, and phone for rescue as a last resort. So a big water reserve would be the key. I imagine that half the danger of a route like this stems from the time pressure imposed by a limited water ration. Serious injury ought to be reasonably easy to avoid if you can afford to potter slowly along. And anyway I can't see that the trip would be much fun if you're riding against the clock the whole time.

As for fuel...well, with a 41L tank on an 1150GS, how far would I get? In theory the GS should do over 700 ks on tarmac with such a tank, but on the CSR I suppose you should reckon on doubling the consumption? So I'd need about 90 litres of gas for the 800k leg, plus 2 weeks water - say 140 litres - for safety's sake. How on earth can this be carried?

This is why I keep coming back to the idea of a trailer...with brakes so it doesn't overtake you coming down a dune. Is this just bonkers?

For what its worth, tho' I havent been up it yet, but I would not consider CSR with a trailer - or anywhere off bitumen in fact. Better to tow an airship to carry the fuel ;-).

Chris S

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Author of Sahara Overland and the Adventure Motorcycling Handbook, among other things

http://www.sahara-overland.com

OK, I know I'm flogging a dead horse...but what if it was a monowheel trailer? With lots of ground clearance? I have this vision of it bouncing along merrily in the same rut as the bike.

And if you forget the trailer - or the airship - how can you do the CSR without a support vehicle?? 800 km off road is such a bloody long way!

hi nick,
decisions decisions?
i recon the only thing to do is to buy, borrow or steal a trailer and check it out.
do a test run. i feel the same that a mono wheeled trailer with an off road tyre with good ground clearance that is not to heavy could actually assist things. spreading the weight over three wheels must have its merits. also less work for the rear shock.
i'm gonna give it a go and build me a trailer.
just think if columbus believed the world was flat we probably couldnt have mc donalds and coke .
um that was a joke.

Well somebody's got to try it, and it may as well be someone totally unburdened by any relevant experience! The only monowheel trailer I've found is at www.h-schuring.nl/
How about you?

checked that one out. not really siutable is it?

halaluya,
ive just found the two bicycle trailers i had in mind. they are at www.bobgear.com/ and
www.koolstop.com/trailers/mute.html
they are different in how the luggage is mounted but they hitch on the same way.
the motorbike equivilant would be to attach the trailer to the end of the swing arm.
im going to e-mail them and see how much a motorbike customised one would cost. another handling advantage is the big lowering of center of gravity. theres a picture on the bobgear site that shows a mountain biker with a mono bob riding through a 1 foot wide track. think of the weight ratio between the trailer and bycyle. it is definitely more than the difference from trailer to motorbike. that is if its made in the fashion of these examples.
good luck nick
chow tom

Hai Tom,

Just go for it. Think about the idiotic idea's of einstein, edison, bell, marconi, telsa, wright brothers, blues brothers and many more fools.

Who know's... you might end up with the nobell price for inovative dirt-track transport. (or is there no such price?)

As far as the CSR is concerned, I guess a fusion-reactor give great fuell/milage. http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/wink.gif

And.. on a more serieuse note: I think, if it's light enaugh, it might work. But maybe you should not attach it to the swingarm. On road-legal motorcycle trailers it's attached to the bike itself. If you increase the weight of the wheel (and swingarm) it become's less capable of folowing the road. I don't know the technical term in englisch, but I guess you know what I mean.

Good luck!

Maarten

Yeah, I think a swing-arm mounting is asking for trouble - check out the Schuring Freebird

www.schuring.nl/trailers_2.htm#FreeBird

The hitch seems to attach just behind the seat, and they say it has been tested at 180 kph. I keep emailing them with questions about ground clearance etc. but no reply - I suppose they think I'm crazy!

yep the swing arm idea with further thought is loopy. on a bicycle the chain stays dont move so its fine to connect too them.