Looking for a trailer hitch for xs1100

[TheFrugalTech]

Looking for a trailer hitch for my XS1100E. Anyone have one or some DIY plans to share?

[Jerry]

Here is a link to some information that I put together when I built the hitch for my XJ:

http://idisk.mac.com/jerryfields/Pub...l/default.html

Not really detailed, as I wrote the notes a few years after construction. Didn't think there would be any interest in it! You can search on trailer hitches and find other threads about building a hitch, others have done it and taken different approaches A common approach is to use the rear foot peg mounts as main mounting points for a hitch.

Bigger problem is how to make a hitch to trailer coupler if you opt to not use a standard ball hitch. I built my own, others have as well, but look up http://www.hitchdoc.com/motorcyclehitches.php for ideas. They make both a fixed-ball and receiver-type motorcycle hitches. I have one of their receiver-type hitches on my Concours. Here is a shot of my XJ pulling my trailer:

[Pat Kelly]

When I was thinking of a trailer and hitch for my bike, I was leaning ( no pun intended) toward a single wheel trailer.
I was going to use the rear suspension and engine cradle part of the frame from an XS750 parts bike I had. I was thinking of running the tongue through a U-joint so the trailer could move up/down and side to side. The square tubing into the receiver would keep the trailer upright and the trailer would lean with the bike. I even considered using a solenoid to actuate the brake master cylinder on the trailer. The solenoid could be activated by the brakelight switch.
Another thought was attaching an automotive alternator to the driveshaft of the trailer/swingarm. This would charge the bike while the trailer ws in motion.
No details of making any of this actually work, just hard-core thinking.

[Jerry]

Well, it really is not that hard to build a hitch, just depends on how fancy you want to get. I pulled my trailer for 8 years until semi-retiring the XJ last year, and my simple home-built hitch worked fine for all of that time. Only real upgrade that I made was to go to 1/2 inch Heim joints instead of the 3/8 that I started with in the coupler. I had cracked 2 of the 3/8 units on 2 different trips, had no problems after moving up to the larger size. I now pull the trailer with my '06 Concours.



The receiver-type hitch is nice in that it is easier to hook/unhook the trailer, as my simple system required removing a bolt, which required 2 wrenches. No a big problem, as I usually was at one place several days and only had to couple/uncouple a few times per trip. However, the receiver-type pin connection is convenient, and if doing this again I would consider building a fancier hitch.

As a side comment, I see a lot more bike/trailer combinations on the road these days than when I started trailering in 2000.