The dangers of trailers

[79XS11F]

I'm sure I will catch Hell for this but here goes anyway ... If your needing to bring so much stuff with you on a trip that you need a trailer over and above what will fit into a tank bag, saddle bags and top boxes, you should likely make that trip in your car.
Back on trailers, for those who must pull one, trailer brakes will allow you to pull whatever you want to. I'm sure everyone has seen the Honda tow bikes that they use in Japan. Those bikes are towing cars and you can bet the wheel Dolly's have brakes that pretty much turn the towed car into an anchor for the tow bike. The tow company down the street from me has one of these tow bikes. Their different to say the least.
Rob

[crazy steve]

I was going to ignore the rest of this thread, but seeing how CowboyBob is thinking of building a trailer, in the interests of his safety I'll speak back up.

I'll repeat what I said earlier; total trailer weight should NEVER exceed 25% of your bike's weight without passengers! Too-large trailers is the reason you can no longer buy a factory-built unit of any size, as the accidents/lawsuits resulting from their sale and use killed the industry, as well as a few riders. I believe there's still one company still selling a small motorcycle trailer, but read their disclaimers...

Weight is the enemy; motorcycles are not as inherently stable as a four-wheeled vehicle, and are much more easily 'upset'. Remember, your rear tire contact patch on a bike is only about 10-15% of a car's rear tires at best. How long do you think you will keep control when your rear tire is going sideways? And braking manuvers aren't the only concern here; side winds, potholes and debris in the road (not as easy to miss with four wheels!), sudden 'avoidance' manuvers, all are things that you will have to deal with sooner or later. The more weight you have behind you, the larger the reaction from the trailer (that pesky inertia thing). This can be a literal case of the tail wagging the dog, with catastrophic results.

Keep the weight low. Even the trailer manufacturers knew this; I never saw one taller than 36", and the large ones were usually well below that. A taller trailer has more 'leverage' and will be less stable (SUVs roll over easier than sports cars...).

Big vs small wheels. That was never much of an issue; you did and do see trailers with 'motorcycle' wheels on them and there is a small benefit in terms of rolling resistance, but the difficulty of building the suspension to get the weight down low enough without excess weight made them expensive. The trailer I had (a 'CycleKamp') used the small 'boat trailer' wheels. I'm sure I exceeded their 'speed limit' many times, but as they were very lightly loaded (at about 15% of their rated weight limit), I never had any problems.

Adding brakes; keep in mind that you'll add quite a bit of weight for very limited results. The XS rotors weigh 7 lbs each; add in calipers, master cylinder, electric solenoid, etc and you'll find you've put an extra 25 lbs on, probably at a minimum. You've just reduced your load-carrying capability by 1/3.

My trailer consisted of a simple angle-iron rectangular frame with a 2" square-tube tongue full length (all .125 thick), with two light single-leaf springs holding a 1" square straight axle; very basic. The box was a lightweight fiberglass unit roughly 24 x 30 x 16; about the same room as a very small car trunk. I don't think the whole thing weighed more than 80 lbs. This was plenty big enough for camping and touring I found; you could pack everything you needed for two people easily (I'll note that I didn't have bags or a trunk on the bike, and never saw a need for them). If starting with a HF or Home Depot 'utility' trailer, I'd discard/lighten the frame considerably, then bolt a lightweight fiberglass or plastic 'car top' carrier to it. I've seen a number of these 'homemade' trailers, and the owners have all reported good results.

Go too big/heavy, and you'll be an accident looking for a place to happen...

[cowboybob998]

truck driver

I am an ol truck driver, and i will not pull any kind of trailer on any thing without trailer brakes, grant you that a big truck and trailer is a diferent story with all the weight but just the same brakes will give you more control over the trailer, bottem line.

[79XS11F]

Sounds to me that there may have been a number of design flaws contributing to his accident. There should be no real ill effects from having a trailer on the back other than the extra braking force required to pull up the extra mass, if designed correctly. By the description, it sounds like the trailer's chassis must have been angled downhill (VERY BAD!)to the coupling which would cause it to try to vault over the bike when the brakes were applied. It would really help to have some photos of the setup before the crash to try to sus it out. Until then, we're all only speculating.

Not being level at the hitch would in deed not be a good set up and could cause the setup to fold like a hinge in a quick stop. Trailer braked may not have been as helpful as intended if the tongue was real low. Trailer brakes that are adjusted properly would however, make the trailer slow down at the same rate as the tow bike making this sort of mishap far less likely to happen. Trailer brakes are a must when the towed load is similar to or heavier then what it towing the load. Even my camper trailer will push my pick up truck 3 to 5 feet in a normal low speed stop if I do not have the trailer brakes adjusted properly.
Rob

[Eveready1100]

Sounds to me that there may have been a number of design flaws contributing to his accident. There should be no real ill effects from having a trailer on the back other than the extra braking force required to pull up the extra mass, if designed correctly. By the description, it sounds like the trailer's chassis must have been angled downhill (VERY BAD!)to the coupling which would cause it to try to vault over the bike when the brakes were applied. It would really help to have some photos of the setup before the crash to try to sus it out. Until then, we're all only speculating.

[CatatonicBug]

Do I got this right? The guy was using a motorcycle to pull a trailer with a trailer on that trailer that also had 3 motorcycles on it? Very confusing? I'm glad the lad is going to be OK and hope that in the future his trailer will be equipped with TRAILER BRAKES so the trailer will not end up beside or in front of his tow bike.
Rob

No, he loaded 3 bikes and a bike trailer onto a large TRUCK trailer to tow behind his pickup. When he got to his destination, he then towed the bike trailer behind his bike and left the truck trailer attached to the truck.

I don't think trailer brakes would have helped him. The trailer lifted up off the ground and swung around like a whip and hit him (above seat level) and knocked him off the bike.

His wife made him promise no more bike trailers. He's walking, but he's very sore, and yes, VERY lucky.

[79XS11F]

Do I got this right? The guy was using a motorcycle to pull a trailer with a trailer on that trailer that also had 3 motorcycles on it? Very confusing? I'm glad the lad is going to be OK and hope that in the future his trailer will be equipped with TRAILER BRAKES so the trailer will not end up beside or in front of his tow bike.
Rob

[cowboybob998]

Yes you may be right, but some of these harbour freight trailer i have seen set perty high of the ground, just thinking out loud i gess. Would look cool to have the wheels on the tailer match the bike wheels. could make a drop axle and set the trailer down between the wheels.

[CatatonicBug]

I'm not sure that's a good idea... I'd think the XS wheels would be WAY too heavy to make a good trailer. You want to keep it low to the ground (below the center of an XS wheel) too.

[cowboybob998]

idea

This just gave me an idea, i have been colecting parts for a trailer and it just came to me how to put brakes on it, with all the parts bikes i bought from karla i can use two of the wheels with the rotors and calpers on them and rig up a set of brakes, the size of the wheels would make it pull good i would think, gona have to think about this one.

[DGXSER]

Unless I read the info wrong (happens from time to time) the trailer raised up off the ground, swung around, and swiped him off the bike, but did not knock the bike down. Which gives me the impression it hit waist high or above on the rider.

Just my opinion I suppose, but that is not the result of to much weight. For it to swing around like a rag doll and smack the rider more than the bike the thing had to weigh very little. Mass and momentum would keep it moving and make it swing around, but weight would still keep it close to the ground not chest high. Gravity being what it is and all.

[cowboybob998]

brakes

No brakes on the trailer, that is the problem, most of them dont have brakes, when he stoped the bike the momentem of the trailer just keap on going.

[jwhughes3]

Pneumonia

My background in the military as an ER nurse has shown me that ANY significant trauma can lead to a pneumonia. We typically think of pneumonia caused by infection, but you can get fluid in the lungs from what was described. A significant hit to the ground can bruise delicate lung tissues and they get weepy. A large enough insult causes lung failure and the need to be ventilated.

The rider was lucky. I would buy a lottery ticket, better helmet and dump the trailer idea.

John

[ManagerMike]

Just as an fyi, (glad to hear he's ok) trailer brakes really do very little to help stop the mass of the trailer, the tow vehicle provides at least 70% of the stopping power, what they DO do, is help control the mass during hard/panic stops, that is, keeps the trailer behind the tow vehicle. No matter what you are driving or trailering, a jacknifed trailer sucks!

[Wildkat]

he traded in an Ultra Glide for a new HD Road Glide and a used Road King for his wife.

Huh... most people I've heard... trade the wife, for the bikes...


On a more solemn note... glad to hear that it wasn't much worse. He was very lucky to be able to go home at all... much less in that short a time.
We wish him a speedy recovery and best wishes to his family as well.