Here is a hair brained idea. What do you think?

[greatbuffalo]

I have been looking at my bike (tiger) and my other bike (WR250F) and thought, "How can I get them both out to the hills without the expense of a big vehicle pulling them.

this is what I have in mind. I think the idea has been discusses here before, if not it has been on ADV.


The biggest hurdle is the hitch but I've been looking at this type of set up that uses a pin through the hollow axle. like this:


I know the trailers are different but this is what the hitch would look like but obviously would have a ball or gimbal mount and have strut stays up to the pillion peg mount.


I need to find a small trailer to modify to the minimum size needed. I think a single jetski trailer would be a good start. The biggest job will be.......... finding someone smarter than I to help me with this. the biggest problem to solve is the axle pin design and the hitch its self.

I know there will be those who will say I'm crazy and yes, I just may be. I just wanna do it cause I want the challenge and how many of these rigs do you see on the road?

[Hank]

I think biker4ever (Lance) built a trailer like that before.    Maybe he'll pop in with some pictures.

From what I understand, hooking it the rear axle would be a bad idea and you'd want it attached near the swing arm pivot to the frame.  Think of the effect on the rear suspension of the towing bike with it on the axle.. yikes.   You wouldn't want to add the mass of the tongue/trailer/load as unsprung weight on the rear shock.

I've actually thought about the same thing.  I'd love to pull the WR to the Hills behind the Tiger.

[Bogus Jim]

Have you seen the moto-mule trailers? It looks like a well-made unit.

http://www.moto-mule.com/trailers-customerpics.html

It does seem to me like the bike would handle poorly if you had a lot of weight on the axle-mounted hitch. Maybe if you did a good job of balancing your bike trailer so the tongue weight is minimal, it would work?

[Fletch]

Just seems like a bad idea to me, braking will be affected a lot by almost doubling the weight you are trying to stop. I think handling would be affected a great deal by that much weight as well. A couple hundred pounds of camping gear behind a 800lb. HD or wing is one thing, but a dirtbike/trailer behind a 600lb. bike seems like too much? of course I aint no engineer

[Bogus Jim]

Just seems like a bad idea to me...

Maybe not as bad as rolling down a mountain inside a barrel?

[Fletch]

good point, nevermind.. I'm sure it will work fine

[Hank]

Even with a balanced load I'd avoid axle mounting.   Take a balanced trailer's tongue in your hand then try to shake it up and down as fast as your rear suspension reacts to washboards or other bumps.. ain't happening!    Braking etc is obviously going to be impacted, but if it was frame mounted I'd give it a go.
 
Now rolling down a mountain in a barrel.. that must be a good story..

[Fletch]

It is a good story, my daughters favorite

[bikergirl4ever]

Yes Hank is right, We do have a trailer that we have hauled motorcycles and snowmobiles on behind the BMW K1200Lt.  We also had electric brakes installed. When he tried to haul the WR250 behind the 1200RT it was fine on the highway but not so great on the dirt. Even tho our trailer is aluminum it is pretty large. He was in the process (delayed for building house) of making a lot smaller and lighter trailer so he does not need as heavy of a bike to pull it.

[greatbuffalo]

Where  is the hitch mounted on the K1200? I saw the idea of the pin hitch first at the Motomule site and then on this British site I found. The tongue weight on these due to the wheel being all the way in the rear would be about the same or more weight Than I would put on one.

Hank, that's a good thought about the suspension with that weight, hadn't really thought about in that way. The Motomule seems to work pretty well on video but don't know how much weight they had on board.

Anyone have any ideas of better attachment points on the old Tiger?

My intention is not to blast down the highway at 80 or do a lot of gravel. I'd take it pretty slow on secondary highways and limit my gravel. It's just a means to get the bike out there in a little different and fun way.

Even if it just turns out to be an intellectual exercise and never comes to fruition, it's still an interesting idea, I think. 

[biker4ever]

I may be a little nuts, but I have about 3000 to 4000 miles on bikes towing other bikes and yes my sons Artic Cat Sno Pro snowmobile (300 miles) my only concern was stopping, so I built an all aluminum trailer with electric brakes. The first trip was to Branson, MO then on to Arkansas to pick up a Honda Pacific Coast and of coarse we were riding two up and with all our gear. The K1200lt pulled the trailer great, no problem with power, just have to watch how you load the trailer, I usually have 50 to 100 lbs of tongue weight. I have built all my own hitches for my bikes (to cheap to buy them) and I have always went to the frame and subframe, it is the best way IMHO, mounting to the axle will affect the suspension by adding a lot of unsprung weight. Both my wife and I are not real heavy so the way I look at it is the extra 50 to 100 Lbs is the weight that we don't have. I have pulled it at freeway speeds and in a bad SD cross wind with no problem. the low speed handling is a little tricky but after a few miles it doesn't bother at all. In all I have approximately 15000 miles pulling this trailer either loaded heavy with everything for our trips (including the kitchen sink) or pulling a bike and I am very comfortable with it. I'm in the process of building a few more trailers but they will have to wait until this winter, I guess my wife would like to live in a house ;

[greatbuffalo]

Thanks for that input, much appreciated. Did you trailer a Pacific Coast?? 

Is there any chance that you could post bigger pics of what you have there and any closer shots of how you have attached to the frame. I know all bikes are different but some other ideas would be great.

What I need to do sometime is to side it to you so you can give me some ideas and recommendations.

The more I think about this, the more I want to make it happen.

[bikergirl4ever]

We will try to post larger pictures.  We do not have the K1200 LT anymore so we can't post any close ups of the hitch. Yes we trailered the Pacific Coast behind the K1200LT from AR.  We also trailered a R1200 RT behind the K1200LT from CO to MN.  We pulled the trailer behind the R1200RT also, but only tried to pull the WR250 with that bike.

[Lonesome Dave]

Hey GB, I talked with a manufacture of the little trailers this week at the rally.  I asked about how heavy of a load a larger motorcycle can safely pull.  He basically told me the following;  You can practically pull any size trailer you want to, however you will need to STOP it sometime!  He said if you have a single disc rotor brake on the front wheel, your total trailer load should be 500 lbs or less.
If you have the double disc/rotors on the front you can safely pull more than 500 pounds.  But, 500 pounds is the total weight (trailer plus the load).  He said you can put on a brake control and trailer brakes, but not many people are willing to do that.

In other words, 300 lb bike and 300 lb trailer you should be okay.  Hope that helps.  LD

Oh yea, one more thing; That's why they show a Toyota pickup pulling the space shuttle, but NOT stopping it!   

[greatbuffalo]

Thanks for the info Dave. That makes good sense as have all the other concerns posted. I'm still in the thinking stages of this. The biggest problem is the lack of places to mount the hitch on my bike. I think the place place to start is behind the peg perch. That's were the centerstand is mounted.