bike on trailer tip (1 Viewer)

hdvrod

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For any of you guys who trailer your motorbike you might find this useful.
Was doing a practice load on my trailer ready for the off next month to hopefully sunny Spain,and as I have not tied down this particular bike wanted to work out best way to do it.Anyway have always found a problem when tying down the front end that no matter what I did seemed to end up compressing the front forks right down in order to stop any movement,not good for the seals! especially as they could be like that for up to a week.This was my solution.buy a length of plastic 41mm x 1.9mm waste pipe from B&Q or the like (about £1.50 for 2 meters).measure the distance between the top and bottom yoke where the forks slide up and down and cut a piece of the pipe about 1mm shorter than this,cut a slot the length of this piece,pull the cut pipe apart and place over the other uncut end of the bit you havn't used (by using both ENDS of the pipe you know both bits will have at least one square end)now cut through both bits of pipe keeping the cut as square as possible,by cutting them together both pipes will end up exactly the same length.Now separate the pipes open up and force over the fork tubes.When you now lash down the front of the bike it will only compress around 2 mm,making the whole thing more secure.
 

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Nov 4, 2011
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Good idea, you could also do as Motocross do and fit a piece of wood under fork yoke and tyre and a cross piece that rest on forks ( you can buy this in plastic from motocross shops).
 
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I dragged my bike about for 10 years and only ever tied the front loosely.

I put all the strain onto the sub-frame in the middle of the bike.


PS, a great tip is to fix/weld a small plate on the left side so that the side stand can be used when first wheel the bike on.

Saves holding bike up while you search for straps :roflmto:

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pappajohn

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so much easier to secure the front wheel itself in its channel, you do have a wheel channel on your trailer dont you ?, to stop back and forth movement and use the rear of the bike, where there are many more fixing points/options without compressing the suspension, to stop lateral movement.

No bits and pieces to carry except 3 decent straps

My trailer has a long U shaped 'loop' rising at 45 deg into which the front wheel sits, once in the bracket a strap from the wheel to front of channel holds the wheel securely.
 
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hdvrod

hdvrod

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Last year coming up through Spain on motorway near Albacete,glanced in rear view camera screen and saw my Triumph street triple,lying on its side (I have Van Vossen Air suspension trailer),pulled over onto the hard shoulder as gently as possible as had visions of the bike bouncing down the road between the traffic,one of the (very heavy duty) tie down straps had become detached,they only way it could have happened is, When I had hit a bump further back the bike had compressed on the suspension causing the tie down straps hook to detach itself.As luck would have it the bike didn't go all the way over and was lying on the trailers airbag mount.The damage a motorbike could have done bouncing down a busy motorway doesn't bear thinking about.I now double up on all my straps.Belts and Braces!!
 
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hdvrod

hdvrod

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so much easier to secure the front wheel itself in its channel, you do have a wheel channel on your trailer dont you ?, to stop back and forth movement and use the rear of the bike, where there are many more fixing points/options without compressing the suspension, to stop lateral movement.

No bits and pieces to carry except 3 decent straps

My trailer has a long U shaped 'loop' rising at 45 deg into which the front wheel sits, once in the bracket a strap from the wheel to front of channel holds the wheel securely.
As I mentioned in previous post this particular bike was a triumph street triple with very short wheelbase,so I couldn't put the bike right up the front of trailer to fit in the hoop/channel.

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pappajohn

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As I mentioned in previous post this particular bike was a triumph street triple with very short wheelbase,so I couldn't put the bike right up the front of trailer to fit in the hoop/channel.

by removing 4 bolts my loop is adjustable back and forth in any of 4 pre-drilled positions in the channel.
The overall adjustment range is around 450mm
 
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I have replaced the hooks with carbonieres, cut the hooks off and the carbonieres slip through the loops. They may loosen but will not detach completely. A good source of tie downs are the bins at HD dealers, I work near Warrs in Chelsea, always keeping a eye on the bins.
 
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hdvrod

hdvrod

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Unfortunately my trailer doesn't have that capabilty

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pappajohn

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thats the beauty of a selfbuid...you can tailor to your own requirements.

Mind you, air suspension sounds good
Got to be better than the old rubber block indespension units rather harsh ride.
 

Minxy

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Last year coming up through Spain on motorway near Albacete,glanced in rear view camera screen and saw my Triumph street triple,lying on its side (I have Van Vossen Air suspension trailer),pulled over onto the hard shoulder as gently as possible as had visions of the bike bouncing down the road between the traffic,one of the (very heavy duty) tie down straps had become detached,they only way it could have happened is, When I had hit a bump further back the bike had compressed on the suspension causing the tie down straps hook to detach itself.As luck would have it the bike didn't go all the way over and was lying on the trailers airbag mount.The damage a motorbike could have done bouncing down a busy motorway doesn't bear thinking about.I now double up on all my straps.Belts and Braces!!

This is one reason why I would never use a strap with just 'hooks' - if you only have straps with hooks on them, replace the hooks with climbing carabiners which are strong and easy to clip on/off and solve the unhooking problem so long as there is an eyelet on the trailer to attach it to, or if not you can at least loop it round clip it round itself. :thumb:
 
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hdvrod

hdvrod

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thats the beauty of a selfbuid...you can tailor to your own requirements.

Mind you, air suspension sounds good
Got to be better than the old rubber block indespension units rather harsh ride.
The air suspension allows you to load the bike flat on the ground,here's a video of how it works.
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electrajohnt

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Bike Trailer

I have recently bought a Pheonix heavy bike: http://www.phoenixtrailer.co.uk/motorcycle.php
a very good trailer but it leaves the bike uncovered.

I have been trying to dream up ways of providing a hard or framed cover for the bike. I have considered making a fixed cover but the clearance between the bike and cover side would not be enough for me to move along either side of the bike to lash it down.

Or, at least a good separate bike cover that does not billow out when underway, taking into account the lashing straps do not allow the cover to be tightly wrapped around the bike.

1st - has anyone any good suggestions for a trailer or bike cover.

2nd - Sounds like some of you chaps tow the bike uncovered, how do you go on for security of the bike/trailer when parked up.

JohnT:Smile:
 

LARRY99

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I have recently bought a Pheonix heavy bike: http://www.phoenixtrailer.co.uk/motorcycle.php
a very good trailer but it leaves the bike uncovered.

I have been trying to dream up ways of providing a hard or framed cover for the bike. I have considered making a fixed cover but the clearance between the bike and cover side would not be enough for me to move along either side of the bike to lash it down.

Or, at least a good separate bike cover that does not billow out when underway, taking into account the lashing straps do not allow the cover to be tightly wrapped around the bike.

1st - has anyone any good suggestions for a trailer or bike cover.

2nd - Sounds like some of you chaps tow the bike uncovered, how do you go on for security of the bike/trailer when parked up.

JohnT:Smile:




You could try this, but it,s not perfect. Also lock the trailer to the motor home:thumb:
 

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LARRY99

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Also :thumb:

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LARRY99

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Use a couple of elastic straps ( bungies) to pull the cover in together under the bike:thumb:
 

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LARRY99

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Did think about having something like this made to the trailer bed size :thumb:



Item no 310761838852 on e bay
 

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electrajohnt

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Bike trailer cover

Hello Larry

Yes, been thinking along similar lines myself, have a look here.

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The sliding cover bit looks the best, I would like to see the parts in the flesh first so I could understand what I needed to make it fit. Also I am still puzzling about the front end of the sliding cover.

Anybody else come across this stuff?

JohnT

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LARRY99

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The front end of the cover ( the part on the ground ) the pole /tube inside would have to fit the shape of the trailer, or you keep the square shape of the cover and fill the gap with aluminium sheet riveted to the trailer. :thumb:
 
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hdvrod

hdvrod

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I always lock the the bike to the trailer and the trailer to the MH.On the subject of covers I only cover the bike when travelling if the weather is really bad, as I like to keep my eye on it in rear view camera,(especially after my near miss in Spain last summer) I use a normal waterproof bike cover,but put an old double duvet under the cover so as to protect the paintwork.
 
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