Trailer/sidecar

[Mr.Mom]

Hi,
Has anyone here driven a bike with a trailer and or a side car attached? Also would a GS850L be powerful enough for one or both?

Thank you,
Andy

 

[oldgrumpy]

Hi,
Has anyone here driven a bike with a trailer and or a side car attached? Also would a GS850L be powerful enough for one or both?

Thank you,
Andy

........................ hi an old guy ,,70years old, rode a 1980 gs1000g with a side car and trailer in orbost australia ,,,he did start the old bastards motorcycle club,,you had to be 70 to jion and got you bike licence at 70 ,,anyway he went everwhere with that set upand all colour matched it looked fantastic regards oldgrumpy

 

[Mr.Mom]

Really, How did it handle?

 

[Charlie G]

Here is Gustov's 850 L with the trailer he made.

 

[Flyboy]

An 850G will pull a trailer, no problem, or haul a sidecar around, don't know about both.
The 1000G on the hand wouldn't feel them, I have towed cars with my 1000G with no ill effects.

 

[Steve]

Has anyone here driven a bike with a trailer and or a side car attached?

Side car? No. Trailer, yes.

I started pulling trailers back in 1978. Tried it with a KZ650, quickly found that wasn't nearly enough, so moved to a KZ1300. Then the Voyager 1300 pictured above and the Wing.

Also would a GS850L be powerful enough for one or both?

That would depend a LOT on your riding style, location and whether you include the kitchen sink in the luggage.

I have seen reports of member here who have a hacked 850 and say it does rather well. It would probably do reasonably well with a smaller, lightly-loaded trailer, but I would really hesitate to do both.

Location also figures in. If you are in an area where you can utilize 2-lane back roads a lot, and the terrain is basically flat, you shouldn't have much problem, but if you have any hills anywhere this side of the horizon, you will be wishing for more power.

My wife and I did a 750-mile jaunt around New England a few years ago on my 850. We did not have any problems with the hills (mountains) in Vermont and New Hampshire, but I am glad that we did not have any more drag, in the form of a trailer.

.

 

[Flyboy]

Steve, that Wing of yours could probably pull a caravan without breaking a sweat.

 

[Steve]

Steve, that Wing of yours could probably pull a caravan without breaking a sweat.

Sorry, I am not understanding that word "could". :-\\\

"Has"??

No, mine hasn't done it, but there are some camper trailers that are rather popular.

Aspen

Bunkhouse

and a bonus.

.

 

[Guest]

trailers suck, they take some of the fun out of riding. sidecars on the other hand add fun, but the bike becomes different vehicle, handles differently depending on which way the vehicle is turning. kind of half trike and half snowmobile.

i think the trailer would be more acceptable if the bike pulling it had a sidecar.
I tried a trailer once, just tried it (1984 goldwing) around town, ....no thanks. It wasn't fun, kind of hairy, the trailer felt huge, I could not fathom how I could run it down a winding road at 75 mph.

I put a sidecar on my 1985 venture. getting the right set up takes a few days. the biggest single issue with the sidecar setup is getting some vehicle weight on the sidecar wheel. from a handling standpoint the bigger the sidecar the better. I added some lead sheeting under the floor of the little velorex. and I had a paint can full of lead that I put behind the seat of the chair if i was running empty. (the side car was too light for the venture)

Pretty hard on the bike though, lots of stresses on the chassis and forks that the bike wasn't designed for. The biggest trip I took was from here to Minneapolis (3500 miles round trip) It would run along as stable as could be at speeds up to 100 mph.
I sold the thing off after two years, couldn't get anyone to ride in it.

 

[Mr.Mom]

Strange people would hop on a bike but be afraid to ride in the side car. How was the steering?

Tnx

 

[wymple]

"I tried a trailer once, just tried it (1984 goldwing) around town, ....no thanks. It wasn't fun, kind of hairy, the trailer felt huge, I could not fathom how I could run it down a winding road at 75 mph."

I wouldn't be doing 75 on a winding road with a Goldwing anyway. Guess I'm conservative.

 

[airbornesamurai]

Trailer

Trailer

I pull a single wheel traile with my Vulcan 800 and a dual wheel trailer with my V Star 1300 without an issue, plenty of pwer with either bike and no real handling issues. With the dual wheel trailerI just have to remember to stay a little farther away from the gas pump when pulling up!!(Don't Ask lol)

 

[Grimly]

After seeing trailers being pulled all over London and the S.E. of England by a London-based courier company (using Kwak GT550s), I realised there was a new thing to do. A few years passed and I built one for my own use here. A simple boxy affair, 4ft long, 2ft wide and 2ft tall. A bit heavy in construction, but it was only for collecting bags of coal, bottles of butane/propane and the odd bag of cement and/or sand, so it didn't have to be pretty.
Here it is as it was recently, before refurbishment...

You'll notice the hitch carrying bracketry requires a bit of jigger-pokery, but is quite secure in its mounting points, loads being carried on quite strong parts of the frame and reasonably well distributed. A swivel hitch is a must, in my opinion, so it's worthwhile making something that will do that job. The one I have was rescued from an ancient caravan chassis, but it's not too good, so I'll be looking at using a cheap stamped one on a swivel plate, which will axle through the tube that's welded on the top of the nose bar.

The refurbishment included not just a de-rust and coat of paint, but moving the axle line back about 2 inches to aid straight line stability. The wheels and tyres you see on it are 8", but it was designed for 10" rims, unfortunately 10" tyres are now getting in short supply, as the main car that used them (old Mini) are getting rarer, so the half-worn tyres for trailer use are becoming scarcer. I will look at using 10" scooter tyres - well within their loading and speed ratings.

Road manners on it are fine - with the short wheelbase and short nose, it was a little twitchy, but lengthening the nose made quite a difference. With a decent load in, like 50kg of coal, it pulled straight and true, and you wouldn't know it was there. Rock solid up to 70mph, but I don't think I'd want to take it faster, quite apart from rules about that.

 

[Steve]

A swivel hitch is a must, in my opinion, so it's worthwhile making something that will do that job.

On that point, I will disagree.

Unless your hitch couplers are drastically different than what we have here in the USA, there is PLENTY of range of motion available.

Even with the bike leaning to the left on the side stand, the trailer can be tipped to the right, almost to the point of falling over, so there is more than enough room for the bike to lean in a corner while the trailer stays flat.

The ONLY advantage of a swivel hitch is when the bike is parked. :-k
If you are using the side stand on a soft surface (or hot blacktop) and the bike falls over, a swivel hitch will prevent any excess torquing at the hitch.

.

 

[Guest]

Swivel hitch. Didn't know there was such a thing. Of course there is. I have to remember that.

Found this on the subject:

 

[Steve]

In that picture, the hitch is at its limit, but the Wing does not tip ove nearly as far as most other bikes.

With the other bikes, you would twist the hitch on the bike or the tongue on the trailer unless you have a swivel hitch.

Simply being careful where you park or using a pad under your side stand will be a LOT cheaper than a swivel hitch.

.

 

[Grimly]

Well, the thing that ocurred to me was the prospect of being halfway around a bend and feeling the trailer not letting the bike lean any more - I decided to side-step that one entirely and even if in normal use it's nowhere near that, I feel the slight extra effort to devise one was worth the peace of mind - also, the parking lot scenario does hold some weight. Anyone who's had a bike fall over will know that one and if the trailer can be prevented from distorting the support frame at the back of the bike, or even worse, distorting the parts of the bike frame that attaches to, again it's worth the effort.

 

[bonanzadave]

 

[Steve]

Very nice, Dave, but that's comparing apples to oranges.

He was asking about sidecars and/or trailers on an 850.

Same frame and all, but the 1100 has a LOT more power. :-\\\

.

 

[bonanzadave]

that's comparing apples to oranges.

So more like comparing a crab apple to a big juicy honey crisp apple.