Super nervous about trailering my bike

[Signal 50]

As the title says, I'm trailering my bike for my week of vacation up to the CA/ USA border. Never towed anything before, or trailered a bike. I installed the hitch and wired up my 7 way's yesterday. Tested it out and everything works just fine. Tested all my lights and signals. Works great. I even have a "bracket" for the front tire to sit in, but for some reason I am really nervous about the FZ standing up right.

I'm pulling about a 6x10' trailer and it was bouncing around like crazy with no weight in it. There is almost no tongue weight with an empty trailer, and I'm wondering if my FZ weighs enough to keep it from jumping around on the highway?

 

[Andz]

I have been trailering my Fazer for years with no incident. Every December we go to Cape Town on holiday which is a 3,000km round trip and it has always been a breeze.

If you have never trailered a bike before it can be disconcerting to look in your mirror and see a bike so close!

Just make sure it is strapped on the trailer properly and perfectly upright. If it is not upright it can look like it is falling over while you are driving.

 

[JustinID]

If you have problems with tongue weight (no weight or negative weight are both a bad idea), you could just tie down some extra dead weight. Depending on how things are setup, you might be able to use sand bags. On my little trailer, I added a spare tire as far forward as I could in order to get a bit more tongue weight.

As for bouncing it around, don't drive like a maniac and it should be fine. Watch for potholes and speed bumps in your car the same as you would on your bike. If you have to go over something, slow down. My trailer, with all my racing gear in it (car racing, not bike) probably weighs in at about 500 lbs. It may unload the suspension a bit on a good bump, but it doesn't bounce all over the place. A basic trailer with a 450# bike on it should weigh even more, keeping it settled.

 

[Kazza]

Same here - bit nervous too.

We're in the market for an 8x5 trailer, cage and cover - we're travelling across the Nullabor in Feb to meet Wolfman in Adelaide and ride on to Tasmania. 5,500kms with the XJR1300 and my FZ6 on the back. I'm sure we'll be ok.

 

[Andz]

There is really nothing to towing a bike trailer or anything else as long as you remember you have extra weight behind and drive accordingly.

I have always towed an unbraked trailer and it is a minimal adjustment, even with 2 bikes on. I have towed a trailer with my Fazer and a ZX-12 on it, and another time with the Fazer and a CBX and it is just like regular driving. Having a car with good torque is a must though, my diesel Beemer is a perfect tow car.

Make sure the trailer has decent sized wheels. 13" minimum.

You can never have enough tie downs.

In the picture above I used what are called superbike straps here, they loop over the grips and cross over the handlebars, then are tied with tie downs. I don't really like them as they can stuff up your grips.

I prefer to use webbing loops that go over the bottom triple clamp then hook onto tie downs.

 

[Kazza]

There is really nothing to towing a bike trailer or anything else as long as you remember you have extra weight behind and drive accordingly.

I have always towed an unbraked trailer and it is a minimal adjustment, even with 2 bikes on. I have towed a trailer with my Fazer and a ZX-12 on it, and another time with the Fazer and a CBX and it is just like regular driving. Having a car with good torque is a must though, my diesel Beemer is a perfect tow car.

Make sure the trailer has decent sized wheels. 13" minimum.

You can never have enough tie downs.

In the picture above I used what are called superbike straps here, they loop over the grips and cross over the handlebars, then are tied with tie downs. I don't really like them as they can stuff up your grips.

I prefer to use webbing loops that go over the bottom triple clamp then hook onto tie downs.

Yeah, I'm nervous. Mike has the typical Aussie attitude "She'll be right!". He's very experienced with trailers, I'm just nervous about "my baby" doing 5500 kms tied to a trailer. Trailer we are looking at is tandem axel, no brake. We have a V6 Commodore so there will be no trouble towing.

 

[wolfe1down]

As the title says, I'm trailering my bike for my week of vacation up to the CA/ USA border. Never towed anything before, or trailered a bike. I installed the hitch and wired up my 7 way's yesterday. Tested it out and everything works just fine. Tested all my lights and signals. Works great. I even have a "bracket" for the front tire to sit in, but for some reason I am really nervous about the FZ standing up right.

I'm pulling about a 6x10' trailer and it was bouncing around like crazy with no weight in it. There is almost no tongue weight with an empty trailer, and I'm wondering if my FZ weighs enough to keep it from jumping around on the highway?

Same here - bit nervous too.

We're in the market for an 8x5 trailer, cage and cover - we're travelling across the Nullabor in Feb to meet Wolfman in Adelaide and ride on to Tasmania. 5,500kms with the XJR1300 and my FZ6 on the back. I'm sure we'll be ok.

I bought my Stirling trailer with bike towing specifically in mind. I had shopped around, and even tested some different trailer types. Some trailers are designed badly, have tongues that are too long, or poor suspension/tire setup. I ended up buying a Stirling 4'x7' (interior - but with expansion on both ends). The #1 reason I choose this trailer is that when unloaded, it does not 'skitter' all over the road like a lot of other trailers do. It has independent rubber torsion suspension, instead of the more common leaf spring design. And adjustable ramp on it (not the mesh loading ramp) for different vehicle tire widths. When towing the bike, it feels solid, tracks well, and doesn't bounce a tonne. You still have to do the normal avoidance's (as someone above mentioned) like not hitting huge potholes, speed bumps, etc.

All in all, a pretty good trailer, for ~$1500.00 (Cad)

Just my $0.02.

Stirling Load Adaptive Trailers

http://www.stirlingpowerproducts.com/pdf/48-084-TLR.pdf

 

[Evitzee]

I'm just nervous about "my baby" doing 5500 kms tied to a trailer.

Simple way around that.....just drive the 5500 kms on the bike. You'll be a better man for it. Although I see the benefit of why people like to trailer a bike to some distant location it kind of defeats the purpose in my view. I used to live near Sturgis, SD and most of those bikers trailered their H-D's to within a few miles of Sturgis and then preened into town like they were right out of Easy Rider. Anyway, trailering is no problem when the bike is tied down properly.

 

[fzme]

As the title says, I'm trailering my bike for my week of vacation up to the CA/ USA border. Never towed anything before, or trailered a bike. I installed the hitch and wired up my 7 way's yesterday. Tested it out and everything works just fine. Tested all my lights and signals. Works great. I even have a "bracket" for the front tire to sit in, but for some reason I am really nervous about the FZ standing up right.

I'm pulling about a 6x10' trailer and it was bouncing around like crazy with no weight in it. There is almost no tongue weight with an empty trailer, and I'm wondering if my FZ weighs enough to keep it from jumping around on the highway?

Something I always try to keep in mind is that the car is a lot longer through turns, so keep your eyes on your mirrors in tighter turns. Also you are going to want to give yourself more following distance/room for braking. One hard slam on the brakes, and you'll feel the trailor wanting to push you, so just keep that in mind, especially on long downhill areas.

Just be cautious, scan your mirrors, and take your time. You'll be fine.

 

[OneTrack]

In the picture above I used what are called superbike straps here, they loop over the grips and cross over the handlebars, then are tied with tie downs. I don't really like them as they can stuff up your grips.

I prefer to use webbing loops that go over the bottom triple clamp then hook onto tie downs.

I initially used the handlebar strap tie-downs, but they will bend your handlebars if too much tension is applied.
I've since used 4 tie-down straps. 2 at the front, each strap going around the handlebar mounts and straight down inside the fairing. This is to minimize front/rear movement.
Then 2 at the back, using the passenger grab handles, with the straps straight out sideways to the tie-down points on the trailer. This minimizes side-to-side movement. If you're at all nervous about using just 4 straps, use some more...there's lots of tie-down points on the FZ6, such as the passenger pegs, frame slider attachments, etc.
I also put the transmission into 1st or 2nd gear as a "belt and suspenders" precaution.

 

[Kazza]

Simple way around that.....just drive the 5500 kms on the bike. You'll be a better man for it. Although I see the benefit of why people like to trailer a bike to some distant location it kind of defeats the purpose in my view. I used to live near Sturgis, SD and most of those bikers trailered their H-D's to within a few miles of Sturgis and then preened into town like they were right out of Easy Rider. Anyway, trailering is no problem when the bike is tied down properly.

Thanks. I'm NOT a man.

Take a look at the map of Australia. I live in Perth. I will be driving to Adelaide, riding to Melbourne, ferry to Tasmania, and back again. Don't need the 5500kms on top of that....

 

[fz6blue]

Ah the coast road Adelaide to Melbourne? very nice - I went on a coach tour down there 6 yrs ago and was very envious of all the people biking. Got an offer to ride pillion with a bloke on a sportsbike that I was quick to turn down... the guy was a nutcase! Anyway, hope your trip and towing is a success - will you be posting pics of your setup? oh and pics of the trip please too

 

[necrotimus]

I can't help with the nerves about towing your bike but I can help with towing a trailer in general, if you need it. I used to drive a truck and 20' trailer in college for a lawn service. The first thing my 65 year old partner had me do was practice parking the trailer in a parking lot with no cars in it, both backing from the left and the right. It was a lot of work but it was necessary because we had to park the truck and trailer in two different spots in a full parking garage at the end of each day. This is easier if you have someone watching at first to warn you when you have cut the turn to tight and are about to jack knife and do damage to the car or trailer.

The next thing he had me do was drive around tight turns with curbs in the parking lot. You will quickly learn the proper approaches and turning with a trailer is wider than a car but if you set up right you won't have to leave your lane.

The final thing he had me do was braking practice. Moving from slowest braking to more agressive (no need to slam on the brakes and jack knife the trailer). You will get a feel for how the whole thing feels under braking and you will be able to increase your following distances as necessary.

Just like with your bike give it some practice and the trailering part will be easy. Sorry I don't have any advice on securing your bike.

 

[Signal 50]

Really appreciate all the input. I had tons of stuff to do at work, around the house, and with my FD before I left. Ontop of installing the hitch and wiring it up the day before I left. I think my nerves got to me.

Once the bike was loaded I felt a little more comfortable with some more weight. I took it nice and slow and kept a close eye on the trailer. Some of the roads up here are so bad there is nothing really to be done for avoiding them, you just hit it and hope for the best. The parts that got me the most were at bridge's where the highway goes over a local road. Those were the worst because of the feezing/ thawing creating some nasty bumps in the pavement.

One strap came off on the way up there. Can't even take a guess as to why. I had them strapped down properly and very securely. Luckily the bike leaned over towards the kickstand and the other 3 straps held it just fine.

Up at the vacation house, my g/f and I took a ride down to a local bike night and met some cool people. They welcomed us like we'd been there all summer. Had a lot of fun and rode past a lot of cool places. I had to stop here:



On the way home, one of the recessed d-rings on the trailer floor broke loose so I had to come up with something creative on the side of the highway. Luckily I never travel without a heaping bucket of tools. So I fixed it up as best I could and she survived the god awful ride through Springfield, MA.

Didn't have any issues with braking as the highway traffic gets pretty sparse up around northern VT/ NH. The only thing that got me where some crosswinds on the higher bridges.

 

[Andz]

I also put the transmission into 1st or 2nd gear as a "belt and suspenders" precaution.

I always ride on to the trailer and stall it against the wheel holder which provides the tension required.