Trailering your bike with a car?

[CombatPenguin]

Has anyone used there car not truck to trailer your bike? My plan is to do a few trackdays but don't have a truck I can use. My car is just a little zx2 but it's rated to pull 1000 pounds and the hitch is rated for 2000 pounds, think this will be ok?

 

[towa]

Should not be a problem. Be careful when You load the trailer, make sure it can not jump of the hook.

 

[Fred]

Assuming that the trailer weights 500 pounds (a fair estimate) and you're right t the limit. Don't try to be speed racer and don't tailgate and you should be fine.

Check your tire pressures before you do any driving with the loaded rig.

 

[Andz]

I have trailered my bike from Johannesburg to Cape Town and back (about 1,000 miles each way) for the last 5 Christmas holidays. The last 3 times I have done it with my BMW 320 diesel and it was an uneventful, effortless trip.

The trick is: not too lightweight trailer, not too small wheels, good quality tie-downs, plan a little further ahead on the road and no sudden moves with the car!

This is my previous car ready to go:

 

[Roadstergal]

A friend of mine trailers his moto with a Miata. It's doable.

Make sure the trailer is light. A steel behemoth might swallow up a lot of your weight capacity.

Make sure the load is balanced. The tongue weight for a Class I hitch (which most cars take) is 200lb.

If the trailer doesn't have a chock, a Baxley sport chock is worth its weight in gold in general, IMO. Helping keep the bike in place on a flat trailer while you get the tiedowns on is one of the useful things it does.

I've used both a Canyon Dancer and soft tiedown extenders on the forks with good results.

Remember that your stopping distance is extended with a load. If you've never towed a trailer, practice a bit to get a feel for how you'll have to change the way you turn and back up.

 

[Oscar54]

Do the loop tie down, like in Andz picture, on the handle bar grips. It keeps them away from the plastics and is very secure. Did this when towing my sons UM 250R with clip ons. I worked well.

 

[jamesfz6]

It will work perfectly. I used a taurus to tow a few bikes and never had a problem. Your bike only weighs 420lbs its like having 2 adults in the back seat, the car wont tell the difference.

 

[CombatPenguin]

Thanks for the replies. I'm trying to find one of them motorcycle trailers that just holds the bike and nothing more there really light but so far the ones I found cost a fortune. I did find that the 4x8 harbor freight trailers only weight 287 lbs. so with the bike and gear I should be at 850 or so. I'll just practice a lot before any long trips :thumbup:

 

[Fred]

Thanks for the replies. I'm trying to find one of them motorcycle trailers that just holds the bike and nothing more there really light but so far the ones I found cost a fortune. I did find that the 4x8 harbor freight trailers only weight 287 lbs. so with the bike and gear I should be at 850 or so. I'll just practice a lot before any long trips :thumbup:

A friend of mine has one of those HF foldup trailers. You can get bigger wheels that will bolt onto it at wal-mart.

He uses it to carry a pair of fully loaded V-Strom 1000's with Jesse bags. The trailer frame bends quite a bit. It's kind of scary. But he hasn't had problems yet.

 

[Jim Karam]

I highly recommend Kendon fold-up trailers. While light-weight, they are very sturdy. You can usually find them on eBay for $1000-1500, i.e., about $1000 less than new.

 

[blchandl2]

Do the loop tie down, like in Andz picture, on the handle bar grips. It keeps them away from the plastics and is very secure. Did this when towing my sons UM 250R with clip ons. I worked well.

Better yet, I use one of these. After spending $135 to repair broken switchgear on my FJR from using a Canyon Dancer, I bought one of these.

Cycle Cynch - Product - Cycle Cynch

:thumbup:

 

[Jim Karam]

I've used both the Canyon Dancer and Cycle Cinch, but the easiest and best thing to do is just wrap your straps around the lower triple. No plastic damage and also no bent handlebars (yes, I did) or damaged throttle/switch assemblies (no, I didn't, but I worried a lot) :shakehead:.

 

[Roadstergal]

I've used both the Canyon Dancer and Cycle Cinch, but the easiest and best thing to do is just wrap your straps around the lower triple.

That's what the soft tie extenders are good for:
Cycle Gear - MOTOBOSS: Soft-Hook Tiedown Extensions

Loop around the fork just above the lower triple and feed one end through, then hook the tiedowns to the loop. Particularly good for dirtbikes, but also work for sportbikes. You just need to align everything so that they're not rubbing the fairing.

 

[RyanK]

I know a guy who has towed his big yamaha dirt-bike all over the US, coast to coast, with a Pontiac Bonneville and never had any problems. He also towed his streetbike around with it. :thumbup:

 

[madmanmaigret]

Make sure your transmission fluid (and all other fluids for any long trip with or without a trailer) is good. I can't believe how many people I saw (when I was an oil jockey) who's tranny fluid looked like mud and they towed well over their weight limit and wondered why they needed a $3000 transmission rebuild. General maintenence and common sense go a long way here.

 

[FZ1inNH]

I'm considering one of these if the bonus is big enough to cover other things first, then this trailer as my toy. Fold-up Tilt-bed Motorcycle Trailer - 749TC Folding Utility Kit I'm looking at the double rail model 749TC-2TS76M but with the 66" arched ramp for easier loading.

 

[reiobard]

I bought a pickup truck for less than most of these trailers...

1996 GMC Sonoma in very good condition, just needed brake lines for $400...

 

[Andz]

That's what the soft tie extenders are good for:

I bought those before I did my last December trip, no pictures though. I found that the superbike straps (that's what we call them here) stuffed the grips up on a long trip. The loops round the bottom triple clamp worked perfectly.

A friend has modified his trailer to accept turnbuckles which hook to a rod through the front and rear axles of the bike. No suspension loading, although the bike bouncing on its suspension takes some getting used to being seen in the mirror!