pulling weight????anybody have any ideas..

[painterman67]

just bought a new to me trailer to pull behind my 91 vr. I no there is a formula for how much weight I can haul but not sure where to find it. Didn't find anything in the owners manual.

 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

David

[Freebird]

Well, I have been pulling a trailer for several years. Have pulled it thousands of miles including high elevations. I can tell you that my wife packs it HEAVY and I've never had any problems at all. The main thing is the tongue weight. I try to keep it to around 20-25 lbs. if I remember correctly.

[93 venture]

just bought a new to me trailer to pull behind my 91 vr. I no there is a formula for how much weight I can haul but not sure where to find it. Didn't find anything in the owners manual.

 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

David

 

The less the better, I bet it will pull more than it can stop.I have never pulled a trailer but i can tell ya fully load and 2 up riders it takes alot more to stop it than it takes to get up to speed.I would want a trailer with brakes.

[mm482]

What Don said, about 20 lbs. of tongue weight. I wished I had not had a prior obligation yesterday. I would have liked to meet you at Roberts, when you picked up the trailer. I only live about five miles from him. I think you got a great deal on the trailer.

 

Earl

Edited January 12, 2009 by mm482

[Gold Rush]

There is a general rule about tongue weight. It should be 12 to 15 percent of the total loaded trailer weight. If you are pulling 200 pounds then 20 to 25 pounds of tongue weight is correct. If you are pulling 400 pounds ----- you see the formula.

 

John Preston (Bushtec CEO) once told me the magic weight rule is to never pull more then half the weight of the bike. Even at that you will really be testing your breaking system... As said before you can pull a lot more then you can stop... :whistling:

 

I have an all aluminum trailer I built that I pull behind my Goldwing. It will weigh 400 easy fully loaded. Believe me it is an experience trying to get that sucker slowed down in a hurry. Good thing the GL1800 has awesome breaks !!!! :rolleyes:

 

Hope that helped you out..

[Brake Pad]

I have a Matrix Trailer, weight is 200 Lbs, I try not to load it anymore then 200 Lbs, Toung weight of 16- 25 Lbs

 

1. picture somewhere south Bound coming out of Georgia

2nd picture 2008 Toys in the Sun Run. Ft. Laudredale

[Brake Pad]

Driveway

[Thom]

ok , on the nuts side , i have pulled over 700 lbs with 86 1st gen and i think Jeff aka Muffinmam has come close to that weight too , but i have built my bike to do it , 1st mod i did is install R-1 / R-6 brakes and heave tread tires Kenda krus the 1st time E-11 the 2nd time , the kendas cupped with in 4000 miles but braking and power cornering was not bad , remember when powering around a corner , all that wieght pulls side ways . when i left Fl. me , the bike and trl wieghted 1657 lbs , i rode upto Memphis , across Ar. on 412 to Tulsa than down 77 to here , i had E-11 tires with 42 lds in the frount and 45 lbs in the rear and my class was to the max BUT REMEBER I AM NUTS and have allways pulled a trl. , i pulled a trl. behind a 305 honda dream back in 72 .

i think to be safe never pull a trl. over 1/2 the wieght of the bike , taking off with a trl. with our bikes is eazy but a brake up grade is needed and you need a heavy tread tire and if you think it is a lot fun making a turn on sand , gravel or wet roads wait untill you do it with a heavy trl.

remeber ! don't just do it because somebody has , learn how 1st than pratice !

Thom

[greg_in_london]

Ditto what Thom said.

 

I have pulled trailers equally heavy over thousands of miles, but my first gen has a large sidecar attached, all those silly linked brakes removed, SS hoses and a brake on the sidecar wheel.

 

I also have a braked trailer. I've never been sure how good an idea braked trailers are on a solo bike - probably depends on how much you are prepared to spend on a set-up to ensure the wheels pull evenly.

 

When I had an unbraked trailer tent, touring through Germany on the autobahn, the thought processes went something like this:

"Sun's out, road's clear, nice road, hey there's a car pulling onto the autobahn about a mile ahead. WHOA - start slowing down now, it might go slowly."

Or to put it another way it was stopping distancely challenged.

 

UK laws for sidecars are somewhat anachronistic (up to 254kg unladen weight), but for cars, 50% of car weight is the maximum for unbraked trailers, 75% for braked. For solo bikes the limits are much lower.

[Leadwolf56]

The less the better, I bet it will pull more than it can stop.I have never pulled a trailer but i can tell ya fully load and 2 up riders it takes alot more to stop it than it takes to get up to speed.I would want a trailer with brakes.

 

Now Darrin,

I've pulled a trailer for 2 years. First the Bushtec and now a Bunkhouse, neither had or has brakes, the bunhouse empty weighs 275 lbs., the Bushtec 125 lbs. I've pulled both fully loaded with full bags and 2 up. no problem pulling or stopping, you do have to use common sense when stopping, use the engine to brake more than the brakes, Electric brakes are nice but if not set right could cause some trouble. If you haven't trailered before it's best to practice with it empty or with a light load in it to see how it is.