Question about a camper trailer

[ctraylor]

I have found a good camper trailer to pull behind my bike but the trailer weighs a little over 500 lbs loaded and I can get it for a good price. My Question is: is this too heavy to pull behind a 1200 cc motorcycle. Has anyone pulled this heavy of a trailer before? Is it safe????

[dmoff1698]

I have a Time Out camper that weighs in around 450 when fully loaded with all my stuff that the wife thinks she needs to take.

 

Pulling this with my second gen is not much of a problem here in the flat land of Oklahoma. On the other hand, in the mountains of Arkansas and Colorado I find myself riding mostly in fourth gear, once in a while in third. You can't be in a hurry!

 

That's fine by me because I'm there to look around, not set some speed record. As long as I'm not causing a hazard by holding up traffic behind me, I'm happy.

 

If the trailer you're looking at is at 500 pounds BEFORE YOU LOAD YOUR STUFF, you may not be happy with it. Then again, it's all in your attitude. If you're focused on the destination rather than the trip, you will probably find that this trailer cramps your style too much.

 

Another thing, you will be pulling a trailer that is almost the same weight as the bike. Unless you have trailer brakes, you will be putting a lot of work and strain on the bikes suspension and brakes. At any kind of speed, this can go bad quickly.

 

Off the top of my head I'm thinking this trailer may be a bit much, but I was wrong once before. It was a long time ago.

[Venturous Randy]

I have an old Travelite I pull with my 1st gen that weighs in at about 450lbs loaded. The bike has enough power to pull it fine thru the mountains of NC and TN, but my biggest concern is getting it slowed down quick if I needed to. It did fine a couple of years ago when I had EBC HH pads, but I believe I have Kevlar now and they are not as good.

RandyA

[skydoc_17]

Hey Curtis,

You have a MKI and a MKII VR listed in your profile, far and away the MKII VR would be the better bike to pull, (and Stop) a 500 pound trailer with. The 1986 to 1993 VR has the 1300cc engine and the 4 piston calipers standard. Plus the room for improvement with the VMAX final drive, R1 Calipers and other mods makes this the vehicle of choice for pulling a heavy trailer. On a Personal note, EVERY RIDER needs to know their limitations! The few dollars you save on that "good deal" you got on that trailer will all be down the drain the first time you lock the brakes up while riding 2up heading down a switchback mountain, because if your wife is like mine, she will wait patiently until you get that bike stopped, then she will get off that bike, and proceed to slap you all about your face and head then pull out her cell phone and call a cab!:rotfl:All kidding aside, Are there members of this forum that can pull a 500+ pound trailer thru the "Dragon's Tail" draggin' the pegs the entire way, I am sure there are. ARE YOU one of those riders that can do this with your wife on the back of your bike, ONLY YOU CAN HONESTLY ANSWER THAT QUESTION!

If it were me, I would jump on that deal in a minute, but if I wanted my wife to ride with me, I would spend the extra bucks, get a later model trailer that was lighter and handled better and keep everyone happy, but that's just me.

Earl

[Monty]

Do you have any pics? Can the trailer be lightened up?

 

My camper trailer weighs 335lbs empty. So far, I have only pulled it about 400 miles, with about 75 lbs in it, making a total of 410lbs. I had no trouble pulling it through the mountains of Arkansas and Missouri. I could tell the difference between it, and my normal trailer though. I also had to do a "quick" stop, about 4 miles from home today, chirping the tires a little. I chalk that up to not paying attention, and not enough experience with this trailer yet.

 

 

Pictures would help. If we knew what kind of trailer it was, and how it was constructed, we could maybe advise you better. You may be able to modify it, and make it lighter.

 

 

Will you have to modify that hitch on the Beemer, or is the trailer made for a BMW?

[Guest tx2sturgis]

I have found a good camper trailer to pull behind my bike but the trailer weighs a little over 500 lbs loaded and I can get it for a good price. My Question is: is this too heavy to pull behind a 1200 cc motorcycle. Has anyone pulled this heavy of a trailer before? Is it safe????

 

 

 

The general rule of thumb for towing a trailer with a bike is: the trailer fully loaded should not weigh more than half the weight of the motorcycle.

 

This rule of thumb means that most riders should not pull a trailer that weighs more than about 400 pounds behind practically any touring bike.

 

I know many riders who do this and have good luck...is it 'safe'? Probably not....but neither is motorcycle riding in general.

 

You will be stressing every part of the bike, way beyond the manufacturers GVW. Make sure to change engine oil and driveshaft oil frequently. Check both tires on the bike and the hubs and tires on the trailer often. Be aware that your clutch will wear pretty fast.

 

Take into account that your stopping distance will probably double.

 

 

I will not pull one that heavy, personally. But others do, so if you decide you want to, be extremely careful.

 

[ctraylor]

Here is the one I am looking at. The owner says it weighs about 450 lbs. It is all aluminum and it is hard to believe it weighs that much. I guess I should say that I will be pulling it with a BMW K1200 LT and not my Yamaha. I sold my Yamaha to my son.

 

 

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/03/!BzVRkHg!2k~$(KGrHqMOKiUEwRZSqhv0BMVjf2V-rw~~_35.JPG

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/02/!BzVRY0wCGk~$(KGrHqIOKj!E)O!,jMT5BMVje+(jTQ~~_35.JPG

[frogmaster]

Hmmmmm?

 

Does not look like 450 lbs. Pull it with car to a scale. Worse case get a bathroom scale and weight each tire and the tongue and add all 3 weights together to get total weight. Let us know.?

 

All above is good advice but 450 lbs plus all other stuff is pushing it for safety should be less than 50% Bike weight.

[Monty]

My Mom and Stepdad had one of those that they pulled with their 1100 Goldwing. They even pulled it to Alaska and back.

[BOO]

Sooooooooo, my question is "what kind of gas mileage do you get pulling the trailer"?

Thanks,

BOO

[ctraylor]

I pulled my small trailer (200 lbs) or so about 800 miles and averaged 50+ mpg with my BMW so figure will get close to that with this trailer also.