Luggage Trailer.

[sprintster]

Do motorbike towbars need to be european type approved the same as car towbars? Can people who don't have b+e on their licence tow a trailer behind a category A vehicle?

Just an update for future reference if anyone else is thinking of doing similar.After spending hours trawling the internet looking for the answer to this I could find nothing that said motorbike towbars had to be EU type approved.A second phone call to my insurer's,Bennett's,just to double check today and I was told "There are no legal requirements for motorbike towbars" I've now kept a note of the person I spoke to and time and date of the call for future reference.

[hampsterracing]

What age is the triumph?

i have a towbar in the garage for an early modular frame triumph i used on my datona 1200

[sprintster]

That would have been handy but it's a '54 plate Sprint RS.I've got a friend who's a retired steel fabricator going to make me one.

[Jak*]

When I was a courier with Post Haste we got a load of trailers when the law changed in about 1990 which made it legal to tow trailers with a solo motorcycle. We got rid of them fairly quickly. Either the sub frames broke on the GT550s or the riders forgot they were there and went through too narrow a gap. Quite often the riders arrived at their destination sans trailer as they had lost them on route and not noticed.
We went to giant top boxes which incorporated the panniers after that.
Cheers Jak

[sprintster]

I suppose that's a good thing that they have so little effect on handling that you don't notice when you've lost it!

[sprintster]

Do motorbike towbars need to be european type approved the same as car towbars? Can people who don't have b+e on their licence tow a trailer behind a category A vehicle?

Just an update for future reference if anyone else is thinking of doing similar.After spending hours trawling the internet looking for the answer to this I could find nothing that said motorbike towbars have to be EU type approved.A second phone call to my insurer's,Bennett's,just to double check today and I was told "There are no legal requirements for motorbike towbars" I've now kept a note of the person I spoke to and time and date of the call for future reference.

[sprintster]

In the words of The A Team, "I love it when a plan comes together!"
I've just picked my bike up from my friend after he's fabricated a towbar for me.He's done a great job with it.I just have to wire the electric plug to my bike and I'll be all set for a test ride.And then new adventures in the spring.

[sledgegreen]

That looks good. I like the removable town ball - its surprising how often you bash your shins on them when they are not hitched up.

That was the only problem I had when using a trailer behind my R850GS. As others have said, I hardly noticed it when towing, and it certainly had less effect on handling than loading a load of camping gear on the bike. It also allows you to take some luxuries with you - a tent you can stand up in, a comfortable seat and a decent bed. One big advantage that I found was that there was enough space that I didn't have to pack my tent into its stuff sacks every time. I had enough space on top of my other kit to stow the tent loosely, which was much easier and allowed it to dry out a bit during journeys.

I used a Freecycle International trailer and had Freecycle make a tower for me as well. They did it one Saturday morning - I arrived at around 9.00 am and left around 1.00 pm. I chose to do my own wiring because they were going to use Scotchlocks, and I hate the things. They designed it from scratch as they went along. When I arrived, they had a bit of angle iron mounted on a little stand. The angle iron eventually became the place where the tow ball mounted, and the stand held it at the correct height. They stood this behind the bike, and then identified suitable mounting points on the bike. They then used short bits of straight bar to make the fitting for each mounting point, and before bending and cutting lengths of pipe to join them to the angle iron. After tack welding them whilst they were on the bike, the complete bracket was removed form the bike for final welding and painting. Final steps were to put it back on the bike and bolt the tow ball on.

There are some limitations which I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere in this thread, and which I think are worth mentioning - weight, length and width.

Trailers towed by motorbikes are limited to 1m wide, and this rules out most (possibly all) of the Halfords/Erde/Daxara trailers. I think the smaller of those has a 3' wide box and with the mudguards outside the box, they are too wide. I have seen some modified so that the wheels are closer together and the box sits on top of the mudguards.

Maximum length is 2.5m, measured from the rear axle of the bike.

Maximum weight is 150kg, or 2/3 of the kerbside weight, whichever is the less.

[sprintster]

It's good to hear someone else with a positive experience of towing a trailer.I take it you mean a Freewheel trailer and not Freecycle.It's a Freewheel that I've managed to pick up second hand.I got the idea for a removable tow ball from one of the photos on their website.Their ride in,ride out towbar fabrication did seem like good service for a reasonable price but it would have meant a 1000 mile round trip for me!

[herman]

Guy on ADV with an S10, good reply about why : http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/y ... 4/page-630