Enclosed Trailer Question

[hbadventure]

I have posted this in a couple places hoping to get some opinions from the experience found here... So my kids are School of Rock kids and are always playing with a band and we have all the sound equipment to haul around. That would be the "primary" use for the enclosed trailer I am considering. BUT! Since I go to rides all the time and don't always ride the bike (cause I don't want to wear out my knobbies) I have been known to trailer my bikes. I usually have friends and family in tow. Normally or Ideally I would like the ability to bring 4 full size motorcycles. My wife and I both have DR's and two of my ridding buddies also have DR's, so all that to get to the question...

What size enclosed trailer does one need to possess to haul 4 DR's strapped securely with gear in an enclosed trailer. Pics?? and Opinions??

[bird man]

With barn and trailers I have never regretted purchasing one a little bigger than I thought I needed. How long a trailer are you comfortable towing. Personally I would be looking for a 16 foot minimum. Yes that is a lot bigger than you need for sound equipment but to haul 4 -650 bikes and gear comfortably a better fit.

[troy]

Agreed with birdman. To comfortably haul 4 bikes and gear, etc, 12' minimum--that will be tight in the trailer trying to get around the bikes to tie things down, but works. 16 is a really nice size and makes a pretty nice dirtbike weekend "camping" trailer once you unload the bikes and air up your mattress. Buy a magnetic screen for the side door or even for the huge rear opening--they make these accessories.

Also consider "normal" width vs "car-hauler" width. The normal width has the trailer no wider than your truck, but the car hauler will have fenders sticking out wider than your truck. Personally, I would not want the wider trailer unless I really thought I'd need to haul car in it.

[hbadventure]

Good advise I will be looking at a couple this weekend will keep you updated if I pull the trigger. MX Rob on the DR650 site sent me some good links to flush mount bike stands hold downs and wheel chocks! Good stuff.

[xr-nut]

What size enclosed trailer does one need to possess to haul 4 DR's strapped securely with gear in an enclosed trailer. Pics?? and Opinions??

A friend cued me in on this thread, as he knew we've hauled a few motorcycles in our day. First thing I would consider is your truck. I have a big ol diesel, it'll pull and stop anything. What do you have? Does it have a brake controller? Will your trailer have trailer brakes? What I pull is a doo-little 7x14 with ramp door. I easily get four bikes in it, plus a gas grill and the all gear for four guys for a week long trip. Forget the straps and buy 3 wheel chocks, like these: https://www.motosport.com/product/?adpo ... ent=badger You will only need a pair of straps for the 4th bike. I've hauled bikes literally thousands of miles in these, with zero issues.

Stagger them in the front with the middle chock being the closest to the front of the trailer. Staggering this way keeps the bars from hitting each other. Load that bike first, once its clipped into place swings its a$$ end over to the passenger side of the trailer and slot in the bike on the left of it. Once its clipped in, swing the a$$ of the middle bike back to the center and poke the 3rd bike in. Loading like this, my boys and I can literally load our bikes in 2 minutes. 2 freaking minutes. Loaded, doors shut and rolling down the road. 2 minutes. Now there are 3 of us in our family, so those bikes are covered. What if we bring a buddy? Many members here have had their bike in the #4 slot. Maybe they'll post up too, t-roy do you have any pics of 4 in the trailer? . What I use there is a detachable bike chock like this: https://www.titanramps.com/motorcycle-w ... mount.html If not in use, the only thing on the floor are the little plates. Slide it in the notches, put the bike in the chock and pull a strap from each side of the bar(or lower triple clamp preferred) to the d-rings installed in my trailer and boom- four bikes loaded in.

Now for gear I have 2 helmet holders in the front, each will hold 2 brain buckets. They have coat racks on the bottom for, well, for holding coats?! I built a boot rack/shelf that sits above my gas grill that will hold 3 pair of boots and has room for spare trailer parts.(I bring extra wheel bearings and grease and tools to replace them, on every trip. 4 pair, one for each wheel). I keep a large tote in there by the grill with extra bike parts. All the time, it does not leave the trailer. Plus a dedicated trailer tool box with just about everything necessary to work on a ktm on site.

All of this can be unloaded in a few minutes and the trailer go to regular cargo duty. Once, maybe twice a year it gets used to collect all the clothes donations for our VFW. We then haul them to a mission in topeka. So my trailer does see some domestic use!

[xr-nut]

Part of the truck question is about the trailer size. Enclosed trailers pull hard. The bigger it is, the harder it pulls, and the more difficult it is to get into places. I started out with a 20' trailer, set up the same way. With an overall length of 22' on my truck and 24' on the trailer (don't forget the tongue), we were near 50' long. That is hard to get into and out of places. Forget a race pit, once you're in there you're not leaving until everyone else does. Fast food? Be careful. With my truck, most diesel pumps are out back where the semi trucks go, lots of room back there. If you have a gasser and you want to pull 50' of truck/trailer in among the idiot car drivers? Ha, good luck. Ultimately I got tired of dragging that long trailer around, so I sold it and bought the 14' trailer. I have no regret in doing so as usually it was just the 3 of us. We bought the 20'r new, so it was a pretty good starting point for the mods I described above. I bought the second trailer used. It was in rough(ish) shape. I put new wheel hubs setups on all four corners. Brakes on all 4 corners. Re-wired the whole trailer and switched to led lights all the way around. Added an extra brake light on both sides on the rear. I ordered new tires for it at the same time, when they got in I then noticed I had 3 15'' wheels and one 14'' wheel. UGH! So i bought another 15'' to use with the new tires and mounted the 14'' wheel/tire inside to use as a spare. We have used it, so don't skimp there. Then added in all of my bike hauling goodies. Trailer cost for a 2004 7x14 $3,000. Putting new running gear under it $1,000. Wiring and lights $500. Bike mods inside $750. All in for around $5300. Pretty steep, but it works very well and is reliable. I can grab it out of the shed and roll without any worries.

Another thing I've learned over the years, do NOT put any stickers on it. I know we want to tell the world about our dirt bikes, but thieves look for those stickers. You're advertising to the world I have neat stuff in here please take me. I always lock the tongue and all 3 door locks on the trailer. If possible I back the trailer into a wall or fence, that prevents the rear door from opening and makes it harder to get the trailer off the truck. I pretty paranoid about loosing my trailer and 25k of dirt bikes in it. Sure locks can be cut but I'll at least make them work at it.

I think one key take away for anyone building a trailer setup like this, bring a spare wheel/tire and bring some bearings along. You really want to leave your $3,000-6,000 trailer and $30,000 worth of bikes on the side of the road so you can go hunt for a tire?

[xr-nut]

you can see the bike chocks in the front and the boot rack in the back.



on a chadwick trip with troy, had 4 in there. yes, that is snow falling.

[Hank Moody]

Drop the mic! What a great post Joe and I don't think you left any detail. That sure looks like a factory KTM team in the picture. Now if there was only a place where JB could buy a used pickup if needed.....

[troy]

Excellent advice and detail, Joe!

[ajayhawkfan]

I also have a Doolittle V nose 7x 14 trailer. I have it set to carry two BMW1200s and there is a lot of extra room. It would easly carry 4 smaller bikes. The V adds a few square feet where I added a shelf.

[hbadventure]

I am blown away! That is a great write up Jayhawkfan offers to show me his set up you XR writes up the definitive work on the subject. What a great community. Now I completely know what I need to buy for my purposes! I will see you on the trail gentlemen. Oh and when I do get it I will post up. Thanks again.