Recently a friend suggested the building of a bike trailer for towing of bikes, not for towing behind a K.  The reason behind this is that an unloved box trailer is rusted out but the running gear is still good.  The basic plan entails a Saturday welding and the cost about $200 overall.  Said friend was originally a boilermaker so the welding is taken care of.  

Now the design is planned to be a single channel with tie down points, ramp and a tool box for straps, etc. for one motorcycle only.  It would be purpose built for K100 and K75 and wide enough for a bike fitted with panniers.  

The thought behind this is for use in South East Queensland and curious to know what other local members think of having one for access to forum members.  I know there are mobile motorcycle breakdown services and carriers for long distance haulage but although convenient may not always be suitable.  

So open to ideas.  Good, bad or indifferent. 

great idea dave

my little tin box wont let me carry a big load behind it ...supposedly 350 kilos max ...so that getting close to the limits with a k100 plus trailer hanging off a towball
but with minimal weights added to the trailer frame assembly ..sounds good to me

I should have by now,  investigated my brothers trailbike buddies for exactly that ..as a few of them have such beasts already .
their rear tyres are about the same as the k ...but length will be a bit different

in fact there was one parked at my mothers place for years ..on and off ...its gone now ..blast (recon I could have had it for a slab of beer )


I hope there is some way I can contribute ? (sorry no welding skills at all mate )

but I do believe there is something already made for the job ...worth looking around for as a starter ?

but like the price already

Thanks Charlie.  

The main driving force behind the idea was the availability of parts and the price.  Said mate also has a couple of bikes in the garage and recently gained an extra trailer. 

We could use the services of a 'lecky for the lights and wiring though 

Can I suggest adding a mount and a boat trailer webbing strap winch to pull the K up the ramp onto the trailer. From experience pushing trail bikes up the ramp to the trailer single handed is a bit of an effort, nearly triple that for a K.

Richard.

not that I like trailering a bike at any time , but if I had the option of choosing a trailer for the job , it would certainly be a drop axle , low load profile to remove the stress of pushing and heaving up hill , with a marked risk of toppling over halfway up the plank . 

Dave , it sounds like a workshop day in Brissie.

TacKler wrote:Thanks Charlie.  

The main driving force behind the idea was the availability of parts and the price.  Said mate also has a couple of bikes in the garage and recently gained an extra trailer. 

We could use the services of a 'lecky for the lights and wiring though 

yeah I could manage that bit

glad to be of some help


cheers

Sounds like a good plan, Dave.

Snowy ride attendees will have seen my work-in-progress similar item, functional but still with some of the rust still in place. (A rush job to be able to take BOB the Blue Old Bike to Jindabyne while still being able to drop my wife at Cooma for a new grandmother weekend.)

I will be tidying it up over time, but it is functional so anyone down anywhere around here is welcome to borrow it if you need it.

Bill

For my tuppence ha'penny worth Dave, I converted my box trailer (with removable mesh side extension sections and loading ramp) into a single bike trailer - whilst maintaining my ability to still use it as a box trailer (probably not a requirement in your case).

I bought a "Erde" 2m long heavy duty motorcycle carrying channel, which came with a bolt on hoop to locate the front wheel, but I replaced the hoop with a more substantial front wheel holder (wheel stow). No welding required - drilled though the plyboard/GRP box trailer floor and secured the channel to the floor and trailer subframe. The wheel stow attached the front of the channel and secured to the trailer drawbar with a U bolt arrangement. Due to the length of the trailer versus the length of a K100, it was necessary to take the angle grinder to the front of the box to chop out a section wide enough to take the front wheel. I kept the cut out section and attached it to the front mesh panel, so that it slots over the bike channel and wheel stow and doesn't leave a gapping hole in the front of the trailer when being used as a box trailer. I removed the trailer jockey wheels as it interfered with the wheel stow arrangement and, besides, I wouldn't want to be separating the trailer from the car with a bike loaded anyway...just in case things went horribly wrong!

Cost of the modification was about £150 - with hind sight, I could have found a cheaper option for the wheel channel rather than the proper "Erde" one...but it is a pretty substantial bit of metal work and does help spread the weight of the bike over a greater area. The wheel stow is invaluable - I can load my LT single handed as, once the front wheel locates in it, it holds the bike securely upright (without side or centre stand) while I fiddle around attaching ratchet straps front and back. I bought a special strap for the front - two webbing sleeves fit over the handlebars grips (cost £20) and makes the whole thing easier to strap down. 

As shown below, I added a few additional straps - because I could and getting Gretel from Dublin to my home was my first experience of using my set up....and I didn't want any unplanned bike lie downs half way home! 



My original concept was that I could use the trailers' loading ramp to get the bike on and off the trailer, but I soon discovered that the ramp was simply too steep to get a K100 up it easily. I nearly made it with some engine assist, but there was no grip on the channel section, so with the rear wheel still on the ramp, the front wheel would simply slide backwards as the whole ish returned back to the road. I overcame this by buying an additional folding motorcycle loading ramp which is much longer than the trailer ramp and therefore presents a much more gentle angle to be able to drive the bike up onto the trailer. Once the bike is loaded, the ramp simply folds up and is stashed in the bottom of the trailer (or back of the car). I think the loading ramp stung me another £40, but against the cost of dropping a K100/K75/K1 at the most in-opportune moment, probably a good investment.


In the ideal world, of course, I would opt for a proper drop axle trailer like Ed suggests - anything that makes loading easy, has got to be a good thing, but am too tight to fork out the £££ for something I will use infrequently!

Good luck with your project - it is reassuring to have a bike trailer to hand and perfect for dealing with outbreaks of KPox (you can't always do a Holister and ride home from the other side of the country...even on a relatively small island like the UK)!

Paul , those handlebar tie down straps are the same style used for our crossing on the Tassie ferry . 
certainly helps to keep the pressure away from your ageing fairings. 
Be very wary of the stability offered by some of the wheel chocks on the market . As Rosskko and I found , the Aldi "Torque" brand wasn't as sturdy as expected .

Ed. Maybe we could use something like this down our way. Something for discussion at our next Koffee meet???

Ed wrote:Be very wary of the stability offered by some of the wheel chocks on the market . As Rosskko and I found , the Aldi "Torque" brand wasn't as sturdy as expected .

You're right Ed - in some areas you definitely do get what you pay for. I like Aldi for some things....but mainly for a decent steak at a reasonable price (reasonable to the buyer, not the farmer Stan!!)

Mine is manufactured by a "reputable" trailer maker and is certainly of heavy gauge steel construction. It is also firmly bolted down to the host trailer, so there is no danger of it toppling over (it is designed to be free standing with wide-ish legs front & back - not sure that I would be that trustful of it in the free standing mode though). If you believe the blurb, I could even tow the bike with it secured just in the wheel chock...but somehow, I think not, hence the profusion of additional straps! I like things secure - as generally, if they can move, they will. 

The biggest worry with any bike trailer is getting the bike safely on and off it - especially with a heavy old, top heavy lump like a K100, which is why I like the extra standing space either side of the centre channel that I have on my make-do trailer.

Any bike I have trailered has been at an angle due to the average 6x4 trailer not being long enough. But the easiest one involved a bike with the front guard removed.

We simply rolled it in and over the front of the trailer and sat the front of the engine against the front of the trailer. The tailgate shut nicely. Tyre sat in the spare bolted down on the drawbar. The spare was facing down with the inside facing up.

So the empty boxless trailer need only a strengthened drawbar to perform finely with only a bit of U channel to house the bike in. Simply bent reo makes good tiedowns. Strengthened mudguards make good box mounts.

The biggie might be to drop the front wheel into a slot of shaped Uchannel just to set it in and fix it. don't have to drop much.

Holister wrote:Ed. Maybe we could use something like this down our way. Something for discussion at our next Koffee meet???

Ahhhh... Koffee, yes.

I've got a 3 bike trailer if anyone needs to borrow it. Based in Engadine.