Pulling a Single wheel trailer and general thoughts on towing with the Xii

[Bonnie and Clyde]

I have been toying with the idea of getting a small single wheel trailer from

https://thirdwheeltrailers.com/product/cp550/


My bike came with a hitch that I promptly removed and its sitting in the garage. After doing a couple 2 up trips a bit more storage would be nice for rain gear and a small gas can and all the extra stuff the wife wants to bring or buy on a trip. Any thoughts on tongue weight or towing a trailer in general? I have concerns about the tongue weight effecting suspension and tire life. A car tire might solve that?


Another thought I had was installing the hitch and making a cargo type rack to sit on the hitch like the Goldwing guys use for coolers.

[Nails]

I want to recommend some offerings by Miata.

There used to be a lot of trailer folks active on here.

[SgtSlag]

We bought a hitch for our XII. We also bought a luggage rack for the hitch. Used it numerous times -- love it!!! Usually put an insulated cooler on it, with soda, sandwiches, and water (all heavy gear, so the lower on the bike, the better). Saves us cost of eating out, allows us to take a rest stop wherever/whenever needed. Recommend a square cargo net, with 8 hooks, to hold it in place; the cargo net works great on the trunk's luggage rack, as well.

The Trunk Extender, if you can find one, allows the trunk to slide back far enough to stuff our rain gear (in a bag) between the trunk, the passenger seat, and the passengers back end (nothing for it to catch/tear on) -- they provide cushion, and a little support, when stowed there (within the weight triangle for loading the bike, as well).

Get an armored motorcycle riding jacket, which is waterproof. Frog-Togg pants will finish the "rain suit." Most water-resistant riding jackets require the liner installed to stop rain. Get a 3-season jacket, along with a mesh jacket (w. rain liner). The 3-season is likely too warm in the Summer's heat, so the mesh is superb for cooling air flow, and they still provide tremendous slide protection. A quality 3-season jacket will run around $400 for each of you (including elbow/shoulder/back armor plates), and a mesh jacket can be had for <$150 each. Went down at 40 MPH, in an $80 armored jacket, sliding 100'+ on blacktop! My only injury was a scratch on one knuckle, beneath my leather gloves; needed a new jacket and a new helmet, as it slid on the blacktop, as well, per the marks on the side of it. Even the inexpensive jackets will protect you in a slide! The more expensive 3-season jackets will cost you for features and comfort -- worth every penny. Our mesh jackets are inexpensive, but functional, and protective of slides on pavement. Jackets are good things to strap on top of the trunk: lightweight, not too bulky (see Space Bags, below).


Found clothing which is full-synthetic, can be washed by hand, with hand soap, air dried overnight, to reduce the number of items necessary to stow, for long trips. May sound like TMI, but it works.

Space Bags (vacuum storage bags) are your friend for compressing your clothing and jackets, to reduce their volumes to fit in your storage. They will wear out, with use, but they are amazing. Get the kind where you stuff them, seal them, then compress them, by hand, to expel the air. These will have a one-way valve to let the air out, when you squeeze them. When you open them, your clothes will typically come out wrinkle-free, if they went in that way. Don't know why, only know they work!


Looked into pulling a uni-wheel trailer years ago. Finally decided if we need to pull a trailer, we need to drive the cage, not the bike. They have a non-ball hitch, which makes them lean/track with the bike. Neatest thing I've seen in a bike trailer. Buyers commented they forgot it was there, couldn't see/feel it. Stowage capacity is small, though, and they're pricey.


Bought stuff, on one bike trip. Asked if they could ship it to our home. They did, charging us exact shipping fees only. Worked great!

Now, we trailer our bike, so we have the Jeep/Silverado, for stowage. Getting too old to mess with long rides where we are tired of riding by the time we get to our destination! We now do clover-leaf tours. Tow the bike to our jump-off point, then take day trips from there. If the weather is too hot/too-whatever, we are good, with our cage at hand. No regrets.

Fuel pump went out, 70 miles from our motel, 5+ years ago. No place nearby who could fix it. Took a 70 mile ride in a tow truck, then trailered the bike back home. Trailering is our only mode since then. Cheers!

[Bonnie and Clyde]

We bought a hitch for our XII. We also bought a luggage rack for the hitch. Used it numerous times -- love it!!! Usually put an insulated cooler on it, with soda, sandwiches, and water (all heavy gear, so the lower on the bike, the better). Saves us cost of eating out, allows us to take a rest stop wherever/whenever needed. Recommend a square cargo net, with 8 hooks, to hold it in place; the cargo net works great on the trunk's luggage rack, as well.

What is the info on the hitch rack?

[Tuna Man 62]

I have no desire to tow anything with the bike. The XII has enough power, but with 2 up, I really don't want to add any more weight to it. We keep snacks and a soft cooler in the trunk, as the saddlebags are full of clothes etc. I have the trunk extender that Sgt. Slag mentioned, but never thought to keep raingear there. I glued command hooks in the saddlebag lids and use netting to store the suits up inside. We've taken a few long rides, and 40K miles later, have had our fill of multi-day road trips, so towing isn't a factor now.

Tuna Man 62
'94 Voyager XII

[823JIM]

..... Any thoughts on tongue weight or towing a trailer in general? I have concerns about the tongue weight effecting suspension and tire life. A car tire might solve that?.....

I pulled this trailer from Michigan to Sturgis, up over Beartooth Pass, thru Yellowstone, to Jackson, WY. and home with no issues what so ever. Tongue weight of 35 to 40 lbs. adding much less weight on bike than piling all my camping gear and such on bike or rear rack. Left saddle bags unloaded( rain gear and camera). The Voyager XII has more than enough power to pull this which basically what the bike is doing, not adding to tires and suspension.. Keeping in mind it is back there allow more braking distance. Small effect on fuel milage but not real bad. This was in 2016, still have trailer and pull with Goldwing now, Have towed it more than 70k miles with still no issues.

[GrandpaDenny]

Best way I know of to figure out what you can two is half the bike's weight. So figure 400 lbs trailer and load. Tongue load on any trailer, whether car or bike, should be 10% of trailer weight, so 40lbs. tongue load.