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Trailer Question

scts

scts

Member
Getting ready to head down to the Outer Banks here on the east coast for vacation next week, and am thinking about trailering the bikes... My dad is going to come down with us, and wants to bring either his bike as well so I'll end up with either 2 or 3 bikes going down (he has a Vulcan, I've got an Ultra Limited, and the wife is riding the Fatboy).

So, my dad went out and bought a 10' X 5' trailer (think he was just looking for an excuse to buy the trailer) - it has a wooden floor, sounds like made out of 2x8s, and is open with a small rail that's about a foot high. Question is do you guys think it's reasonable to try to fit two bikes on a trailer thats 5' wide (he does have wheel chocks that we'd bolt on the trailer)?

If we take all 3, I'll end up riding the Ultra down and it'll be the Vulcan and Fatboy on the trailer... otherwise it will be the Ultra and Vulcan on the trailer and the Fatboy will stay home (if I ride the Ultra down, my wife will end up driving by herself with one of the kids - right now she'd rather leave the Fatboy and ride dad's bike and have me drive in the car with her).

Thanks,
Scott
 
The first thing to check is the GVW capacity of the trailer. A Vulcan and Ultra will be at least 1400 lbs. Then make sure the deck boards are 2", and not 1 1/4" which is common. You could get away with 1 1/4" boards IF the center of each wheel rests on or very close to a frame cross member. The trailer rail may hit foot pegs/crash bars and be a problem when cinching the bikes down. Five ft. is kinda narrow, staggering may be required. I won't trailer a bike with less than 13" car tires, but that's JMO.
 
Thanks for the info Breeze3at... Did confirm the weight capacity and we are good (for the life of me can't remember what dad said it actually was - want to say 1,800 or 2,200 but work has fried my brain today). Deck boards are 2" (or 1 3/4"). My concern was on the Ultra with the lowers, and both the fatboy and vulcan have crash bars w/ pegs, but didn't think about staggering them - should have plenty of room to do that. On the tires, trailer has 15" :) - when dad eventually spends his money, he usually gets something good.
 
Breeze3at nailed it on the GVW, probably the most important factor, you mentioned the wood was 2 inch, thats also good. My trailer is a 5 x 8 open like yours, I was able to fit 2 softails on it loading the first in forward and the second in backwards, it was a little tight but it worked. I did think I was pushing the load limit 1500lb, but everything worked out. Good luck!
 
I Have several trailers, that said 2 bikes wont fit side by side on a 5 foot wide trailer . 1 trailer I have is 77 inches wide and you still have to stagger 2 bikes to get 2 bikes to fit on it. Baggers take alot of room ,you have to consider the angles of the tie down straps.
 
My buddy's and my softail fit on mine, it was a little tight as I mentioned. Each bike had 4straps holding the bikes to the trailer frame. We trailered to the Smokies and back, no problemo! We may have pushed the GVW 1500, our two softies come in at 672lb, each, less fluids and other stuff we added.
 
gator508 said:
Breeze3at nailed it on the GVW, probably the most important factor............. I was able to fit 2 softails on it loading the first in forward and the second in backwards............ Good luck!
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Remember if you have to turn one around, make sure it's not one with a windshield (or has a removable one)!
 
deucedog said:
Excellent point!

Don't forget to remove the EZ Pass tags from the bikes either.
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ALSO, If the bikes have Pegs sticking out,,,,,Put them UP before you load and strap or you will be cursing:newsmile099: and Glider will give you an EDIT:lolrolling

signed....BUBBIE
 
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