Ride Report- U Haul Motorcycle Trailer

[Dilliw]

I had to trailer my EV recently :(  so I rented the U Haul motorcycle trailer for a couple of days.  $14.95/day and it sets up great for a bike: great tires, lots of tie points, good LED lighting and a "chock" (really just an indent in the front wall).  It's really overbuilt.  It was an easy one person load/unload and pulled no problems.   I towed it behind my Mazda3 that interestingly enough is not rated for towing in the U.S. but is rated for 1200lbs unbraked towing in other markets.  The trailer weighed 550lbs so I was right at that weight and well under the 2,000lb rating on the hitch.  Other than knocking my mpg into the 20's it was a very easy pull.

I've got a nice utility trailer but due to HOA regulations I can't keep it at my house.  As nice as the U Haul trailer turned out now I think I'm going to just sell my trailer and use the proceeds to pay my future rentals.  Given how many times I've needed to haul my bike I figure it will take me a while on the lease/buy equation. 

So there it is, a ride report for a trailer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpB0r5PKUfo

[guzziknight]

I rented one a few years ago to pick my bike from  dealer in TN. Worked great! If you only need it for a day, and IF you can find one: not all U-Haul dealers around here have them, then it's a good option.

[twhitaker]

I rented one to haul my LeMans to the Blue Ridge rally some 10-12 years ago. There was a problem with alignment, tire bubble, or something that made the trailer hop madly. Before we had gone 150 miles I dropped off the trailer and rode the bike the rest of the way with Maggie following in the Blazer.

[Stormtruck2]

That is the reason I refuse to live in any development with covenants and/or HOA.  Unless you pay the mortgage and taxes, piss off on telling me what I can and cannot do on my property. 

[oldbike54]

That is the reason I refuse to live in any development with covenants and/or HOA.  Unless you pay the mortgage and taxes, piss off on telling me what I can and cannot do on my property. 

 Well , if you had just not been naked ...

  Dusty

[Lannis]

That is the reason I refuse to live in any development with covenants and/or HOA.  Unless you pay the mortgage and taxes, piss off on telling me what I can and cannot do on my property. 

Newspapers love those things.   That way, they get to print headlines like

"90-year-old Veteran Forced To Remove American Flag From Yard"
VOWS TO FIGHT ... "CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS THE AMERICA I FOUGHT FOR"

and stuff like that.   HE was the one who signed the Neighborhood Association covenant that said he wouldn't put up any flagpoles with 10' x 15' flags in his yard.

He could move out here.   He can fly American flags, Confederate battle flags, whatever he wants.   Freedom CAN be junky looking, though ....

Lannis

[Moto Fugazzi]

I've been using the MC trailer from my local rental place now for about 8 years now. It's always available, and a deal at $15/day. I used it 3 years ago to pick up my V11S from St. Louis, and just recently to Battle Creek, MI to Milwaukee. Even though it says 55MPH speed limit, I've had it over 85MPH with no issues. Money well spent.
Ken

P.S. The trick I learned for tie downs is to loop the excess around the front brake and throttle (pulling the brake lever in). It helps keep the bike from moving bake and forth.

My last trip from MKE to Battle Creek:

[LowRyter]

I've taken them to Daytona and Sturgis.  They've now improved them with bigger wheels and now rent them for 1 way trips.

[Lannis]

I've been using the MC trailer from my local rental place now for about 8 years now. It's always available, and a deal at $15/day. I used it 3 years ago to pick up my V11S from St. Louis, and just recently to Battle Creek, MI to Milwaukee. Even though it says 55MPH speed limit, I've had it over 85MPH with no issues. Money well spent.
Ken

P.S. The trick I learned for tie downs is to loop the excess around the front brake and throttle (pulling the brake lever in). It helps keep the bike from moving bake and forth.

My last trip from MKE to Battle Creek:

That's a good deal.  I'm trying to decide if it makes more sense to have one in the shed that I paid $1000 for, or just rent one when I need it.

One of my justifications for having one is that if I break down on one of my old bikes a long way from home and Fay has to fetch me, I want one at home and not Monday morning when the rental place opens again.   I've only had to do that once - my tortured, overloaded BSA A10 rear wheel finally collapsed in Ohio when I was riding solo, after 2000 miles of carrying a 500 pound payload in the UK... a friend carried me to Luray, Virginia and Fay met us there with the trailer.   If I hadn't had the trailer at home, it would have been next day.

Maybe that wouldn't be too high a price to pay.   Like Chuck said, you could rent a trailer 50 times for what it costs to buy one.  AND rent a motel room or two ....

Lannis

[LongRanger]

That's actually a sad photo. I don't like the look of a Guzzi in a trailer, regardless of the reason.

[boatdetective]

I made the decision to rent, not buy. Those trailers are massively overbuilt and have nice long ramps (an easy push up and in). Once again, i don't have to store, register, or maintain it. I've found that the extra weight makes them tow very smoothly.

[grebmrof]

I've had good luck with the uhaul mc trailers too - but not with the Mazda3 I towed with, it yanked it fine when it was empty, but with my Eldo in it, it really struggled.  In long gradual grades the tranny must have gotten too hot and wouldn't shift up for quite a while.  I'm now occasionally yanking one with an SUV V6, much better results.  They are scarce around here and have to be returned to the rental location - but great, overbuilt and heavy trailers.

[Wayne Orwig]

Now if you would just get rid of that karma cow bell, you wouldn't need to put the thing in a trailer.   

[Dilliw]

Now if you would just get rid of that karma cow bell, you wouldn't need to put the thing in a trailer.   

That is a proper bell- it was given as an anonymous gift from none other than Karma Khamil himself.  Of course if Karma Khamil is having troubles then maybe the bikes are all connected.

I've had good luck with the uhaul mc trailers too - but not with the Mazda3 I towed with, it yanked it fine when it was empty, but with my Eldo in it, it really struggled.  In long gradual grades the tranny must have gotten too hot and wouldn't shift up for quite a while.  I'm now occasionally yanking one with an SUV V6, much better results.  They are scarce around here and have to be returned to the rental location - but great, overbuilt and heavy trailers.

I had good luck with with my 3 Hatch  even pulling some pretty big hills at speed but I used the manual shift feature instead of letting the transmission do the thinking.  I have the Skyactiv and it seems to think 2000 rpm is all you ever need.   

[Wayne Orwig]

That is a proper bell- it was given as an anonymous gift from none other than Karma Khamil himself.  Of course if Karma Khamil is having troubles then maybe the bikes are all connected.

I think he was spreading a bike 'virus' with those cow bells.

[kevinkaren2011]

There are arguments for both sides...Personally I prefer to own my own trailers.

We have rented trailers and trucks over the years and it was a crap shoot if you got a good one or a beater. Sometimes the jack wouldn't work or tires had bulges on them obviously from people hitting pot holes or curbs..I hated to get them loaded and look in the mirror to see them whipping back and forth.

I had a flatbed and a cargo trailer for years and only change a light bulb or grease the axles. In the state of Tennessee you buy plates once for life.

I love going to the garage and hooking on any time I want.

[Guzzistajohn]

I rode my bike to trailer week

[Karma Khamil]

I think he was spreading a bike 'virus' with those cow bells.

The disciple George's Guzzi is NOT broken as you will note, and the Bell allows his small gasoline automobile to pull a load which it otherwise could not.   Thus is the merit he has acquired by obedience returned to him.

It seems, chela (though all 'seeming' is merely illusion) that the Green Mist of Envy may be affecting thy discourse.   Though thou hast acquired merit over the long years in helping those in need of Guzzi aid, yet does thy outlook continue focused on the Wheel of Things. 

Therefore will a bell come to thy habitation, unsought and un-looked for, before the next full moon.  Just and constant is the Wheel, swerving not a hair. 

[flip]

I rode my bike to trailer week

 

[Wayne Orwig]

The disciple George's Guzzi is NOT broken as you will note, and the Bell allows his small gasoline automobile to pull a load which it otherwise could not.   

Wrong.

I can post lots of pictures of the many pieces damaged by the cow bell.

Hopefully it doesn't damage your Stelvio.

[Karma Khamil]

Wrong.

I can post lots of pictures of the many pieces damaged by the cow bell.

I beseech thee, then, to do so and so acquire merit by teaching and instruction.   Though all seeming is illusion, still the sense of "seeing" is of a thousand times the value of "hearing", when dealing with things of the World.   

Be cautious, chela, of the sin of Pride which may drive one to say that which is not.   "Seeing" drives away present doubt, and will help the ignorant with the concept of "lots" and "many".