Trailer in Europe

[simoncharles]

Has anyone over here in Europe fitted a trailer to their bike, and if so, is it legal as far as the authorities are concerned ?.

They seem to be a lot stricter here than in the U.S.

[c00k1e]

At the rally in Finland I saw many LTs with trailers - must be legal.
Actually, I think in the USA they have to register their trailers, we don't have to do that in the UK.

[Flattop]

On mainland Europe, the trailer has to be registered AFAIK.

[Rockdoc]

A trailer on a bike comes under the same regulations as a trailer or caravan on a car. Its weight must not exceed a certain fraction of the weight of the towing vehicle, for example, unless it has its own braking system. In the case of British-registered vehicles that means that the trailer must have functioning lights and indicators if the trailer or anything mounted on the trailer masks any part of those on the towing vehicle. The trailer must have a legal registration plate attached showing the same number as the towing vehicle, must have triangular, red reflectors and show a GB sticker if the number plate of both the vehicle and he trailer do not have the approved EU symbol.

I have only take a trailer on a bike to Europe once and that was in 1995 so things may have changed but I had to observe any occasional speed and/or lane restrictions as if I were an articulated lorry (a semi, Simon :) ) As i remember it, I was restricted to a maximum speed of about 60mph no matter what the solo speed would have been.

The trailer I used was 1cwt (120lb or about 55kg) unladen and I towed it with an R80RT. I had no trouble with the trailer for the great majority of the time, although I did feel its presence on downhill sections, especially when I had to brake. I also found that I needed to grease the tow-ball every day because, if that became even slightly stiff, it affected the handling. It also knocked about 5mpg off my fuel consumption, even at the lower speeds I was using.

Hope this helps,
Keith

[grahamw]

Simon

here are some details http://www.watsonian-squire.com/trailer_info.htm

regards

[simoncharles]

Thanks for the above replies.

The reason I asked is not so much about if you can as to whether the bikes paperwork states that the bike is capable of pulling a trailer.

The Spanish law states that the trailer must be 50% lighter than the bike and can only be used during daylight hours.

The problem we have is that BMW Spain, who are the ones who issue the bikes technical paperwork, have stated on same, that the bike is not capable of trailering anything. Due to this the MOT people here won´t allow people to hitch a trailer to the bike, something I find incongruous knowing that other European BMW distributors DO state that the bike can pull a trailer. Honda Spain also do the same thing.

See MMR on enclosed doc

[simoncharles]

Would appreciate if someone in Europe would ask their dealer if the bike is, according to them or the national distributor, legally allowed to pull a trailer.

All we need is one affirmative answer to then be able to ask the distributor here why they have unilaterally changed the bikes technical specifications.

Thanks