Shocks added to my ghetto trailer: DONE!

[RonKMiller]

Hi Guyz:

I've got about 500 miles on this set up and so far I think it was well worth the effort and minimal expense. The rear of my bike seems more quiet and does not have the high amplitude "shimmy/wiggle" I felt in the hitch before when crossing ruts and large tar snakes. For me ANYTHING I can do to keep the excitement of towing a trailer to a minimum makes me happy. All in all everthing just seems more quiet and calm, so I think the shocks are doing their job. Hopefully when a big, unanticipated pot hole nails one of the trailer wheels at 75 mph I'll still be upright - only time will tell - it IS out there LURKING...;)

I've had it up to 85mph solo with about 400 lbs. total trailer weight which is 60 lbs. short of my spring rating - in reality when towing I will be way under that - I wanted to stress it hard just to make sure nothing broke loose with Mama on the pillion. The tow bike is a 2001 BMW K1200LT equipped with www.KontourSeat.com (http://www.kontourseat.com/) seats. (shameless promotional plug for my company)

I DO NOT like being a test pilot for my own shade tree engineering and glad it is done. ;-)

http://photobucket.com/albums/c393/RonKMiller/ (http://photobucket.com/albums/c393/RonKMiller/)

Check out photos 1 to 7 for the latest mods. It goes without saying do this at your own risk... I'm an amateur at EVERYTHING I do - except flying and building awesome motorsickle seats.

[jorawro]

Nice job Ron - give us an update after the first big pot-hole;) I will probably tackle this project next winter thanks to your passed-on knowledge !
Just let me know what the royalty fees are:D

[RonKMiller]

Nice job Ron - give us an update after the first big pot-hole;) I will probably tackle this project next winter thanks to your passed-on knowledge !
Just let me know what the royalty fees are:D

Just knowing I have a brother at arms in the Great White North also in the ghetto mod "bidness" is good enough for me... y'all really should come down here next January and we could do some damage, eh? ;)

FLAME ON! :D :thumb:

[hschisler]

Me thinks thou dost protest too much...

Nice job. I like it, and it beats another home-built trailer seen here previously -- two pieces of luggage mounted to a trailer frame.

[RonKMiller]

Me thinks thou dost protest too much...

Nice job. I like it, and it beats another home-built trailer seen here previously -- two pieces of luggage mounted to a trailer frame.

Thanks!

Saw THAT trailer! ..and liked it a lot. If I build another one - and it probably is in my future - I will steal part of that design but use different cases and make it a mono wheel in the center with detachable cases on the outside of the wheel for a super low cg. I would love to get the cargo weight on the same plane as the axle - I think it would make carrying much heavier loads a real possibility on a single wheel - which of course have superior handling characteristics.

Either that or a Thule/Yakima cargo carrier converted into a one man camper/tent clamshell "coffin" pop up trailer. The 17 cu ft. versons are big enough for moi at 6' and 215 lbs.

So many ideas - so little time! ;)