Enclosed trailer setup | Page 5 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Enclosed trailer setup

I used a Chevy Express for a while. Pit bull restraint system for the bike in the back. Get to the track, unload and sleep! Best $1500 I ever spent!
I love ra e vans!!!
 
Roomie said:
Yeah I've heard that too but claims and real world are usually very different. It would make a great car for me and being supercharged it's easy to make some more power for little investment
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I had an r53 for a bit. Fun car for sure, but the yugo build quailty got to me in a hurry.
 
ZX600 said:
I used the wife's Santa fe to tow the open trailer and plenty of space to sleep inside with an inflatable mattress.Waking up by the track in a may or late October weekend is nothing of a dream, more like a nightmare.
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There are guys that wintercamp with a hammock on steroids like the http://www.junglehammock.com/.
$500+, but the most compact, easy-setup, sleep you'll have outdoors assuming you can find two things to tie-down the ends.
 
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I’ve been haulin’ bikes since the mid seventies. I’ve used cars, pick-ups, vans, open and closed trailers. I brought home my brand new, 1974 Kawasaki G4TRD 100 wedged between lots of foam padding in the trunk of my Chevy Nova. Laid it on it’s side with the back wheel stuffed in as far as it would go and the front end hanging out.
To take that very same bike back up for warranty work I flat towed it using my wife’s Austin Mini 1000. I took the front wheel off and fixed the trunk lid open so that it would clear the gap between the fork tubes and the frame. (The Mini’s trunk opened from the top.) I set the tubes down onto a block inside the trunk and strapped the bars down to the rear bumper mounts. Boy, did I get some looks with that setup.
The vans worked out well as both were finished inside with beds and storage. But, I hated sleeping at the track. Never got a good nights rest and was stiff and sore for a week after.

To answer the OP here was my Big White trailer.

PicturesofBigWhite006.jpg


Storage shelves at the front with an adjustable cross bar along the top to hang clothes and leathers on. I used “E” track on the floor and walls. Best modification was adding the industrial flooring to the ramp. It’s like cushion flooring with 100 grit sand paper particles. I’ve seen too many bikes dropped due to rain or snow covered ramps.

More photos here: http://s82.photobucket.com/user/Stephen_W/media/Big White/PicturesofBigWhite011.jpg.html
 
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This is the setup I’ve been using since 2007. The STi works great as tow vehicle although it gets real thirsty dragging two bikes to the Dragon each fall.

MotorSportsWorldvisit2009crop.jpg
 
Stephen W. said:
This is the setup I’ve been using since 2007. The STi works great as tow vehicle although it gets real thirsty dragging two bikes to the Dragon each fall.

MotorSportsWorldvisit2009crop.jpg
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Do you always keep the wind sail on the back? I could see that helping the gas mileage if gotten rid off.
 
Robp said:
Do you always keep the wind sail on the back? I could see that helping the gas mileage if gotten rid off.
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Yes I do. But... the salesman told me that with the expanded metal mesh the air would flow right through and result in no drag. I mean, why would he lie about a thing like that, eh? ;) hehehe
 
Stephen W. said:
Yes I do. But... the salesman told me that with the expanded metal mesh the air would flow right through and result in no drag. I mean, why would he lie about a thing like that, eh? ;) hehehe
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I expected the ramp to hurt fuel mileage, but based on the story below, it's much worse than I expected.

http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php?topic=58059.0;wap2

A lot of you probably already know this OR at the very least suspect it to be so. I recently made a long drive to pick up a R1100RT in Omaha, NE. I had told a friend of mine that I managed to borrow a small trailer with one of those tall expanded metal tailgates. He advised me to either lay it down or at least angle it at 45* if at all possible as it would cause a lot more drag than I might expect even though expanded metal gives the appearance of being mostly air. I have known this individual to be very wise and always trusted his advice (but didn't always follow it).

Well in this particular instance I was pretty sure he knew what he was talking about, but I wanted gather some data to have "imperical" evidence that what he had told me was in fact true. What I nor he realized was just how much drag an expanded metal tailgate really caused. This trailer was a 5' X 8' with the tailgate being 5' tall and served as a loading ramp that was always handy. To gather my data, I started with a full tank of gas and set out for Omaha. Right off the bat I could tell the trailer made a pretty noticeable difference as the car shifted down into passing much more frequently than it did without the trailer. That's to be expected when you start towing a trailer with a small car though.

I got to Dodge City, KS and stopped for gas 208 miles into the trip. It took 11.8 gallons; resulting mileage, 17.6 mpg. At that point we removed the tailgate and strapped it down flat on the bed of the trailer. From Dodge City we then drove to Salina 271 miles away under pretty much identical conditions considering wind, hills, etc. The fill up in Salina was a real eye-opener; 9.158 gallons for 29.6mpg. That's a full 12mpg difference simply by eliminating the drag produced by a tailgate that appears as though it would let most of the air pass right through it -- NOT!!!!

The return trip with the bike on the trailer and the gate still strapped down (the PO had a loading ramp) yielded 24.5mpg.
 
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