[mountainman]

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Does anyone know how much weight my 89 1500 Wing can pull safely? We have a tent trailer that has quite abit of storage space available, as we are planning a 6000 mile trip next year my wife wants to take everything. Your comments (educated or not) would be appreciated

 

[johnc]

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Hi Mountainman,

We took our GL1200 on a 6500 km trip recently towing a small/medium cargo trailer.

My conclusion from that trip is that less is better! Obviously there is a sensible limit and once you go too far it's just horrible. We were forced to stop from 100 kph to avoid hitting an Emu and the trailer extended the stopping distance to the point that I thought we were goners. Luckily we got away with it, but I decided at that point that the trailer will only be lightly loaded from now on.

All the best,
John

 

[English Bob]

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There's a rule of thumb which says the trailer should not be more than half the weight of the bike, and that is trailer plus contents.

It also needs to be loaded correctly so that there is sufficient weight on the hitch, but not too much.

Can't remember off-hand what a typical tongue weight is, I daresay someone will chip in with that info before too long.

 

[fysty-1]

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English Bob wrote:

There's a rule of thumb which says the trailer should not be more than half the weight of the bike, and that is trailer plus contents.

It also needs to be loaded correctly so that there is sufficient weight on the hitch, but not too much.

Can't remember off-hand what a typical tongue weight is, I daresay someone will chip in with that info before too long.

I believe it is 25# on the hitch.

 

[agnogel]

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hi mountain man i made my own trailerearleryear and went for a 5000mile trip around spainbefore i left i ran the bike and trailer for a couple of weeks with concrete blocks loaded until i got the weight i was happy withthen took it over a weight bridgeso when i loaded all the gear i weight it again and it was 50kg under the first weight never even new it was behind me

 

[JBz]

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dont know about the weight but I have towed a smaller trailer across the USA and traveled with people hauling living quarters type trailers. Like posted above and from my experience BRAKES and BRAKES. a trailer can push ya a lot further than you think..JB

 

[crazzyrman]

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when i put the hitch on my gl1500i so i could carry a cooler rack the info i found said maximum tougne weight was 40# & the tougne weight should be 10% of the total trailer weight so no more than 400# trailer & its cargo.

personally if i was going to run with 300# or more trailer, i would probally put a trailer brake controller on the bike & have brakes installed on the trailer. i'd rather have the trailer draging from to much brakes than pushing me in a panic stop.

 

[82gl1100iWingman]

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All I can say it becareful when braking in a corners with a loaded trailer. It will have a tendency to push the bike sideways.

 

[Ghost Rider 2]

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I tow a small piggy back fiberglass trailer. This summer on the Calhoun trip. I had about 150 pounds in it. The trailer is about 125. I saw several other trailers that had to be twice what mine was. I have no problems towing but as said above. Even with my little 250/ 275 pound rig it can push a little in the corners. I always wanted a motorcycle pop up camp trailer. Not anymore.