Trailer hitch

[Z06]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

I agree. I would not mount to swingarm. The six that I have built have the main hoop mounted to rider foot peg mounts and to subframe at grab handle mount. Some with Bushtec pin and some with 1 7/8 ball.

 

[avc8130]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

I agree. I would not mount to swingarm. The six that I have built have the main hoop mounted to rider foot peg mounts and to subframe at grab handle mount. Some with Bushtec pin and some with 1 7/8 ball.

Six?!?!?! Sonofagun, wish I saw this possibility sooner!

I guess I need to learn what is better...the ball or the pin (that sounded pretty dirty).

ac

 

[Z06]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

Six?!?!?! Sonofagun, wish I saw this possibility sooner!

I guess I need to learn what is better...the ball or the pin (that sounded pretty dirty).

ac

Not sure one is better than other. Bushtec's setup is lighter and their trailers are setup with a swivel which is good when the bike falls over with the trailer attached. You can also buy a swivel joint to bolt into the tongue with a ball type hitch. Ball type is much more common on trailers.

 

[OldRider]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

I had a problem with the trailer binding up on sharp turns on my Goldwing. I started to go for the swivel hitch until I was at a True Value hardware store and they had a 1 7/8 ball with a very skinny neck. After I changed the ball, you could drag the pegs and the trailer didn't bind up.

 

[saltcreep]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

I don't know, I was just tonight, looking at trying to fit a hitch from a 91 Venture on my FJR or Tenere, and I compared it on both, the width and secure points would be very different.

I was pretty close on the FJR, but the Tenere is just a different animal. It would mean bending the hitch out a bit , and some other radical changes, I'm not sure it would be worth it considering an FJR hitch is 300-400 by itself.

 

[Red dust]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

I`m thinking the same way as Avc8130.
I just got a WR250R as well which is another awesome bike and can not praise it enough. A trailer behind the ST with the little WR250R would be great

 

[becoyote]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

I'm one of the lucky 6 to have one of Z's hitches. Very well made. The only downside is that I am having to mod my centerstand because the foot lever interferes with the hitch and doesn't allow the center stand to come up all the way. An easy fix though.

I also pulled on an FJR for about 10-15k. The FJR was a better vehicle for pulling but the Tenere will be okay. The traction control will be a bonus. The only pucker moment I ever had on the FJR was a heavy trailer trying to push the ass end of the bike in a corner.

WR is about 275 wet plus the weight of the trailer. I'd say that is high end of what should be pulled and more than I would do personally.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

The welder has been tied up and hasn't finished his quote for me/us. Design-wise, the original thought was to attach the hitch to the passenger foot pegs and limit the weight to something small like a single wheel UniGo. Unfortunately, that is NOT what people want. From the responses I've gotten, my initial thought was to change the draw point in the design to be like Becoyote's photo. This was because of how much weight people wanted to pull.


I may still build myself a hitch, but am backing out of doing this as a product to sell others. Sorry folks, but too many people are going to over-gross the load. Even if THEY don't want to, sooner or later they will sell the bike and hitch to somebody else who very well may.



The rule of thumb for trailers is 1/3 of GVWR. According to the owners manual, the bike is 575 lbs and may be loaded with 461 lbs, for a GVWR total of 1036 lbs. A third would be a maximum 345 lb trailer.


Using two of you as examples, you wrote that you just want to be able to pull a WR250R and one mentioned using the smallest lightest Harbor Freight trailer, which sounds easy. Look closer and that trailer is an open framework with a 40"X49" flat area, which people put plywood on, rails for motorcycles, etc. That trailer BARE is 130 lbs and a WR250R is 295, for a total load of 425 lbs. That's 23% over grossed, before you add the camping gear, cooler, tent, chairs, gas can, wife, and a half sheet of plywood decking.


Those are things that I can not control and I already know enough litigation attorneys.


Maybe somebody else wants to step up and do this one?

 

[saltcreep]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

345 is lot of weight, I was thinking max of 150-200 is what I'd be pulling.. maybe they were joking on the WR250?

Thanks for looking into it anyways.

 

[jmoore]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

Can't say I blame you, thanks for looking into it . jim

 

[oKLRider]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

.....one mentioned using the smallest lightest Harbor Freight trailer, which sounds easy. Look closer and that trailer is an open framework with a 40"X49" flat area, which people put plywood on, rails for motorcycles, etc. That trailer BARE is 130 lbs....

I've built one of the modified HF trailer kits, with cargo topper, as a project for my old man before. For toting a WR, they're probably beefed about right. Gear though? They're too damn beefy for me. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably just build my own (lighter) frame out of tubing.

If anyone is seriously interested, there's a trailer forum over on Delphi. They do all sorts of stuff, just like this. Their direction is what I based my project on. Let me if I can find a link... http://forums.delphiforums.com/MCTrailertowing

Edit for link ^^^

 

[oKLRider]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

I've built one of the modified HF trailer kits, with cargo topper, as a project for my old man before. For toting a WR, they're probably beefed about right. Gear though? They're too damn beefy for me. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably just build my own (lighter) frame out of tubing.

If anyone is seriously interested, there's a trailer forum over on Delphi. They do all sorts of stuff, just like this. Their direction is what I based my project on. Let me if I can find a link...

Not the best pic, but snipped from the only one I had on file. Tow vehicle is a Honda Valkyrie.:

Close-up of the trailer after it was handed back to me.
I stripped the topper off, and used it as a utility trailer to haul my 'pit' vehicle to the sand drags.: ;D

And an old pic of my eldest, trying it out. Did I pull her around the yard on it like that, you ask?
Sure did, but don't tell her mother! Erin's smile was priceless. ::008::

​

Would I feel comfortable hauling a WR250 on it? Let's put it this way, I just picked up a YZ426F, and I'm going to measure and make sure the wheelbase will fit. ::024::

 

[Checkswrecks]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

Go for it and have a ball. I really do mean that and am sure most of you would be able to benefit from one of these and apply some common sense.
Unfortunately, I get called as an expert witness enough to know how easy it is to find the idiots among us.
:

 

[Chuck B]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

Back in 96 I got a wild hair and purchased a then new Honda Valkyrie. For whatever reason I just a ball with that bike. Its one of the first bikes I modded not for racing but simply because I wanted to. Anyways, my better half got all excited one day and said she bought something for the Valk but wouldn't tell me. A few days later this enormous box shows up...inside was a Bushtec trailer. I wasn't exactly pleased....old guys with stuffed animals pull trailers.

Anyways, I got "that look" so went about seeing who sold a hitch for the bike.....no one had one. Heck, I'm an engineer so i can design one myself. Sat down and penciled one up. Just to be sure I sent my design to another engineer who had access to software for stress testing etc. He recommended a few changes then sent me the results. To say it was over designed was an understatement but the really cool thing it was completely hidden under the rear fender and was attached using existing four bolts/mounts. In fact, two of the bolts were retained and the other two required slightly longer.

Long story short is was way cheaper to have 50 or so mounts made then just a couple. I spoke with my attorney about what I was doing and planned on selling them. My thoughts were it would pay for more custom parts I wanted to do! He called me an idiot and I left thinking its overbuilt and only a real idiot could screw up the installation.

After selling a good 30 units I get a call from a guy who had issues with the hitch during his vacation. From his description I just couldn't wrap my arms around how it was failing....basically the ball portion would drop an inch or two. He'd loosen the bolts, move it back into position the re-tighten. Itd be fine for a while then it would drop. We talked a couple times and I still was confused on what happened.

I ended up jumping on a plane and visiting him in person. He takes me to the garage and shows me the hitch sitting on his tool bench. Its all twisted up. I running numbers in my head trying to calculate the force it took to twist up 3/16" stainless steel brackets that are 3" wide. Based on the twisting I determine that he only managed to get two bolts actually attached to the hitch...one in the front and one in the rear. As I'm standing there trying to understand how someone could not get four bolts installed correctly his wife enters the garage and hands me some pix of their trip. I'm left completely speechless by the first pix.

You've all seen those cheap flatbed 4x8 trailers sold at Home Depot? Yup, thats what he had attached to his bike. However, what left me speechless was what was loaded on it. I kid you not....Full size propane BBQ grill, giant cooler/ice chest, not one oversized suitcases but THREE! then of course sleeping bags, tents (yes tents as in more than one) and all the other camping items you'd have if you were driving a freaking 3/4 ton suburban. The trailer had to be heavier than the 850lb motorcycle.

I smiled and simply stated, I'm sorry this hitch didn't work out for you. Then I promptly handed him a full refund in cash, scooped up what was left of the hitch and headed for the airport. The next day I gave the remaining hitches to another Valkyrie owner who was all excited to start selling them. Never again did I make one of my products available for other owners.

 

[bvail]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

I've built one of the modified HF trailer kits, with cargo topper, as a project for my old man before. For toting a WR, they're probably beefed about right. Gear though? They're too damn beefy for me. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably just build my own (lighter) frame out of tubing.

If anyone is seriously interested, there's a trailer forum over on Delphi. They do all sorts of stuff, just like this. Their direction is what I based my project on. Let me if I can find a link... http://forums.delphiforums.com/MCTrailertowing

Edit for link ^^^

Thanks for the promo of MTTF. I host the forum, but unfortunately have yet to see any mention of hitches on S10s. I've pulled many different trailers in the last 15 years or so and some were HF kits. They do very well for what they were designed to do. I pulled one behind my FJR and could hardly tell it was back there, even in the twisties. Not so much my heavy Roll-a-Home which didn't get along with the FJR at all. I don't think that a bike of this type is easily fitted with a proper hitch, mostly due to the elevation of the frame. I purchased the FJR hitch from Classic Industries in OZ. Last time I checked, they had a hitch for the Tenere, but not the S10.
I didn't keep the S10 very long and sold it to a member of this Forum who lived fairly close. I had my reasons for letting mine go, but one of the big factors was the fact the a proper trailer hitch was unobtainium ATT. If one was available in the future, I would consider purchasing a new S10 - one with CC, etc.

 

[OldRider]

Re: Trailer Hitch for Tenere?

I sent an email out last week to all the trailer hitch makers I could find and so far I have only got one reply back. It was from Hitchdoc.

"Thank you for your recent inquiry concerning our hitches; however, I am sorry to inform you that we do not carry a hitch for your type of bike. If we plan on building hitch for your type of bike, I can contact you if you would like me too. We have to get enough request for a particular bike before we begin to build a hitch for it. Plus they have to be 1100 cc’s or larger due to your safety when pulling a trailer. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us at 1-800-446-8222 Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm CST."

 

[toompine]

Re: Towing a trailer with the Super Tenere?

Try this one

 

[Don in Lodi]

Re: Towing a trailer with the Super Tenere?

??? ::008::

 

[advswede1981]

Re: Towing a trailer with the Super Tenere?

Please don't... but if you do, promise you will post aftermath pics. Deal? ::017::

 

[martin_nj]

Re: Towing a trailer with the Super Tenere?

It would be cool to use the Super Tenere to tow the WR250R to an event.