Jules083
Active member
So as we all know plans seem to change daily sometimes. At least with me. Last winter I built a trailer to pull behind my Harley Road King, with plans of maybe buying a hitch for the FJR later. Well now the Road King is gone, and has been replaced by a Dyna. So I'm left with a 2 wheeled trailer that is proven to work well, and no way to pull it with the dyna. The dyna is also the bike more likely to be 2-up toured on, and has less luggage room than the FJR. So I need to come up with something.
The plan now is to build another trailer this winter, a one-wheeled type. It will connect to the Harley through the axle. This is a proven set-up by many, and is also impossible on the FJR because we don't have hollow axles. I'll also be building an axle hitch for my GSX-R, but that's beside the point here. Logically a one-wheel trailer should allow for a bit faster riding and less of a 'towing' feel, but I'm not positive as I've never pulled one. I've seen pics of FJR's pulling both, so the bike seems willing and able.
I'm left with quite a few options here, and aren't real sure which way to go. The 2 wheeled trailer is paid for and probably has a pretty low re-sale value, so I'm not against keeping it and having both trailers.
-I could put a normal ball hitch on the FJR, and use the 2 wheeled trailer on it and the one wheel on everything else.
-Buy a FJR hitch and adapt it for use with my future-built one wheel. Shouldn't be too hard to adapt, but would take some work due to having a different style of pivot points.
-Buy an FJR hitch and make a bolt-on adapter for the one wheel, but have it able to use the ball also for the trailer I already own. This is the most complicated option, and for some reason the most appealing. I'm not sure why I would ever want different trailer options, but the 2 wheeled is bigger for sure. Perhaps more useful for grocery shopping, or if I'm 2-up going on vacation maybe, or if a few of us are going for a trip and nobody has luggage room? (That has happened to me several times, and once the girlfriend's dad ended up driving the car while the rest of us took bikes because I was the only one with bags)
Another question, what hitches are you single wheel guys using? The forces are a bit different, so that's something to consider. Not a lot of twisting force on a ball set-up like a single wheel design. I'm confident in my ability to make a hitch, but would need to at least see a detailed picture of a home-built unit. I don't want to re-invent the wheel here.
Here's a few pics of the design I'm copying to build. It pivots left and right on the upright portion with internal bearings, and up and down in the axle itself. The FJR would need a different sort of adapter, probably a truck-style universal joint.
Here's the trailer I built last winter. Typical build, a shortened and narrowed Harbor freight frame with a car topper:
Here's the new bike. Note the lack of luggage space. There is now a passenger seat and backrest added, but not much else:
The plan now is to build another trailer this winter, a one-wheeled type. It will connect to the Harley through the axle. This is a proven set-up by many, and is also impossible on the FJR because we don't have hollow axles. I'll also be building an axle hitch for my GSX-R, but that's beside the point here. Logically a one-wheel trailer should allow for a bit faster riding and less of a 'towing' feel, but I'm not positive as I've never pulled one. I've seen pics of FJR's pulling both, so the bike seems willing and able.
I'm left with quite a few options here, and aren't real sure which way to go. The 2 wheeled trailer is paid for and probably has a pretty low re-sale value, so I'm not against keeping it and having both trailers.
-I could put a normal ball hitch on the FJR, and use the 2 wheeled trailer on it and the one wheel on everything else.
-Buy a FJR hitch and adapt it for use with my future-built one wheel. Shouldn't be too hard to adapt, but would take some work due to having a different style of pivot points.
-Buy an FJR hitch and make a bolt-on adapter for the one wheel, but have it able to use the ball also for the trailer I already own. This is the most complicated option, and for some reason the most appealing. I'm not sure why I would ever want different trailer options, but the 2 wheeled is bigger for sure. Perhaps more useful for grocery shopping, or if I'm 2-up going on vacation maybe, or if a few of us are going for a trip and nobody has luggage room? (That has happened to me several times, and once the girlfriend's dad ended up driving the car while the rest of us took bikes because I was the only one with bags)
Another question, what hitches are you single wheel guys using? The forces are a bit different, so that's something to consider. Not a lot of twisting force on a ball set-up like a single wheel design. I'm confident in my ability to make a hitch, but would need to at least see a detailed picture of a home-built unit. I don't want to re-invent the wheel here.
Here's a few pics of the design I'm copying to build. It pivots left and right on the upright portion with internal bearings, and up and down in the axle itself. The FJR would need a different sort of adapter, probably a truck-style universal joint.
Here's the trailer I built last winter. Typical build, a shortened and narrowed Harbor freight frame with a car topper:
Here's the new bike. Note the lack of luggage space. There is now a passenger seat and backrest added, but not much else:
