Trailers - Tips or Problems??

[ST Aussie]

Greetings from Oz.

Have long been toying with the idea of attaching a trailer and heading of camping.

Was wondering if there are any pitfalls or problems involved in hooking up a trailer. Every one I speak to says "you wont know its there" or words to that effect, which is encouraging.

I guess what I would like to know is if there are any problems such as electrical or ABS problems. I thought I read somewhere there was a potential problem with trailer electrics reacting with ABS systems. Maybe it was another bike. (Hows that for conviction - may not even been an ST) Whatever, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Peter

 

[Imrubicon]

Im still in the process of wiring myself and am watching this issue .
Will it mess with the ABS system ?
Any one have pics of wiring to tap into ?

 

[Mellow]

When people say 'I don't even know it's back there' well, some of that is true... once you start moving at typical speeds, it's not all that apparent it's back there...

You will always notice the trailer when braking... not a lot.. but you have to understand it's back there and it wants to push you.. even on the Uni-go I had on my '01 wing, your braking was affected... was it affected a lot? No, just a little.. now, a heavier trailer will affect you braking more.

Taking off from a stop will be affected depending on your trailer weight.. I did not notice the uni-go when accelerating as it's total weight w/gear might be similar to having a passenger and saddlebags/trunk full... so, you might notice it and you might not..

ABS - I have never heard of any Wing or ST which has ABS and has had brake problems due to pulling a trailer... Now, I have heard of wrecks on non-abs bikes when pulling a trailer and having to stop quickly... once the rear tire locks up... the trailer is still pushing... and, I've heard from others that abs would have helped in that situation... So, I feel if you are going to pull a trailer you should have a bike w/abs.. again, just my opinion and there will be others that agree and disagree but, to address your question, my '01 wing had abs and I never had an issue pulling the uni-go.

Hope that helps. Motomac has an ST and pulls a uni-go as well as a bunkhouse camper trailer which is probably one of the heaviest... he's in ONSTOC now, or on his way, so when he gets back he'll have some info for you.

 

[ParkerBill]

During last December's first FL-SToc ride, one of the guys from CT, George, I think it was, was pulling a small trailer behind his ST1300 and hopefully he will respond to your thread. All I can say is, he had absolutely no apparent problem in negotiating the twisties with the rest of us who were not pulling trailers. I was quite amazed!

 

[Diggers1300]

I also pull a Uni-go and have about 35k miles on it. (Original tire too!) Would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to pull a trailer. I have pulled it in a wide variety of situations (sunny, hot, cold, rain, hail, gravel, slow, fast, straight-a-ways, switchbacks, etc.). Heck it doesn't even affect gas mileage that much. The ONLY drawback is having to drop part of the hitch when changing the rear tire! (PITA)

 

[Imrubicon]

Im more interested in if splicing the trailer into the brakes affect the ABS due to electrical load or lack of it ?

 

[Mellow]

You aren't splicing into the abs system, just the brake lights.. There are many trailer isolator harnesses but those are really to take the load off the lighting system so you don't blow a fuse and loose all your lights because of the trailer...

Here's some info from Lewis at electricalconnection.com the Wing has a nice plug and play setup.... you might want to email him to see if he'd consider doing one for the ST as well.

http://www.electricalconnection.com/wire-harnesses/hrns-trailer.htm

 

[dond]

Im more interested in if splicing the trailer into the brakes affect the ABS due to electrical load or lack of it ?

I built a simple relay farm and all juice to the trailer goes through that. Used a RS project box and 4 relays (STop, tail, r-t, l-t). The only load on the bike's wiring is what it takes to power the relays. All electrons flow from the battery.
I have a 1990 Bushtec that's been on several bikes and it has been almoST 100 pc reliable.