Motorcycle trailer

General purpose enclosed trailers, as seen in the photo above left, have the advantage of providing a more secure way of locking up the motorcycles contained within it, keeping them out of sight, and protecting them from all kinds of weather.

Conversely, an enclosed motorcycle-specific trailer can be built low enough so that wind resistance is reduced.

The basic motorcycle trailer design consists of a fixed platform mounted above one or more axles, which requires the motorcycle be loaded by physically lifting it or rolling it up a ramp onto the platform, potentially a difficult problem when dealing with a heavy touring machine or one that has been disabled.

Since the latter half of the 20th century a number of different trailer styles have been devised to make loading motorcycles on them easier.

Broadly, such designs include: Trailers towed behind motorcycles are distinguished by their relatively small size, especially narrow wheelbase.

Having just one wheel, these trailers are attached to the towing vehicle by a hitch that has only two degrees of freedom — pitch and yaw.

When properly attached, the coupler will have limited movement, swiveling mainly right and left as well as tilting slightly.

This mechanism is engineered to rotate on the vertical axis so as to eliminate the possibility of coupler binding.

As a result, the motorcyclist is able to lean into a turn as far as necessary at high speeds while keeping the trailer upright.

[2] Making a turn on a single-track vehicle such as a two-wheeled motorcycle requires the driver to lean the bike.

Without the ability to freely rotate on a vertical axis, the coupler will bind and the trailer will jack-knife or flip.

[1] However, the standard car type "ball and socket" couplings used in the United Kingdom are perfectly adequate for two wheeled motorcycles providing plenty of lean angle.