Modifying a landscape trailer to haul motorcycles

I have a little 4x6ft landscaping trailer that I picked up at Home depot about seven years ago, which I use mostly for hauling my riding mower and the occasional pile of materials. However, wanting to do some dirty rides farther away from home, I've decided it may be better (at times) to trailer the bike instead of chewing the knobbies on the superslab. Since the trailer bed was so short that I had to park the bike on it diagonally, I decided to modify it a little.

At first, I was toying with the idea of enlarging the bed bu a foot, but I ultimately decided against it. Instead, I opted for cutting an opening in the railing up front, towards the tongue.

First, I pulled the tongue off and extended it by a foot. In the stock configuration, the trailer was way too short and kept cutting back whenever I was backing up with an empty trailer. This not only enlarged the wheelbase, but it also gave me enough room to do what I wanted to do.

With the tongue a foot longer, I cut an opening in the front rail, and welded a couple of pieces of angle steel to make sure it was stiff enough. Then I welded two 45-degree braces made out of 1 inch square stock between the outside corners and the tongue, and added a piece of 1/4 inch steel plate welded to the bottom rail, the tongue, and the two 45-degree braces.  

Once everything was ground nice and smooth, I painted the fabrication pieces and bolted on a cheap Harbor Freight wheel chock. I decided on the HF chock because it is self-locking, and works well with the 21 inch front wheel on my WRR. HF had it on sale this past weekend, and I ended up paying only $32 for the chock - at that price, I could not even make one at home. Of course, I changed their fasteners (came with grade 3 bolts) to  grade 8 bolts. The chock is bolted directly to the steel plate welded in place.

No more parking the bike diagonally! I believe that,set-up this way, the bike will trailer rather nicely.

I'll be testing this next weekend on my trip to NE Vermont.

Nelson Rigg review in photos - Dry Saddlebags on WR250R

With the awesome racks from moto-racks.com installed, it was time to get some soft luggage for my WR250R. Having been spoiled by hard luggage on my other bike, I wanted something a little roomier than the Wolfman Expedition bags. They are nice and all, but . . .

So, after some shopping around, reading numerous threads, and talking to the man behind moto-racks, I decided to try the Nelson Rigg Adventure Dry Sadlebags (survival edition) www.nelsonrigg.com.

The bags were ordered through my local dealer and arrived promptly, wrapped in a plastic bag. When I took them out, I immediately noticed their weight - for saddlebags, these babies have some meat on them. I inspected all seams and stitching, and was pleasantly surprised. The quality is there, and the construction should survive years of whatever I'll throw at them. On top of it, Nelson Rigg offers "no hassle" warranty, should something fail.

After reading some more threads, I wanted to do two things: install semi-rigid liners, AND fix the movement when mounted, some people have reported.

When I looked at the way NR wanted me to mount the bags, I immediately saw a way to improve things. The question was not "what" but "how". I called Nelson Rigg and asked to speak with their tech people. Half an hour later, I got a call back from a very pleasant gentleman, Scott. Kudos to the company for even talking with a consumer. Scott was very open-minded and listened patiently. Having someone at a large company to talk to me about my concerns definitely made me feel like they care to hear what their customers think.

At the time of the call, I wanted to stitch a second strap to the mounting strap, which would wrap around the luggage racks, but as things went along, I decided on  a much easier "fix". I even had the sewing machine out, but then the light bulb went off in my head. this is what i came with - a $2.00 fix per bag.

Now, not everyone wants to have the bags mounted semi-permanently. Me, on the other hand, hates taking things on and off. The buckles I purchased act as a secure, second D-ring, keeping the bags tight against the racks, even when the compression straps are loose. When off-roading, things move in the bags, and the last thing I would want on a trail is a bag loaded with clothes or camping gear flapping behind me.

So, the adjuster goes on the strap, then the strap goes around the rack, back through the adjuster, and out through the adjuster's top side, making it impossible to loosen itself.

Mounted like this, the bags stay pressed against the rack. The compression straps are then used only to compress the load, and have no effect on the bag's movement. Pretty good idea, if I may say so.

Next, I needed some sort of a liner. Various people use garbage cans that they cut short. Well, that's what i ended up doing as well, but instead of the Sterlite cans a lot of people use, I went with Rubbermaid commercial trash cans. Why? Simple - they are semi-rigid and quite bendable. When the bike takes a nap, these cans will just bend and soften the impact without cracking. Furthermore, when not fully loaded,  the top strap can compress the bag even with the can inside the bag.

Here is the Rubbermaid part number:

I cut them at 10"

And here it is inside the bag.

For a comparison, a bag with a 'liner" and a bag without a liner, side by side:

With the bags mounted, I ran the velcro straps under the sea, through some slots i cut out in the plastic:

Here is a shot of a bag with and without liner, on the bike:

Once the cans are removed, the bag compresses rather well, so I plan on keeping them on the bike all the time. When daytripping only, I will just tighten the compression straps so the bags are out of the way (or maybe run a second straps to compress it completely):

So, with all that done, it was time for a test ride. Essentially, I wanted to throw whatever I could at the bags, and see how they hold up. The plan was a 400 mile ride, but it ended up being only 300 miles, and it was not all dirt - thanks to me trying a new route, getting stuck in mud and wasting 2 hrs on a 10 mile loop only to have to backtrack because there was no way to go forward (trail ended at private yard), and a lot of trails that were on the map but no longer existed in reality. So, I threw in a little bit of superslab, some more pavement, and when I got back home I had 300 miles on the clock.

Before the ride:

To test things, one bag was fully loaded, while the other had only the "liner" in it.

I rode bouncy, frost-heaved pavement, dirt roads, some trails, superslab at 78MPH (per GPS) in strong side and head winds, and a plenty of gravel roads and Vermont twisties.

An easy trail - yes, that's water just ahead.

And another one about an hour later.

All in all, the bags kept content dry, did not move at all during the trip, and performed flawlessly.

Sorry, no picture of the real messy woods - too busy staying upright.

When I got home, I snapped a pic from each side, and the bags show some amazing ability to shed mud (on the outside), which is an added bonus:

This way, even after a messy ride, I don't have to deal with mud in all the closures. Even better yet, I can just unroll the top, grab the garbage can, and walk to my tent. That's plenty easy, even in the rain.

I have another 300-400 mile day planned for two weeks from now, and I will be bringing camping gear along, so both bags will be loaded. But I expect they will perform just as well as they did this time around.

I'm happy to recommend this product.

Also, if you are getting your racks from Moto-racks.com, Tom is a dealer for Nelson Rigg and other as well, offering special pricing on a rack/luggage combo. http://www.moto-racks.com/Adventure-Packages.html

With this latest addition and all the other stuff I had done to the bike recently, the little WR has turned into a serious adventure machine capable of carrying me anywhere in a relative comfort.  

Luggage for the WR250R

I just installed a set of Nelson Rigg Dry Sadlebags on my WR250R, but it is late at night and I have a big ride tomorrow, so the proper posts with pics has to wait a day or two.

Initial impression, however, is very, very favorable.

Tomorrow I'll throw the bike around a bit on the mostly dirt 400 mile ride, and I'll snap some pics in the daylight.

Britannia Fairing update

Well, it's been a few months since I finished my install of the Britannia Composites Lynx fairing on my WR250R.

For those not familiar with my installation, I went a different route, reinforced the dash, relocated my ignition switch, and did a bunch of other things to set it up the way I wanted it.

After a few rides it became clear that the stock brake line was not in the best location. While it was fine for riding, whenever the front wheel got off the ground, the line found its way between the ignition key and the instrument display.

To remedy this, I decided to turn the banjo bolt around, so now the line goes towards the crossbar instead of the dash. It is way better this way, and I would go as far as recommending this easy fix if you are installing the Lynx on your WRR.

While there, I also hooked up a 12V outlet to power whatever I may need to power. After looking at several 12V outlets that claimed to be water resistant, I ended up buying one made by Bell. This one has a thick foam gasket and the flip-top lid is spring-loaded, so it always seals securely.

I just crimped some connectors to the supplied wires, and connected those to the spare connection Britannia has installed in the wiring harness that came with the fairing. Britannia has two such connections - one is always on (that's the one I used for the plug) and one is on when the motor is running (that one powers my LED lights).

Here is how the brake line fits with the banjo turned around:

 

I also finally got luggage for the new racks - Nelson Rigg Dry Saddlebags. I'll be installing those soon.