One bike, or a garage worth of them
Most people shopping for a motorcycle trailer are solving one of two very different problems. Either you want to get a single bike to a rally twice a summer, or you want somewhere the bikes live all winter that can also move them. Those lead to different trailers, and the second one is why so many riders end up in an enclosed box. What we have in Holland is listed below.
Setting a trailer up so the bikes arrive upright
Weight is rarely the limiting factor with motorcycles. The constraints are geometry and restraint: where the bike sits, how steep the climb is to get it there, and what you tie it to once it arrives.
Plan the floor before you pick the trailer
Decide how many bikes and where they sit, then check that the trailer you are looking at can actually accommodate that layout. Two bikes side by side need more width than most people assume once you account for handlebars, which is why staggering them front to back is so common. Draw it out. A floor plan that works on paper before you buy saves discovering on the day that the second bike will not clear the wheel well.
E-track is the thing to ask about
A row of horizontal E-track along each wall, and ideally L-track in the floor, turns a fixed layout into an adjustable one. Chocks, straps and tie-down rings all slide to where you need them and lock in place, so the trailer can carry one bike centered this weekend and three staggered next. Retrofitting track into a finished trailer is possible but fiddly. Specifying it at order time costs very little.
A sixteen foot enclosed trailer is a winter building
Once a trailer is enclosed and long enough to walk around in, it stops being just transport. It is dry storage for the bikes, the stands, the spares and the gear, and it keeps all of that out of a garage that probably has other plans. If you are weighing an open deck against an enclosed trailer and the open one is cheaper, count what the enclosed one saves you in storage before you decide it is expensive.
Security is part of the specification
An enclosed trailer parked outside with bikes in it is a target, and the factory latch on a ramp door is not the last word in security. Ask about a puck lock or a hidden hasp, think about where the trailer will sit overnight on a trip, and check with your insurer what they expect before you need to find out. A wheel lock on the coupler costs very little and removes the easiest theft of all.
If it is one weekend a year, rent instead
Buying a trailer to use twice makes less sense than it feels like it does at the time, once you add storage, registration and the winter it spends sitting. We run a rental fleet in Holland, and for a single trip it is usually the cheaper and simpler answer. Call with your dates and we will tell you what is free.
Questions we get about bike trailers
It depends on the trailer width and the bikes, because handlebars take more room than the tires suggest. Staggering the bikes front to back is very common for that reason. Work out the layout before you choose the trailer rather than after.
It is a rail along the wall or floor that chocks, straps and tie-down rings clip into and lock. It lets you change the layout whenever the load changes. Adding it at order time is cheap and retrofitting it is fiddly, so ask for it up front.
If the trailer will also be winter storage for the bikes and the gear, usually yes. If you only ever move one bike to a couple of events a year, an open deck is lighter, cheaper and easier to load.
A coupler lock stops the easiest theft. Beyond that, ask about a puck lock or hidden hasp for the rear door, think about where the trailer is parked overnight, and check what your insurer expects before you need to claim.
Yes, we run a rental fleet. For a single trip it is often cheaper than buying once you count storage and registration. Call with your dates and we will check availability.