Well Max, I hope you're bagging it
Written: Apr 23 '05 (Updated Apr 05 '06)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Cheap, sturdy and takes up virtually no room
Cons: None I can think of
The Bottom Line: -
|
|
|
| carnut2k4's Full Review: Trailer In a Bag |
Carnut’s Got a Brand New Bag
What if your bike breaks down? What if you have to transport it, but you need to take your car too? It boils down to just a couple of options. You can always pay an expensive transport company to haul your bike or you can haul it yourself. I don’t much like the idea of handing the Hog over to some nimrod with a clipboard so I choose to tow my bike myself when the occasion arises. So now the choice was ‘what kind of trailer should I get?’
Bike trailers come in a lot of flavors. An enclosed trailer would take up most of my garage so that wasn’t reasonable. The open trailers that are ‘fixed’ wouldn’t do me much good either. I started investigating folding trailers which basically have one joint that allows the trailer to ‘stand up’ against a wall – but even those gobble up a bunch of floor space. Then I stumbled upon Trailer in a bag.
A Bag of American Ingenuity
When I first got my ‘Bag’ I was sure it wouldn’t fit in the trunk of my car (a 1999 Saab 9-5 at the time). At something under five feet long with a diameter of around eighteen inches I was impressed with the Saab’s ability to swallow it up without having to lay the rear seat down to extend the trunk room. At home I pulled the 140 pound black canvas bag from the trunk and started putting it together. Without reading the directions I assembled it (correctly) in around five minutes. It’s amazingly simple. It breaks down just as quickly and the heaviest individual piece is thirty three pounds. The smart thing to do is put the canvas bag in your trunk or closet or wherever you will be keeping it and then load it in place. It’s easier than loading it and then dragging the full weight of it around.
Construction
The several pieces are constructed of boxed steel lengths. Three lengths have an aluminum track secured to it – this is where the bike goes. The front piece of the track has a 2 inch coupler and the rear section is where the ramp (same construction) attaches while loading or unloading the bike. The wheels connect via boxed steel lengths which add up to a nice, wide 60 inches between the wheels for stability. Brake/blinker lights attach to the rear ‘axle’ and connect with a standard seven pin adaptor. No brakes are available (or needed). A steel step attaches to the left side of the track while loading the bike and serves as a place to put the kickstand while tying the bike down. All of these sections connect by inserting the narrower steel structure (male) into the corresponding larger steel structure (female). Line up the holes in the sides of the steel and push one of the locking steel pins through and voila! You have a trailer.
Loading her up
The manufacturer suggests an easy way of loading your bike on this trailer by yourself. Put the trailer together and attach it to your car. Line up your motorcycle with the ramp and ride it up in a quick, controlled burst. As your feet leave the ground (as you ascend) extend your legs so your feet find the rear axle. As your feet hit, your bike should be all the way on the trailer. Keeping your right foot on the axle, use your left foot to put down the kickstand onto that step that you have waiting in place. I don’t have that much faith so I simply walk it up the ramp by standing on the left side of the bike with it running and finessing the gas and clutch until she walks herself up onto the trailer. Then I have a friend, or even my wife, pull the kickstand down while I have the clutch and brake levers pulled in. I then climb up, find neutral and shut her down.
Tying her down is easy enough. Tie down locations can be found on the front track section and the rear axle. I prefer the ratchet type tie downs personally. I install them loosely and then get on the bike to finish the job. When sitting on the bike you want to snug the straps down to the point where the suspension is about half way compressed. This is a trailer without a suspension of its own so by doing this the trailer actually uses your bike’s suspension during the trip. A nifty little design, in my opinion. After snugging the rear the front should be tightened down to keep the bike in place but not as far as the rear. The front suspension plays no part during the trip. After she’s all secure remove the side step and ramp and install the lights and remember to always cross those auxiliary chains when towing anything.
On the road
Trailer in a bag performs like a champ. Your instinct may tell you that a gimmicky product like this will not perform as well as one of the ‘standard’ trailers but I’m here to tell you it does. The wide track of the tires makes handling more secure than you expect. To keep the trailer level you’ll want your hitch no higher than 12 inches from the ground. The trade off is the low height allows the V shaped stand attached to the bottom of the front most piece of the track to scrape the ground at every dip in the road (like every time you pull in and out of a gas station driveway). My solution was to simply cut that useless part off. The six ply ‘C’ rated tires are filled to eighty pounds and the manufacturer implores you not to exceed 65 MPH with these tires. I bought this trailer two years ago and immediately towed my bike to Myrtle Beach for bike week which is about six hundred miles from my home. I was cruising at eighty or eighty five most of the way with no indication that I was exceeding the ability of these tires. The trailer is rock solid and truthfully feels more solid than other traditional trailers that I’ve used. That Saab, with its four banger and front wheel drive, towed it just fine with a class II hitch! When I arrived I simply backed the bike off (a definite one person undertaking) and then opened the canvas bag in the trunk and started to break down the trailer and load it in the bag. Five minutes later I had my car, a bike and no trailer to deal with. Nirvana.
Mixed bag
A few things to keep in mind. This is basically a maintenance free trailer but there’s a few things to keep your eye on. Monitor your tire pressure and keep an eye on the lights. I found the bulbs break easily when in the bag – not on the road. They’re easy enough to change though. Some may find the length of the ramp inadequate and Wellmax has responded by making longer ramps available. Pricing seems to vary quite a bit too. These trailers are distributed through motorcycle dealers but seeing as how they’re manufactured just down the road from me in Pompano Beach, Florida I decided to drive to the shop and pick mine up personally. I met Bob and the guys at Wellmax and was even given a tour of their bike shop where they were assembling a slew of high dollar custom choppers. I paid $500 for my Trailer in a Bag and have seen them as high as twelve hundred dollars at some dealerships. My advice would be to call the manufacturer and buy direct.
Trailer in a Bag is an essential for the rider who doesn’t have enough space to keep a full sized trailer. This will stand up to any road trip you could dream up and is small enough to hide in the back of your closet for the rest of the year. What could be better than that?
Trailer in a Bag
Wellmax Industries
180 SW 5th Street
Pompano Beach, FL 33060
(800) 278-8387
www.trailerinabag.com
* This is a titled vehicle that will require registration and a license plate and possibly insurance depending on where you live.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
carnut2k4
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Jason
Location: in the wind
Reviews written: 99
Trusted by: 59 members
About Me:
Muscle Shoals has got The Swampers
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.