Trailer Build

Here are some photos of what mods I have completed so far on the trailer. I put a coat of clear polyurethane on the rear ramp and the inside of the side door to make them look better and to weatherproof them. I will probably put a second coat on soon. The carpet is from Lowes and is a commercial grade. I glued it down in a few places and also secured it with the aluminum trim strips. The Pit Bull trailer restraints will also be installed in a few days further securing the carpet. The cabinets have not been made yet but when finished will be installed at the front along with a wardrobe cabinet to hold my leathers. The ceiling will also be insulated and finished with plywood painted white. I will be finishing the walls with white glossy luan when the wiring for the interior lighting has been installed. I also trimmed along the bottom of the walls with 1×4′s. All of the screws used so far for the wooden trim and aluminum carpet trim are stainless steel.

Today I got a chance to install the Pit Bull Restraint system in the trailer. Very easy to do once I had the measurements done on where to bolt down the base plate. I rolled my Corse and my nephew’s GSXR into the back of the trailer to get a tongue weight. The trailer weighs empty at 2100 pounds. With the bikes and gear the weight will be around 3000 pounds total so I am looking for approximately 300 pounds of tongue weight on the hitch. I used a heavy duty bathroom scale under the tongue and moved the bikes to a position where the scale read 200 pounds. When the gear and cabinets are installed up front, they will add about another 100 pounds to the tongue so I should be good to go. I also added a Pingle wheel chock for the front wheel just to keep it in-line and to give me a target when rolling the bike in so the pins on the rear line up with the Pit Bull locks. My nephew will be getting another Pit Bull restraint for his bike later. I will install another Pingle wheel chock for his bike next week along with locking channels along each wall. The restraint system is absolutely perfect. The bike is steady and no sign at all of being un-secure. I know because I had a buddy drive the truck and trailer with the Corse loaded while I sat in the trailer. Bumps, curves, braking, or accelerating did not upset the bike at all. Very nice not to have to use any straps anymore. Here is a video from SportBikeTrackGear showing how to use the system.

The two locks that catch the bar that is attached to the swing arm detach from the base plate when you don’t need them. This leaves the base plate almost flush with the floor so you don’t trip over it when walking around in the trailer. The front wheel chock also snaps away. Wish I would have thought of this thing. Could have made a few bucks for sure. Stay tuned for the cabinets and ceiling installs soon.

Finally finished the bike tie downs and chocks. I bought two five foot lengths of aluminum railing and the D-Rings that snap in place. I cut the rails to the lengths I needed and bolted them down with galvanized bolts. Much cheaper than stainless. The first photo shows the D-Ring and the second is it mounted on the rail. You just push the plunger down then slide the thing forward until it locks. You can position the rings away where you want on the rails to fit different bikes. Pretty nice. The trailer is set up now for two bikes side by side but I will also be installing an additional chock to carry a third bike in front of and between the others.