A chum of mine from work would like to buy an old British twin, Triumph, BSA etc that he might use to go to a rally occasionally. He would like a runner but doesn’t mind if it requires a bit of work on its presentation.

If you’ve got such a machine kicking around in the shed gathering dust and would like to realise some capital please give me a ring on 01 737 210 665 or email: steve@nuenergy.co.uk

Motorcycle Trailers. Have you noticed that there are quite a few of these around since the British government lifted the ban on solos pulling a trailer in 1984? My brother Roger in Australia has had a trailer for many years and he and his wife go off to weekend rally’s with their BBQ, beer in a cooler, tent, awning, stove, cook ware, food, beer, seats, collapsible cleaning bucket, folding chairs, water supplies, pump up air beds, air pump etc.

Roger tells me that pulling a well designed and loaded trailer enables a bike to handle much better than an overloaded bike which will have a much higher centre of gravity. A trailer can also help provide stability in high winds and cross winds from lorries.

The average pair of panniers and a top box will hold about 80 litres whereas for about twice the price you can get up to 550 litres of trailer space! Score one for trailers in cost per cubic space. You can lock a lot more stuff away securely in a trailer than in panniers and you can have enough room to bring along the thickest sleeping bags, camp beds and surely as much extra clothing, make up and shoes as even a woman can want when living in a field!

Among other things the law says that in the UK to tow a trailer:-

The bike must exceed 125 cc

Trailer & load must not exceed 150 kg

Maximum width of trailer is 1 metre

Maximum length of trailer is 2.5 metres from the bike rear wheel spindle

Trailer & bike must show unladen weight

Top speed is 60mph anywhere

Lighting regs are as per other trailers

These rules indicate a few draw backs, namely,

Trailers are wider than most bikes, (but not my Harley)

The overall length of bike & trailer will be about 5.5 metre, so less easy to park than a solo

The weigh will reduce the brakes effectiveness

The weight and wind drag will increase the fuel consumption, (off set by a slower top speed?)

The weight will reduce acceleration past slower vehicles

Now, Sue and I are not exactly keen campers, but we thought we might become so if we had a trailer to carry some of the essentials of life such as my brother takes. So we thought we’d have a look around to see what the UK has on offer in the way of trailers.

The first thing I noted is that they are few second hand trailers for sale so it looks as if people hang on to them. For an imported trailer, eg Harley Davidson or BMW, you’ll pay a lot more per cubic foot of carrying capacity than if you buy one from Watsonian-Squire in Gloucestershire. Many of us will remember Watsonian for the distinctive sidecars which they still make. Searching the internet this is the only UK trailer company I could find. The others must be either non-internet listed or elusive enough to hide from my various search engines. In either case they need to get up to date or lose business!

Last week Sue and I dropped into Watsonian and were given a conducted tour of the factory and I must say we were very impressed. We may even order a nice red one to go behind the softail. Watch this space!

Steve Whitmore