Single Wheel Trailer Experience

[Denno]

Hi, just thought I would give anyone that is interested in purchasing a trailer for their Spyder a synopsis of my experience with a single wheel model. When I was doing research in looking for a trailer, I found very little first hand opinions regarding single wheel versions so I decided to write up my opinion based on my actual experience for anyone who may have thought about it to help with their decision. Before any alarms go off, let me first say that this is not a bias against 2 wheel trailers – I think they are great and have many advantages – this is only my experience with a single wheel model for those that may be considering that path. We always ride 2-up on the Spyder usually with luggage and like all our motorcycle and trike trips in the past, we are most always on the road for extended periods of time. As a result, we are pretty good at packing but now preferred a bit more room for those longer trips and space for things we might find along the way. This is our first experience pulling a trailer with a bike or trike so I can only compare this experience to not having a trailer at all.


We took this trailer on its first trip from our home in the Phoenix area, up through Utah, Colorado,Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, thru Canada to Nova Scotia, down through Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York,New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, then back tracking our route back to AZ. We put 8800 miles on it with 28 motel nights so we got a great chance to see how it performed on all kinds of road terrain(mountains, deserts, interstates, curvy back roads), multiple motel unpacking and packing, extreme heat to downpours to heavy cross winds to pleasantly warm and cool days.
We went with the single wheel version forseveral reasons:

1. The trailer wheel follows in the same track as the rear tire – nice if I have to quickly avoid something in my path (bumps or debris). I already have 3 tracks, I did not want 5.
2. Its much lighter than most 2 wheel trailers and much narrower – can put it in your hotel room f you like for the night or for cloverleaf style trips.
3. We don't camp so we did not need all the extra space a two wheel version offers, just more space to ease packing for extended trips.
4. I wanted something that stores easily when not in use and takes up little space in the garage.
5. Just in case we do a 2 wheel trip in the future, I like the idea of a single wheel that will lean with the bike.

When it came to selecting a brand, the dominant one out there seemed to be Unigo. I originally ordered from them but after 12 weeks of waiting and nothing but excuses in giving me a ship date, I canceled and went with thirdwheeltrailers.com out of Canada (Toronto area). I received it in time for our trip and actually came to prefer it over the Unigo for several reasons – all aluminum frame, torsion bar suspension, and easier loading. I got the CP550 model which holds 5.5 cubic feet (155 liters) – they also have a CP650. I only included 1 pic since their website contains multiple photos if you are interested.
It was shipped to me inside a plywoodbox, completely assembled, and very well protected. Shipping ranabout $400 to AZ. They kept me well informed of the progress of myorder and actual shipping took less than a week.

I find the build quality to be very good but the paint finish could be improved –not as glossy as I prefer although I may do a little buffing on it now that were back from the trip and that should bring out the shine.It trails behind the trike perfectly – you literally don't even know its there – and the suspension works great on all types of terrain. It handled heavy cross winds with no problem and is very aerodynamic in its shape. Gas mileage hit was actually negligible. We carried about 40 pounds or less of gear in it so we were pulling about 160 pounds total (rated 180 GVWR). Braking was easy too as that is not much weight pushing you. It only has a 10 inch tire so I kept my speed at a max of 75 when we did have to do freeways, especially on very hot days. I did hit 85 a couple times passing trucks but would never keep that kind of speed – just being sensitive to the smaller tire rpms and besides that, we prefer safer and more relaxing speeds anyway.
A couple of interesting observations:

1. We never put the trailer in our motel room as expected. Its so easy to just unload onto a luggage cart that we just kept it attached (locked to the hitch).
2. You can't see the trailer in your mirrors without doing some gymnastics so every once and a while I would look at our shadow on the road just to give me a comfort feeling it was there.
3. Its pretty easy to back up – it reacts quickly to turns so it only takes a minute to get the hang of it.
4. A 3 ft cargo net makes loading above the opening very easy. Packing modules are perfect for packing he trailer – we had about 10 of them from amazon – various sizes.
5. The fact that the Spyder hitch is axle mounted and it then causes the trailer hitch/tongue connection to take a beating – well – I think that is a non-issue - better to worry about alien invasion or something else. The trailer connection and corresponding U-Joint remained tight and are in perfect condition with no signs of wear.
6. The trailer tire is motorcycle style so since there is no leaning, the wear pattern is on the center of the tire only. But, given the light weight on the tire, it wears very little – I am guessing I will get about 22 to 25k miles out of it.

So to sum it up, we were thoroughly impressed with the trailer. It gave us more luggage space and room for a larger cooler which allowed more lunch picnics on the roadside than we could do in the past. If you need or want some extra space and you don't need the extra space of a 2 wheel trailer, than I would seriously consider this option. We are glad we did.


On a secondary topic, our 2016 RT wasflawless on the trip. I put a Cooper tire on the rear just beforeleaving and it still looks like new. I ran about 26psi and the triketracked perfectly loaded or otherwise. The fronts are at 26K milesnow and I will be replacing them with something before our next tripand getting an alignment. No oil burned in the 8800 miles – will bechanging that too now that we are back.
Really enjoyed the trip – now time to plan the next one.


1253.jpg

[Grandpot]

Your first item #5 (leaning with a two wheeler) brings up a point. The single wheel trailer will work well with a leaning bike. When on a Spyder, I think it will be less stable and put more stress on the hitch because it will want to roll over because it can't lean when connected to the Spyder.

I don't have any experience or documented facts to back that up. I'm just throwing the thought out there.

[WA5VHU]

When I went back to two wheels I bought a SherpaX from KipMoto, a small lightweight single wheel trailer. It tows very nicely behind my Honda CTX700 bike.

We decided to take a trip from Richmond down to Kill Devil Hills for an overnight trip to see the Wright Brothers site. As this wasn't a twisty-curvy type of ride we decided to ride two-up on the wife's Spyder but we needed a bit more room for the luggage. I quickly rigged up a bracket on the Spyder hitch that mimicked the swing arm brackets on the CTX and off we went. At less than 100 lbs it really did tow like it wasn't back there, worked great for us!

It was near Halloween and Junior really enjoyed the trip too!!!

I use the official Whirlygiggers to see my small trailers in the mirrors, even when towing with my car. Lets me know it is still back there and helps with backing up. And who knows, someone out to commit a homicide might just look up from their phone long enough to see those bright sticks just before they go back to their phone as they plow into us?

Even on two wheels my trailer tire, a Michelin highway motorcycle tire, still seems to wear mostly in the center. The last time out I ran with a lot less air in the tire, don't really know how it did as it wasn't a very long trip.


Goldie-SherpaX.jpg

[blacklightning]

Very good write up. I do not typically travel enough to need a trailer, and I have one of the Doc Humphries racks to hold most of my gear. But lately I have been thinking about getting one so hopefully the wife will travel more with me. I still kick myself when I think about a deal that I passed up on a unigo that was for sale locally. The guy wanted $600 for it (if I remember correctly). I didn't know how much they costed, but I think that was a pretty good deal.

00U0U_emrYRiicabp_600x450[1].jpg

[ARtraveler]

Very nice write up. I feel much better about one wheeled travel trailers after the read.