Sponsor or not, why do all the hitches for a Spyder mount to the swingarm?
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I'd suggest the basic reasoning behind it is cos that's the way the BRP engineers designed Spyders to tow!
Just think about it a little - the frame of any 'bike has a couple of major 'strong points', maybe more, but essentially the frame is designed to support all the major riding loadings (apart from actually carrying the engine) in the steering head and the swing arm pivot point, and there's a lot of engineering design work that goes into establishing and retaining the relationship between those two points in order to create a frame that works well! :lecturef_smilie:
The swing arm pivot point is basically the point that transfers all the driving force developed by the engine into the actual 'push forwards', and it does that by holding the drive wheel at (swing) arms length as it converts torque into acceleration or drive.... so isn't it a smart idea to hang any 'towed loads' of the back end of that and keep all the forces (drive & tow/drag) pretty much in line with that stong point in the frame, the swing arm pivot point?!? :dontknow:
If they hung all the towing loads off the tail end of the frame somewhere higher up, the engineers would have to factor in and design around all the extra loading and torsional forces that'd put into the frame, which could mean a lot heavier frame, increasing costs, and would mean a whole lot more effort on their behalf, which would push the price up even more - but by hanging the towed loads off the swing arm, there's very little 'extra work' or significant frame strengthening required, so any 'additional marginal costs' are minimised!!
hyea:
And all that's probably why BRP is such a stickler for only using their 'approved' tow hitch - they
KNOW it'll take all the loads without creating any other issues - loads & potential issues they haven't 'engineered' the frame to handle!! :shocked: In many ways, what they've done is a very elegant & fairly simple solution for an otherwise very difficult ask! :2thumbs:
That said, here in Oz we have a hitch manufacturer who has managed to tie
their hitch into the frame in a way that puts the majority of the towing load into the frame in much the same place as the OE hitch design; that stiffens up the 'fairly flexible' tail end of the frame; and that doesn't hang the hitch off the swing arm, thereby minimising all that bouncing & jouncing & road shock & undulation etc that the OE Style Hitches need to handle and in doing so, must transfer at least some of it into the trailer &/or its contents!! :yikes:
Check out
www.classicind.com.au hyea: :yes: :thumbup:
