April 21, 2014 6:07 AM PDT
Hi, I'm a newbie to the Cyclefish site, but not to motorcycling--I've been riding since '65. My wife and I have a 2001 Honda GL1800 we want to enjoy some long trips with, and a trailer was the only way to go. But since these can become pricey very quickly (and despite the occasional long trip we don't use the trailer very often) we opted for the Harbor Freight Tools version. I removed one of the leaves from each spring, and added LED lights.
[Note: when installing LED lights, these things will not work if you don't have the polarity right--they have a positive/negative. Get this right, they work--wrong, and you'll swear you have a short!]
We made some modifications to the inside of the trailer, first replacing the stock bolts that secure the shell to the frame with eye-bolts, for securing contents with bungee cords, then gluing down some thin carpet padding to reduce noise and prevent significant shifting of the clamshell's contents during travel.
I thought seriously about moving the shell back in the frame and adding a tongue-mounted cooler platform, but as I was considering that, my dear lady walked up, dropped our large cooler into the trailer, and closed the lid. Who'dve thunk the cooler would fit in there with no problem, while still leaving room for our normal cargo?
Since we've traveled with the trailer, we know we weren't using its full capacity anyway, so putting the cooler inside solves the worry of added tongue weight a tongue-mounted cooler platform would create, while avoiding having to relocate the shell.
A final word--the HF trailer pulled and handled well after we sorted out proper tire pressures and tongue weight. Yes, you do have to allow extra space for stopping, and for the wider track when turning. But it performed equally well in city streets and Interstate highways. We had no overheating of wheel-bearings (as some have warned about) and no problems with leakage during wet weather. And yes again, it does bounce a bit sometimes if the railroad crossings are rough/uneven. But in our first trip with the trailer of approximately 700 miles, we experienced no significant issues. (I'm still having occasional difficulties backing it into a parking space however!)
