Kickstand weight.
Will the fully loaded trailer put any more stress on the kickstand? Some have changed to billet aluminum stands. Also will it have any effect on the bike rolling forward when parked? I would hate to see my baby laying on it's side.
I am very excited to see the new trailer. :bigthumbsup::bigthumbsup:
With the trailer fully loaded, I'm sure it will put slightly more stress on the kickstand when parked. That said, I have never had an issue at all with it in that regard...although I do use the standard kickstand it came with.
I had heard of a few guys in the US managing to break or have problems with the aftermarket kickstands. For those who wish to use the trailers, I certainly would recommend taking this knowledge into consideration, and either going back to the original kickstand, or having their aftermarket billet aluminium stands reinforced / strengthened to cope with the additional load. Note: *Depending on the angle / slope you park the bike on, you can certainly lessen the load put on the kickstand.
As for whether the bike is more prone to rolling forward with the additional weight...well, I have never found that to be a problem. As a rule I never park the bike on a downhill surface, which has the potential for the bike's weight to prompt forward motion, should it slip out of gear. Naturally, if you parked it facing downhill on a sloped surface with the trailer on, there would be and even greater possibility of that happening.
The new trailers will have (optional extra) facility for a disc brake and callipre to be fitted, with a lockable park brake mechanism that can be positioned on the handle, that could be used if you are concerned enough about that issue. However, if you did use the lockable park brake...just don't forget to release it and ride off with it still locking the rear wheel, or you'd find yourself up for a new tyre on the trailer. The 9 would simply tow the trailer like a sled until the tyre wore right through the canvas...and you wouldn't even know it the trailer's rear wheel wasn't rotating. (I know....because I had a freak accident once, which saw a loose strap wind into the trailer wheel until it locked dead I was doing 70mph with a pillion on the back at the time, and we destroyed the trailer tyre that way, before I even noticed anything was up. I pulled up, cleared the strap and towed it 50 miles with the trailer wheel dead flat, at 40mph...no problems. That was a worst case scenario, but I know from experience that even that was completely manageable. I was never in any fear of actually crashing. It was completely manageable even after the tyre wore through the canvas and popped...and I simply gently rolled off the gas and brought it to a stop. )
Glad you liked the videos. (Note: The trailer in the video is one of the originals, and not one of the new M109R Custom trailers we are striving to complete now. As soon as one is ready, I will post footage of it being towed behind the 9.) I am going to be testing new chassis and new suspension components in the next few days, following which the M109R Custom body shell pod molds will be created, to match the new chassis and suspension.
- David