Fall Ride Plans

This September is my high school class 60th reunion.  I thought it would be a good opportunity to ride some more East Coast roads that I have not been on yet......mainly in West Virginia and Ohio.  .  It was a balancing act to figure out how to meet certain criteria for this ride.  I wanted to have Carolyn come along and I also didn't want to ride across eastern Colorado and Kansas.  We also wanted to visit relatives along the route and see the new crop of babies.  I considered several ways of doing the trip, including buying or renting a bike in St. Louis and either selling or shipping one home if I bought it.  I also looked into shipping my current ride to St. Louis and back.  I really didn't like the cost or inconvenience of of any of the buy/sell/ship options, and nobody rents a motorcycle that I want to ride.  I really wanted to ride my own bike, which I like a lot, so I thought about hauling it there and back myself.  Problem was, what to haul it with?  I could load the bike in the 87 Toyota pickup, but after the problems we had with it when we took Jenny's bike back to San Francisco (https://thegoodroads.blogspot.com/2017/10/final-stage-of-ride-project.html), Carolyn refused to consider it......even though I think I have the problems solved.  Our 99 Honda Odyssey van has a trailer hitch already installed, but the poor thing has almost 240,000 miles on it and the extra strain of pulling a trailer might just be too much.  Our newest vehicle, a 2013 Honda Accord, has a lot going for it.  It is comfortable, gets good mileage, and only has about 70,000 miles on it.  But can it tow a trailer?  It's only a 4 cylinder engine, and I didn't know if a trailer hitch could even be installed on it.  Well, the owner's manual was consulted and shows the car is rated to tow a trailer up to 1,000 pounds with 200 pound hitch weight.
So now the problem was finding a trailer.  I wanted it to be as light as possible to make the least about of strain on the car.  After searching around, I decided to ask my good buddy Big Mike if he would make me a trailer.  Mike has made several trailers already, and he is a great fabricator of metal stuff.  He recently acquired the ability to weld aluminum, which was just what I needed. 

After the Spring and Summer of texting back and forth with ideas and specifications, Mike came up with a design that looked like it would be perfect.  I bought parts he needed and had them shipped to his house up in Blaine, Washington.  He bought metal and aluminum from local suppliers up there and began assembly last month.  Meanwhile, I ordered a trailer hitch for the car and installed it and the wiring loom on the car.

  Carolyn and I did a week long hiking vacation on the Olympic Peninsula around the time of her birthday, and I used the opportunity to ride my bike up to Blaine so that we could do some measurements and fit the trailer to the bike.  I also hoped to help him put it together, and maybe even haul my bike home on it.   Unfortunately, the day we arrived at his house, he sprained his ankle and couldn't really do much work on the trailer.  We tried, and this was the state of construction at that point (note Mike's ankle brace):

 So, I rode the bike home and Mike continued working on the trailer after his ankle got better.  Last weekend he finished it and sent me these photos:

It has the loading ramp hinged so that it remains on the trailer and is in the raised position in this picture.  The tie-down holding it in place will be changed to a different method, yet to be figured out.

This shows the wheel chock and the front tie-down points for the motorcycle.

Annie is checking to make sure the bottom of the motorcycle will clear the hump between the loading ramp and the trailer deck, based on measurements I sent.

This shows how the complete aluminum deck and the channel for the bike's tires are completely coated with a non-skid adhesive tape.  It not only looks good, but will provide better footing and keep the aluminum from oxidizing.  Those are also the rear tie-down points.  Since the only goal for the rear of the bike is to keep the tire from bouncing out of the channel, the tie-down can be minimal.

Mike plans to bring the trailer down this weekend and I am looking forward to the next steps of getting a title and license for it.  This may open a whole new chapter for Carolyn and I to take trips where I get a chance to ride and she can visit gardens or friends and relatives, while we also stay together in the evenings.