While scanning the web the other day, I came across a cool picture of a motorcycle towing a trailer. I then started wondering how much my Harley could tow.
How much can a motorcycle tow? You should not tow over 50% of the weight of the motorcycle plus the rider. Towing more than this amount decreases your level of safety. Your motorcycle manufacture may not recommend towing.
A general rule like we have listed above needs broken down even further. Here is what else you need to know.
Figuring The Weight Capacity For Your Motorcycle To Tow
Before you just hook up the trailer and head out for the highway, you need to know how much you can pull. Get this wrong and you end up in an accident. An accident on a motorcycle will end much worse than an in a truck, SUV, or even a car.
How do you figure the towing capacity of your motorcycle?
First, pull out your owners manual to see what it says. Many times it will not mention towing. Make sure you go through with it a fine-tooth comb any way.
There is no bad time spent doing this. Worse case scenario is you learn more about the bike you own and how it works.
As you go through the manual, be prepared for it to explicitly state to NOT use the motorcycle to tow. You cannot blame them since it could be a huge liability for them.
Stop and think about how many riders you know who barely ride without killing themselves. Can you imagine them with a trailer behind their bike?
You can skip to the section discussing how to deal with manufactures not recommending to tow with the bike for more information.
When you do not have an owner’s manual.
What should you do if you do not have an owners manual? You probably know that I will suggest googling it.
This is exactly the situation I have. (I plan on buying an owner’s manual at some point, but it is $120 and there are other parts I would like to have.) Here are the top results that pop up when I google my bike and towing capacity.
As you can see, there is information about insurance liability and parts for installing the hitch. I found nothing about the bike’s capacity in the first few pages. Who will look beyond that?
Here are two suggestions if you find yourself in this situation.
- Call a few of you local bike shops and see what a few of their technicians say about the towing capacity of your bike model.
- If #1 does not work, check out Facebook for groups and search their conversation threads for your model of bike. Send a message to the person who has been towing with your model and find out what you can about the weight of their trailer, do they ride two up, weight of their gear, etc.
You should note, doing either point means you are taking personal responsibility for towing and any results.
Different Weight Ratings For Motorcycle Towing
As you research the towing capacity of a motorcycle, you come across three different weight numbers: tongue weight, gross vehicle weight rating, and trailer weight. Each of these is important for different reasons.
Motorcycle Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)
The GVWR will be a figure you find in the owners manual. You should also be able to google your bike and GVWR to get this information. I did this for my bike and here is what I found.
It took some digging, and I hoped it would show up in the snippet search results. I found it buried deep in the first search result.
The GVWR tells the rider the total load capacity of the motorcycle. This weight includes the weight of all fluids including oil, gas, antifreeze, brake fluid, etc plus the bike.
For my bike we can get a rough idea of how much the bike can haul with the following breakdown.
GVWR 1160
Bike- Dry Weight 695
Oil 7.5
Gas 42
Rider 225
_______________
190.5
This leaves me with 190 pounds that I can carry on my bike. If I load up camping gear, tools, and food, the weight will be just a little over the GVWR. For those going two up, they likely overload the bike.
The one caveat of the GVWR (it is big) is the fact this is a weight on the motorcycle. Pulling a trailer creates different stress and introduces new factors to the weight question.
This number quickly shows you can easily overload the bike based on GVWR. I included it here because a rider doing research will come across this number and need to know what to do with it.
When you put a bunch of stuff on your bike while not pulling a trailer, you need to play close attention to this information.
We also talk about this number through the example to show how quickly a bike can become overloaded based on the 50% ratio. In my case 920 lbs X .50 equals 460 pounds of trailer plus equipment.
Motorcycle Trailer Tongue Weight
You have seen a truck pulling a trailer down the road that looks like a V where the truck and trailer hitch almost drag on the ground. You wonder if the truck will finish its trip.
These people did not load the trailer correctly and are putting themselves and other motorists in an unsafe situation.
The extra weight on the tongue compresses the suspension and makes for a rough ride.
The opposite can happen as well by putting too much weight on the back of the trailer. In fact, having too much weight on the back adds more danger than having too much weight on the front of the trailer.
Getting the balance correct is important. Here is a great video showing why having the balance correct is important.
Now imagine what happens when the weight is not distributed correctly while pulling the trailer with your motorcycle.
Trailer Weight
Common sense tells us light vehicles pulling a heavy trailer does not work well. Stop and think about that for a second.
Add too much weight and it puts added wear on brakes, suspension, tires, and frame. The heavier the bike, the more you can tow.
We noted at the beginning you should not tow over 50% of the weight of the motorcycle plus rider. Take the time to weigh your trailer plus the gear.
I guess with this formula you now have an excuse to eat an extra piece of cake or two if you are underweight.
When Your Motorcycle Manufacturer Does Not Recommend Towing
I stated before you assume all responsibility when towing when the manufacturer does not recommend the act. It is worth stating again. That being said, here are a few things to help try to keep the level of safety high.
- Look at aftermarket parts to see what is out there. A few searches on Google and within forums will yield a lot of practical information. Be careful in forms though as many people don’t know what they are talking about.
- After your initial research, call the parts distributors of the bike hitches and have a conversation with them. Ask questions about the towing capacity of the hitch and see if they have information for your bike model.
- Find the people in Facebook groups who tow with your bike and sent them a message to see if you can talk about their experiences, successes, and challenges in towing with your model of the motorcycle.
Get out there and go riding!
