[kgredhead]

I just got back from a huge trip from Minnesota to Yellowstone all the way to Jasper, Alberta to Revelstoke back to Minnesota. (around 5500 miles) I had a bushtec trailer on hold until my wife heard what it was going to cost. I was told that this was the best trailer on the planet and that I needed to order the trailer hitch as well. For reasons of budget I looked around and found the Aluma trailer xl and I bought it for $1600.00 and I put a kuryaykn hitch on instead of the bushtec.

All I can say is that I am soooo glad I bought the Aluma trailer! It tracked very well and it was loaded to the hilt, and no bounce. I only knew it was behind me because it was much harder to stop with the extra weight pushing me. On August 11th we were on our way to Canada via highway 93 just outside of Eureka it was around noon. We had a deer run out on the highway and plow head first into the front of the trailer, I had the cruise set at 70mph. The deer hit the trailer so hard that it bent the ball backwards nearly 60 degrees and then it f lew forward and hit the left side of the bike damaging the luggage bag and bruising my wife's leg. I was able to keep the bike up somehow. If I would have had a trailer that was fiberglass our trip would have been over for sure. (That far north would have had few options for finding another trailer especially since Sturgis was on and every trailer in site was sold!) We pulled the deer off the road and took our bent up trailer and limped into town and stopped at the local body shop on the south end of town to straighten the ball I examined the hitch and found that nothing on the frame or the hitch was bent only the reciever itself was bent. we had lunch and thanked the Lord again for our safefy and headed onward for another two weeks with a bent but usable trailer. It isn't the prettiest trailer on the market but it is sure practical and durable. I am going to fix the front and re-weld some parts, but I could use the trailer just the way it is for years to come with no problems. Thanks for letting me share my story. God Bless, Kevin

 

[J-mac]

yep, sometimes it's nice to have a tank behind you :lol:

sure am glad you didn't go down when bambi decided to cross the street, and i hope your wife heals up.

I have been using my MCT for business, when I have a furnace or a/c cleaning to do I load up the MCT and off I go. All i need for a cleaning is my hand tools(32 lbs) my little vacume cleaner(6 lbs ), a couple of extention cords (10 lbs) a bottle of r-22( 30Lbs) and my guages(4-5 lbs ) there is various other things in there like a 18 volt DeWalt drill/driver, various electrical parts and stuff like that. All told I can haul about 300lbs of equipment around for service work.

I sure do get some strange looks when I pull into a customers driveway :lol: most people applaude my "inginuity" for cutting costs and my gas bill ( the truck gets 11 MPG )

 

[Tom Finch]

Kevin,

I am really glad that the deer was not a little earlier. So sorry to hear you had the mishap. Very glad the injuries were minor.


Crashworthiness is something we must certify in designing aircraft. The rules change for some aircraft but it is 9 Gs down and 12 Gs forward for most. Our OmegaTrac powered wheelchair crash restraints had to be good to 22 Gs to meet FDA standards.

You make a point about crashworthiness of aluminum versus fiberglass. There is fiberglass and there is fiberglass. The kind of fiberglass that all other trailers and boats are made of is not the fiberglass that aircraft nor the Tailwind are made of.

Sheila , as most who read this board know, bought a Tailwind in March and has been pulling it 10,000 miles per month on her mission to do the Iron Butt Grand Tour of 100,000 miles in 364 days. Fortunately she has not been hit by a deer, but unfortunately she has been hit by an S-10 pickup that witnesses said was running illegally on the shoulder at 35 mph when it hit Sheila's Tailwind in the front much like your deer did.

Sheila spent several hours in the XRay clinic and the next day pulled her damaged Tailwind from Seattle to Truth or consequences, New Mexico, for a 1700 mile day, stopping because of a lightening storm, and then the next day rode the 700 miles to Spring Branch. She had planned to not stop for 2,400 miles. I wont say how fast she was running but she was happy when she reached the 80 mph in Texas on the way here.

And then when it was only 6 days to Wing Ding, my Tailwind was hit by a Ford Quad cab pickup hit and run. Witnesses said the front wheel of the pickup ran up on the back of the trailer, which left tire marks on the lid and a hole punched in the aft body by something in the chassis of the pickup.

And more recently, the owner of a beautiful black Tailwind, who lives in Alaska, was near the end of a 9600 mile trip when he and his wife encountered a badly damaged section of highway in an S turn that was not marked. Their Valkyrie had a forward foot rest that apparently dug into one of the sections of missing roadway which pitched both of them off the bike. The bike and trailer kept on going on its own running off the road farther down, trying to flip on its back, but apparently the trailer kept it from doing that and then the whole rig ran down a steep embankment in alder trees and ended up like this. That was last month. They are on their Valkyhire and Tailwind rig this weekend on another long trip.

Meanwhile, these trailers enjoy extremely low drag and 24 cubick feet of storage due to the Aviation Glass body.

I am glad that you got something that you like and a lot more glad you were not badly injured. I hope you enjoy your rig many more thousands of miles.