Legs
Hero member
- Location
- Adelaide Hills
That's what happens when you are 'Known to the Police'.
Fuel tap blues...
- Thread starter Patrick
- Start date
When I still used to cross Germany to go to the Veneto with car and trailer, I remember being stuck behind very slow moving lorries and being told off because I was overtaking with the trailer. The foreign number plate I imagine had nothing to do with it.
I now avoid the German motorways for amongst others those reasons apart from the stretch down to Basel. From there, crossing Switzerland is a breeze.
Paul
I now avoid the German motorways for amongst others those reasons apart from the stretch down to Basel. From there, crossing Switzerland is a breeze.
Paul
piranha-bro2
Hero member
- Location
- Melbourne
Fortunately no special speed limits fro trailers in Vic (or elsewhere i think). Our braked camper trailer is very stable and the car handles really well with it in tow. I installed air bags inside the coil springs of the car that I can jack up to maintain 'ride height' and always load the trailer to get a good weight on the towball. I happily drive at 115-120 on the freeways and 100 on backroads. Also check trailer wheel bearings, tyres and brakes before any trip.
Tippie
Hero member
- Location
- Dr?bak, Norway
My first trip down to the med on the VFR from here was fucking great after reading about these famous open speed roads all my life. Only during my time in NT Australia years ago could I legally decide what was safe speed. Travelling at go to jail speeds in Norway all the way through Germany with the best behaved drivers. Apparently plenty of Norwegians blow their car engines, years of plodding around and then run at high revs for hours seems too much for the engines. Or maybe they should have checked their fuel taps?
CLEMTOG
Hero member
I have towed trailers all my life, a few years ago the count here was seven owned by me (now much reduced) and I hold HGV 1 which for non UK people means articulated trucks of any size, trailer maintenance has always been kept up by me, and my self built three bike/cargo trailer has been to Breganze three times in recent years, but yes, I got nicked in Austria for speeding with it and the fine came to me in the UK eight months after the offence, 112KPH it was and perfectly stable, even the wind/weather can alter that mind. I have demonstrated it fully loaded at 160KPH.
I did have a failure on the last trip back which is worth mentioning, a wheel very nearly came off! as DoC Booth and I were approaching our overnight stop in Switzerland (the house of engineer/scientist, Amicale friend, Patrick Fugelister of nuclear power fame) we heard and felt something not correct, so we stopped, and yes the OS wheel had two snapped studs, one missing nut and one still holding but loosed, and very "ovalised" bolt holes in the wheel, swapping a nut from the NS wheel gave us two to tighten, and three remaining on the other, a desperate repair.
The two wheels were from a Austin Mini of maybe 1962 vintage, and although looking to be OK, they were not, they were an accessory popular at the time, made by Weller for autograss, autocross racing etc , how old were they, I don't know but the wrong side of 40 years in my ownership anyway, the problem was that they had got progressively thinner and thinner, and eventually the nuts had started to "pull through" I was aware of this, but didn't think hard enough about it. At Patricks we fashioned a better repair using the spare wheel and two M10 bolts, and nylocs, the wheel is centred not on its hub as is more common today, but by the countersink and the 60 degree cone faced nuts The (second) temp repair got me the 600 odd miles to home. Patrick had a super heavy duty toe jack, which meant we didn't have to unload the two triples,500 kilos between them probably.
Later I bought new wheels x3 and tyres, specific trailer type now, and it shocked me how thick the metal was!, new studs all round and new nuts, but this time the nuts are all drilled and lock wired, I even carried a grease gun to give the bearings a shot on arrival at Breganze,(it stays in the car at all times) but payed far too little attention to the actual wheels themselves, very lucky that it did not end badly. picture shows trailer with old wheels, Chrissiewissy might have one showing the new wheels.
Moral being don't take the actual wheels for granted, they are of as much importance as anything else.
CLEM
I did have a failure on the last trip back which is worth mentioning, a wheel very nearly came off! as DoC Booth and I were approaching our overnight stop in Switzerland (the house of engineer/scientist, Amicale friend, Patrick Fugelister of nuclear power fame) we heard and felt something not correct, so we stopped, and yes the OS wheel had two snapped studs, one missing nut and one still holding but loosed, and very "ovalised" bolt holes in the wheel, swapping a nut from the NS wheel gave us two to tighten, and three remaining on the other, a desperate repair.
The two wheels were from a Austin Mini of maybe 1962 vintage, and although looking to be OK, they were not, they were an accessory popular at the time, made by Weller for autograss, autocross racing etc , how old were they, I don't know but the wrong side of 40 years in my ownership anyway, the problem was that they had got progressively thinner and thinner, and eventually the nuts had started to "pull through" I was aware of this, but didn't think hard enough about it. At Patricks we fashioned a better repair using the spare wheel and two M10 bolts, and nylocs, the wheel is centred not on its hub as is more common today, but by the countersink and the 60 degree cone faced nuts The (second) temp repair got me the 600 odd miles to home. Patrick had a super heavy duty toe jack, which meant we didn't have to unload the two triples,500 kilos between them probably.
Later I bought new wheels x3 and tyres, specific trailer type now, and it shocked me how thick the metal was!, new studs all round and new nuts, but this time the nuts are all drilled and lock wired, I even carried a grease gun to give the bearings a shot on arrival at Breganze,(it stays in the car at all times) but payed far too little attention to the actual wheels themselves, very lucky that it did not end badly. picture shows trailer with old wheels, Chrissiewissy might have one showing the new wheels.
Moral being don't take the actual wheels for granted, they are of as much importance as anything else.
CLEM
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Former collegue is of the opinion "if it's allowed, you can do it".
Summer 2002; Speed limit for trailers on french motorways was (is?) 130km/h. He passed Paris going south with his grossly overladen caravan behind his 2001 Octavia 4WD and came to a stretch renowned for sidewinds. Despite warning signs, he wasn't bothered, soldiered on with his foot deep in the sump at 130+. A gust hit him sideways and blew the whole caboodle across 3 lanes into the armco to the left, jack-knifed and richocheted back across the same 3 lanes and smashed into the RH barrier. Car and caravan spewed their contents over 250 metres, only one wall of the caravan was left standing The car hook detached from the car and dangled from the trailer hitch, sticking almost vertically in the air. Car plowed into the armco, ripping out about 40 metres and smashing into the doubled rail behind it, because it was on a bridge! The car managed to uproot one end rail, the end of which glanced off the bonnet into the upper windshield frame, only just missing his wifes' head. Daughter in the back seat was sprayed by broken glass from a side window. Only one wheel remained on the car, and that was held on only by the brake hose! Astonishingly, all doors were still able to be opened and closed without geat force. Apart form minor cuts from flying glass and slight abrasions from expanding airbags, nobody was seriously injured. Was hard to believe after viewing photos of the carnage. BUT, just a little bit of common sense would have prevented this near-tragedy.
He didn't learn from this though. A few years later, he mowed down about 100 metres of wire-mesh fence with his 911 Porsche, in a 30km/h signposted curve, estimated corner entrance speed was over 110 on a wet road... the dickhead always knew better. :
piet
Summer 2002; Speed limit for trailers on french motorways was (is?) 130km/h. He passed Paris going south with his grossly overladen caravan behind his 2001 Octavia 4WD and came to a stretch renowned for sidewinds. Despite warning signs, he wasn't bothered, soldiered on with his foot deep in the sump at 130+. A gust hit him sideways and blew the whole caboodle across 3 lanes into the armco to the left, jack-knifed and richocheted back across the same 3 lanes and smashed into the RH barrier. Car and caravan spewed their contents over 250 metres, only one wall of the caravan was left standing The car hook detached from the car and dangled from the trailer hitch, sticking almost vertically in the air. Car plowed into the armco, ripping out about 40 metres and smashing into the doubled rail behind it, because it was on a bridge! The car managed to uproot one end rail, the end of which glanced off the bonnet into the upper windshield frame, only just missing his wifes' head. Daughter in the back seat was sprayed by broken glass from a side window. Only one wheel remained on the car, and that was held on only by the brake hose! Astonishingly, all doors were still able to be opened and closed without geat force. Apart form minor cuts from flying glass and slight abrasions from expanding airbags, nobody was seriously injured. Was hard to believe after viewing photos of the carnage. BUT, just a little bit of common sense would have prevented this near-tragedy.
He didn't learn from this though. A few years later, he mowed down about 100 metres of wire-mesh fence with his 911 Porsche, in a 30km/h signposted curve, estimated corner entrance speed was over 110 on a wet road... the dickhead always knew better. :
piet
Dellortoman
Hero member
- Location
- Tasmania, Australia
My bike trailer has Mini wheels too Clem, but I don't fancy putting too much load on those little wheels and tyres.
It tows very nicely (I've also tested it to 160 kph fully loaded - it's perfectly stable).
I built the trailer about 40 years ago using a widened Mini rear sub-frame with the rubber cone type suspension. The trailere is well maintained (gave it a full refurb a few years ago with all new wheel and swing-arm bearings). The rubbers must be 50 years old by now, but are still good.
I've always applied a load limit of 350kg. That's roughly equivalent to what the suspension would have been rated for in its original Mini car incarnation. It's enough for most sensible road bikes (doesn't include massive behemoths like full-blown Harleys or Honda's Battlestar Galactica Goldwing, but I can't imagine ever needing to transport one of those). Heaviest bike I've actually carried on it is a Kawasaki Z1300 which is a shade over 300kg. I've also had 3 trials bikes on it with a combined weight less than the Kawasaki.
It tows very nicely (I've also tested it to 160 kph fully loaded - it's perfectly stable).
I built the trailer about 40 years ago using a widened Mini rear sub-frame with the rubber cone type suspension. The trailere is well maintained (gave it a full refurb a few years ago with all new wheel and swing-arm bearings). The rubbers must be 50 years old by now, but are still good.
I've always applied a load limit of 350kg. That's roughly equivalent to what the suspension would have been rated for in its original Mini car incarnation. It's enough for most sensible road bikes (doesn't include massive behemoths like full-blown Harleys or Honda's Battlestar Galactica Goldwing, but I can't imagine ever needing to transport one of those). Heaviest bike I've actually carried on it is a Kawasaki Z1300 which is a shade over 300kg. I've also had 3 trials bikes on it with a combined weight less than the Kawasaki.
Attachments
I constantly come across Gray Nomads, retirees towing caravans on my monthly 600k trip back and forth to the bush. They love doing 80ks on the long straight stretch 110k bits out there, yep it's amazingly 110 and not 100 in some bits. I can blast pass easily, the Road Trains not so much. That's a Prime Mover and 3 long trailers. These trucks struggle to get past these caravaners quickly. I struggle to get past the road trains, it's not easy to pick between cloud shadows on the road and dark coloured cars when the horizon is out there on long straight roads and I don't like seeing cars approach when passing these Road Trains. BTW that's 2 lanes, one each way, no overtaking lanes out there. Plus you're not allowed to speed to achieve this, stupid law. I do it flat to the boards and as fast as I can go, I like to avoid the head-on crashes.
Little wheels came to the rescue when I broke down on the way to Breganze. My dirt bike trailer saved the day. Here I am outside Oro's for repair. A full round tip from the UK to Breganze and back again, picking up the broken bike on the way down in the Loire Valley. Fun times.
