Jump to content
IGNORED

Weight Limit on 1150 RT


bmwrob

Recommended Posts

I came across a post re: hauling trailors behind the bike. I'm curious as to any real world examples of how much true weight anyone is actually hauling with 2 passengers. The GWVR nets only about 450 lbs. max including riders and gear. My wife and I with gear weigh approx. 480 lbs. (no trailor). Is this a problem? Also are their any examples of high payloads being pulled out there without problems?

Link to comment

The only caution I would add is to be very careful about your speed and tires. You're over the weight limit for the bike which isn't a big concern for a BMW, but when you add a trailer, you really need to be careful. I came up on a BMW rider in the mountains of north Georgia that lost it pulling a trailer. He said he thought since it was just him on the bike, the trailer wouldn't have any effect on the handling. He said he went into a decreasing radius curve and the trailer whipped out and took him down.

Link to comment

Our club pres. pulls a trailer with an 1150RT. He is a high mileage rider who travels all over N. America pulling a trailer. He carries a lot of weight back there, including four jackets, camping gear, canned food, etc. But he rides solo.

 

Following him, I get a little nervous watching the trailer swing a bit at speeds over 60 mph. However, he feels comfortable with it. Increased rear tire wear is an issue. His dual compound PR2's wore irregularly (the softer compound shredded, leaving a ridge in the center).

 

The trailer adds weight to the bike. It doesn't remove it. Especially for the purposes of braking. You have to be careful how you load the trailer. Negative tongue weight is a bad thing.

Link to comment

I finally found a reference, motorcycle.com. It indicates a GVWR of 1091 and a wet weight of 615. So it subtracts down to 476 pounds of people and gear.

To be positive, go to a local public scale and give it a test all loaded up as you are set for a trip. A trailer will reduce the weight on the bike but add some work for the brakes. Brakes on these are excellent and should be sufficient.

I've run an older bike, 80/7, with a sidecar and tent trailer and I could still stop, even lock up the single disk front. You just have to adjust your level of sportiness to account for the load.

Trailers can be a real boon to the comfort level of camping. Wretched Excess in Moderation!

Link to comment
A trailer will reduce the weight on the bike but add some work for the brakes.
I don't see how. Add the weight of a hitch plus the tongue weight, I would think that you would pretty much exceed whatever weight in clothes that you could cram into stock bags alone.

 

The critical component here, is the load rating on the tires. Maybe consider a GoldWing?

 

Edit: I checked the Bushtec website. Typical empty trailer weight is 120 lbs. Max GVW (trailer + load) is around 320 lbs. Recommended tongue weight is 10 to 15% of GVW. So max tongue weight would be around 50 lbs. Plus the weight of the hitch.

Link to comment

I would say at the very least, make sure you run your tires at or very near the max air pressure.

 

It is excessive flex that causes the heat build up in a tire that cause the destruction a tire failures. The tire is designed to flex, to a degree. Running the tires too low on pressure will cause more flex, thus more heat, and possible failure.

 

Too much air pressure and you loose the intended amount of flex, contact patch size, traction, and ultimately bad tire wear. So tire pressure is very sensitive to load. Add weight add air, remove weight remove air. OF course all tires have a MAX pressure, do not go above the max pressure.

Link to comment
.

 

The critical component here, is the load rating on the tires. Maybe consider a GoldWing?

 

 

Most Goldwings you see on the road 2 up are overloaded.......The useful load is 350 lb or less. When a bike weighs as much as they do empty, there isn't all that much load allowed to gross. And the tires go away quickly.

Link to comment

If one puts 150 pounds of necessary gear in a 150 pound trailer the bike gets 40-50 pounds of weight on the hitch. Not 300 pounds. The trailer wheels carry the excess poundage!

It's simply magical what you can bring along.

So the tires can be load range B and the bike will not be overloaded.

Trailering is for those that need to and a determined person will not be dissuaded by logic or reason however well intentioned.

Besides it makes the bike look more friendly.

 

Link to comment
Most Goldwings you see on the road 2 up are overloaded.......The useful load is 350 lb or less. When a bike weighs as much as they do empty, there isn't all that much load allowed to gross. And the tires go away quickly.
I saw this on another forum:

 

BMW GS 482lbs (rider, pass, luggage), K1200lt 470lbs rider pass, R1200RT 520lbs rider pass. For the KLT and the RT luggage is standard equipment and not added to this payload weight. Goldwing 1800 420lbs (rider, pass).

 

But the GL1800 is probably a better towing platform than an 1150RT. It will have heavier rated tires simply because it is a lot heavier to begin with.

Link to comment

I think you will find that the Goldwing weight given is dry, so allowable load includes fuel, where the BMW weights are wet......So fuel is not included in the allowable load, meaning you can use the entire difference between wet weight and gross for rider/passengers/luggage. Just sayin'.

Link to comment
I think you will find that the Goldwing weight given is dry, so allowable load includes fuel, where the BMW weights are wet......So fuel is not included in the allowable load, meaning you can use the entire difference between wet weight and gross for rider/passengers/luggage. Just sayin'.

 

On older models the weight given was dry, but on the 2010 GL1800 specs it only shows wet/curb weight and an additional 418 pounds of carrying capacity...rider/passanger/luggage...

The R1150RT payload is 475lbs...so 57lbs more than the allowable weight on a GL

Link to comment

And the 1200RT is apparently 520 lbs. ! But my point is that the tire load on an 1150RT is probably more critical than the tire load on the GL1800. I would expect that the Wing is already wearing 2 ply reinforced sidewall tires (like the K1200LT does) where the RT is not.

Link to comment

The gvw of the bike is just that..the gross weight that the bike,people, and goods weigh. What you need to know is the weight of people (no trickin' ladies)the goods you wish to put on the bike, and lastly the weight of the trailer. Add them up, and be surprised. As mentioned before load up and go to a local scale. The trailer once latched to the bike will be part of the gross weight. The brakes may be overkill on the bike (with no trailer) but they are designed for a max weight. Once you exceed that weight and you have any legal issues, a lawyer will be all over you.Under the Highway Traffic Act, you exceed gross weight, you will be responsible for all that goes wrong. Make no mistake, you start making the trailer heavy and it WILL start to push and pull the bike, cornering and braking being the most previlent. The tires are a whole different issue. You really want to get the legal scoop on the whole deal?....go to your local Dept of Transport scale for your state/province (the one big trucks have to go in to) talk to the man/woman in uniform, they will give you the proper low down. Kind of long winded I know, but draggin' a trailer behind anything is whole new ballgame, easy for some, nightmare for others. For sh*ts and giggles,back the trailer out your driveway....

This not designed to alarm you....I would really, really like you to be safe.

Link to comment
Unhofliche_Gesundheit

Hi Bob - back to your original question - "what is too much - is 480lb too much?"

 

this is intended to be helpful but it might not be. the answer is there is no magic weight which if you stay below you are ok and if you go over it you are doomed. very simply the more you load your bike (or boat, or truck, or car, any wheeled contrivance really) the more you get the weight working against you. obviously a dump trunk can take more than a civic but in both cases - and your bike too - the more you load it up the more forces you/your contrivance have to deal with: the harder the equipment has to work; the smaller the safety margin; the more wear and tear.

 

if you are 480lb then that you be. you bike wont accelerate as fast, the brakes and suspension and tires and drive train will wear faster, you will need more gas, you will need to be a more careful rider..... but if you are staying within normal driving envelops you should encounter no issues (other than accelerated wear on any part of the bike impacted)

 

no worries - be safe.

 

landtrain:

P1030178.jpg

 

Link to comment
The gvw of the bike is just that..the gross weight that the bike,people, and goods weigh. What you need to know is the weight of people (no trickin' ladies)the goods you wish to put on the bike, and lastly the weight of the trailer. Add them up, and be surprised. As mentioned before load up and go to a local scale. The trailer once latched to the bike will be part of the gross weight. The brakes may be overkill on the bike (with no trailer) but they are designed for a max weight. Once you exceed that weight and you have any legal issues, a lawyer will be all over you.Under the Highway Traffic Act, you exceed gross weight, you will be responsible for all that goes wrong. Make no mistake, you start making the trailer heavy and it WILL start to push and pull the bike, cornering and braking being the most previlent. The tires are a whole different issue. You really want to get the legal scoop on the whole deal?....go to your local Dept of Transport scale for your state/province (the one big trucks have to go in to) talk to the man/woman in uniform, they will give you the proper low down. Kind of long winded I know, but draggin' a trailer behind anything is whole new ballgame, easy for some, nightmare for others. For sh*ts and giggles,back the trailer out your driveway....

This not designed to alarm you....I would really, really like you to be safe.

 

GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) is the weight supported by the wheels of the vehicle. If you are towing this includes the tongue weight of the trailer only, not the total weight of the trailer.

 

GCWR (gross combined weight rating) is the weight of the tow vehicle plus the weight of the trailer.

 

Not sure if motorcycles even list a GCWR.

Link to comment

One thing about trailers is that, if you are like most people, you will tend to fill them with stuff. So you may get a small net reduction of weight on the RT rear tire if you pulled a trailer and emptied your saddle bags into it (and left the bags at home). But you still have the combined weight of the rig to deal with.

 

Also, depending on the hitch arrangement, that tongue weight will be shifted aft (where you don't really want it). It would be like putting all the weight you currently carry in your side bags, into the top box.

 

I think most people travelling two-up will pull a trailer because they want to take more stuff with them (hence more weight) rather than wanting to reduce the weight they already carry on the bike itself, given that the combined rider/passenger weight is a constant.

 

I know our Pres. loves the trailer and carries anything and everything in it. It has caused him some grief on at least one occasion, though, while slow speed manoevering (he went over a hump and the trailer pushed him forward off the edge of the pavement unexpectedly, causing a tip-over.

 

And a reverse gear would be really handy with a trailer in tow.

 

I note that on Unhofliche_Gesundheit's trailer rig (pictured above) approx. half of the combined weight of trailer and gear will be tongue weight, due to the positioning of the trailer axle.

Link to comment

Okay so my take on this thread, Leave the wife at home....or better yet have her take an MSF course and get her a bike of her own so you both can enjoy the freedom of riding and spread any cargo load over 2 bikes...perfect solution...right?

Link to comment
Okay so my take on this thread, Leave the wife at home....or better yet have her take an MSF course and get her a bike of her own so you both can enjoy the freedom of riding and spread any cargo load over 2 bikes...perfect solution...right?
That's what I did. And she's now the one who rides the BMW in our family. :)
Link to comment

Good for her!

What is it that you ride now? Pull start minibike, moped, vespa?

That is what my wife would make me ride if i let her take my bike.

:rofl:

 

She is a penny pincher...thank goodness she doesnt have any interest in riding and rarely even rides pillion except a short putt to dinner on a nice summer evening. Sometimes i miss riding with out her...other times i just enjoy the ride a the voices in my head :P

Link to comment

When I broached the subject of getting back into riding 4 years ago (after 20 years off) my wife told me, "That's a good idea, you need a hobby. Maybe you won't be so miserable all the time. But I have one condition." I paused, thinking, "Oh boy, this can't be good." She says, "I'm not riding on the back any more. I want my own bike this time." And she went out and took a riding course.

 

I ride a Honda ST1300 now. She took over the r1100r after we sold the SilverWing scooter I bought her (she hated it). But I still get to fix the beemer. ;) I even get to ride it once in a while.

Link to comment

Purely based on the cost, i am glad my wife doesnt have any interest in riding her own bike. Her minimal interst in even riding on the back is fine with me. I dont have to spen alot of money on expensive riding clothing. It cost me enough that my daughter has been riding since she was 6.

 

New gear every riding season or so since she was growing, new bikes every 3 years or so...i have spent enough money on her bikes and gear to buy me a new RT. But she is worth it. Im just glad the wife likes to cook, camp, and not ride.

Link to comment

My wife and I are essentially the same size, making our gear interchangeable. I wore the pants I bought her this spring on my cross-country ride this year. Nice pants, too!

Link to comment

I am 6'0" 200lbs and my wife is 5'0" and 120lbs {dont tell her i told you guys that} so no chance of that ever happening unless i shrink in some industrial accident, or she has a mid 40s growth spurt... :grin:

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...