Honda Scooter With Trailer

I used to have a Darkside 2004 Honda Reflex scooter, but sold it to my brother. (who insisted that it remain Darksided) I never did get around to finish making
a top box for it (yet) that was being made from a Samsonite hard side suit case with LED lights and red reflective tape for added visibility....Some day maybe.
There are pics of it around here somewhere. In the mean time, I snagged a pretty good deal off ebay on a 2007 Honda Reflex scooter with most of the tupperware
that the PO had busted the hell out of. It was an easy fix and it looked showroom shiny in no time. It has the Double Darkside treatment with a car tire on back and
the front tire is actually a rear tire for a Honda FSC600 Silverwing scooter. I still wanted storage space for it and my brother wanted something to carry his two
beagles around with. So, between a sidehack or trailer, it was decided that a trailer would be easier to do. It turned out that he couldn't really afford the cost of a
trailer after all, so he dropped the idea. Not me though.

So I went to a welding fabricator and had a single wheel trailer built to my specs. Then I took the basic frame to a custom cycle shop and had them do the pillar for
the tail lights and diamond plate work. I did the wiring, rattle can paint and final assembly myself. The "wing" it hitches to, brake and turn signals, minibike shock,
and scooter wheel for the trailer were all cheap ebay finds. The heavy duty 35 Gal. Rubbermaid "Action Packer" storage box came from the local Home Depot. When
I first started pulling it around, it had developed a wobble that took a few episodes to iron out, but all is good now. When it was done, the guys at the bike shop had
commented on how it reminded them of a chariot.....Then it hit me...... "Yep, that's my ROAMIN' CHARIOT"

I used it when I went to a scooter rally in Eureka Springs AR last fall. 800 miles one way from here and I did that in one day. (same thing going back home to Michigan.)
Just a little over 2000 miles for the whole trip with virtually no problems. The scooter/trailer combo won 1st place in "show and shine" for the 150 - 250cc class. I'm
lovin it big time. More trips and rallies are planned for this year as soon as the the weather breaks enough for the spring riding season to start up. I can't wait.

just out for a little 200 mile ride in the "Thumb Area" of Lower Michigan


Mike B.
(Rochester Hills Michigan Dark Side Rider)

(2006 Honda NSS250AS Reflex Sport "Stiletto II" (to be streamlined))
(2007 Honda NSS250S Reflex Sport "Scarlet" and companion trailer
"Roamin' Chariot")

Really enjoy hearing about those who create projects like this, great going on the trailer. Looks quite nice.

I do have a question. On the single wheel trailer that I built, I also had the wobble problem and haven't yet had the time to try troubleshooting. Can you go into some detail as to what you did to solve the problem? TIA

The problem was that there was just enough free play in the pivot parts of the hitch to allow it to swing back and forth.
The way that this kind of connection system works is just like a U-joint. If there is any free play in the pivoting parts,
the rest of it can wander freely and randomly as far as it is allowed to move. AND it will. At the joint, it may seem to
be not much of a problem, but leveraged out five feet away it is very much a problem. What is a teeny bit up close, is
much more farther out. The solution to that part of the problem was to ream out those pivots and put in much closer
fitting tight tolerance bolts. The parts can rotate up, down, left, right, but now with not one little bit of slop. The
other part of the problem was that the hitch could flex up and down a little bit. You can see in the picture the part of
this connection between the "neck" of the trailer and the "rear wing" of the bike. That area is pretty much a flat plane
like a flap of cardboard and could flex up and down. That flexing added to the movement of the trailer. The solution
to that problem was to put a lip around the edge of the bottom part of that connecting area. Much like the way the
short sides of a pizza box give it stiffness. The picture here was taken before that reinforcement was done. The
high hitch point had little to do with any of the wobble problem. In some ways it would actually be more convenient to
have a lower hitch point and maybe I will figure a way to do that some time. But for now it is done with what I had
available to me in the way of material, time and money.

Do what you need to do to reduce any excessive flexing and remove ALL possible free play out of the pivoting parts.
That should go a long way to reducing your wobble problem.

Mike B.
(Rochester Hills Michigan Dark Side Rider)

(2006 Honda NSS250AS Reflex Sport "Stiletto II" (to be streamlined))
(2007 Honda NSS250S Reflex Sport "Scarlet" and companion trailer "Roamin' Chariot")

Thanks Mike for the information. My hitch is solid enough and I really think it's the trailer is just too long (13') or perhaps not rigid enough. Sometime early this riding season, I hope to be able to shorten it to 4 or 5' and go from there.