So I looked through a lot of threads on this matter, however I did not see anything in detail with my concern.

Looking at possibly picking up an enclosed trailer to supplement in as a small man cave to house and wrench on the bike. It only needs to be ample room for one touring bike.

I was looking at larger trailer, however I have been liking the deals on 7x14 aluminum v-nose tandem's in my area.

Another idea was rigging the rear drop down ramp as a tabletop to work on the bike, possibly setting some blocks under the ramp to level it out?


Thanks in advance, suggestions/recommendations wanted.

 

I cant give you any personal experience with using a utility trailer for a place to wrench on your bike. I owned a couple of different utility trailers years ago when my son raced MX before we went to toy haulers. Even with narrow/smaller MX bikes I only worked on the bikes inside the trailer as a last resort if it was raining because it was just to confining

I think a utility trailer if you do not have a covered place to store your bike at home is a great choice and allows you to kill two birds with one stone. You have a enclosed lockable shelter for your bike at home as well as a covered trailer if you need to transport it.

The first thoughts that cross my mind in using the trailer as a man cave or area to wrench on the bike how small it will seem once you get the bike in. A 7' wide trailer is going to be about 6'9" of interior width, that is only going to give you about depending on your bike less than 24" of room on each side of the bike to scoot around and work on it. As an example the stated width on a 15 RG is 38.5 inches, with it in the middle of a 7' wide trailer you will have about 21 inches on each side. Set a mechanic stool beside the bike and your back will be against the wall. If you plan to use a jack at anytime to lift the bike it is doubtful you will have room to get the jack under the bike unless you park the bike close to one wall. Then you have limited your ability to service anything on that side of the bike. Height is another limiting factor the interior height on most cargo trailers will be around 6' I am 6'7" so its a no go for me. Depending on your height it is something to keep in mind or you may be bumping your head a lot. I see you are in NH so your summers are nothing like MS where a utility trailer would turn into a sauna in the summer. Lighting will be another factor. Most cargo trailer will have some sort of small interior light working off the vehicles 12V system. If its dark that is just enough light to get around. You can easily mount better lighting that can be plugged into an outside outlet at home.

7X14 will give you ample room to store your bike as well as plenty of room to locate a tool chest, build shelves etc..

I like your idea of dropping the ramp door onto blocks or jack stands and using it as a table top for working on the bike. What I would do for that is have the bike on the ground and tool chest etc... on wheels that you can wheel out of the trailer onto the ramp to be in easy access while your wrench/clean the bike and of course the ramp would serve as a work bench to lay parts etc.. on as you wrench.

Over all I think the idea of using the trailer as a storage/Garage for the bike is a good one, the width will be your limiting factor if you try to wrench on the bike inside it. It will make a good place to store your bike but overall I don't think you will find it to be able space to wrench on the bike.

I am not sure of the room at your home you have available and if you are looking at trailers because you want to have the ability to transport but another option is a 10X10 or larger storage shed. Lowes/Home Depot sell the kits for often less than the price of a 7X14 trailer (not sure of the quality). Something like that would give you the room you are looking for to store and wrench in the same location

 

I remember going to the larger BMW rallies back in the 80s and seeing a traveling mechanic working on bikes in a concession-type trailer with a Handy hoist in it.

You could buy an 8' or 8.5' wide enclosed car hauler trailer in the length of your choice, and have a good shop space. The extra height option is available on most enclosed trailers. If I was going to use a Handy hoist in a trailer, I would put it on a piece of sheet steel of at least 10ga thickness.

 

As said above...a 7' trailer trying to work on a touring bike will be a mighty tight squeeze...at the very least you need to get the widest trailer possible.

 

Pick up a 20' shipping container. Especially if you do not intend on moving it around much. Prices vary but around here they are about $1800 for a decent one.

 

You can build yourself a pretty nice bike cave for the kind of money you are going to spend on a trailer if you're handy.

If you are stuck on a trailer, 7' is kinda tight for my tastes. I would go with an 8.5x16 personally. Adding stuff to the ramp sounds good, as long as its not a whole bunch, remember you have to lift that thing up.

 

A trailer just makes it easy for thieves to steal your bike.

 

Only suggestion I'll add is block it up when parked and pull a wheel off so it doesn't wander off with the bike and all your stuff at the same time while your out to the grocery store.

 

I live in a studio apartment and keep my 22' enclosed trailer in the storage lot on base. Rare that a bike is in it over night, but my street glide has been torn apart for a few weeks in it. I use it regularly for all maintenance on both bike and for storage of general stuff.

for my use, it needs to be bigger. I dont have that much stored in it that isnt bike related, but with the tool box, jack, stand, and a bike in the trailer, it gets crowded fast.

It is my only option, so I make it work. it is a complete and total PAIN to keep tool in 4 places. My parents house in oregon has 90% of my tools, trailer has a decent amount with a SMALL roll cab, apartment has some for odd and end work on the bikes at the complex, and my Suburban has some but it is usually parked at work.

Here in the near future I will no longer have to deal with this as I am taking everything I own to my folks house and going to travel the world for a long while. Sadly I wont be doing much work on my street glide when this happens and will have to let dealerships do a lot of it, but I will make due.

the trailer works well, and IF i had a place to keep the "extra stuff" in it or a bigger trailer it wouldnt be a problem really.

It is a 22' V nose and is 96" wide, 6'6" tall. I wish I had gone 8' tall so I could get my suburban in it, but that is another story.

You can make it work but it takes some planning in advance. this was never an intended use for my trailer.

 

I have a 20' v-nose trailer that I bought to store and haul my ATV's. Don't know the width, but it is the widest you can get (maybe 8 ft?) Has enough height that I can stand up fully. Until I built my shop, I successfully used it as a workplace for the ATV's when I serviced them. Yes, it was a little tight in there, but at least we were out of the elements. Don't see why it wont work for a bike.