One thing I learned while I'm borrowing a friends trailer is...if the floor of the trailer (his is also 5x8) is expanded metal, the weight of the bike will cause the rear wheel to sit in a dip making it a cramp in the **** to strap the bike down as close to the front of the trailer as possible. 8' long doesn't leave you a whole lot of room for play, at least not with my WG. With the WG as far forward as possible, there is less than 6" between the brake light and the fold-up ramp. Maybe bikes with slightly less rake will have a bit more room to play with.

What I have done is strap the bike down in a temporary position wherever it lies, then get another strap, attaching one end high on the front wheel and the other to either the vehicle or the tongue so I can ratchet the bike up as far as possible against the front rail. Once I have it in place, I'll tighten down the important straps. The bike doesn't move one inch. It takes me a little while (+/- 1hr) to git r done because I'm working alone.

If the floor of the trailer is more solid, you should have no issues. If I had access to a welder and some angle iron...I'd pop a few supports around where the rear wheel causes a valley.

 

+1 on plywood or other wood to make the floor solid! also... after a 20-30 miles or so.. pull over and check your straps for tightness. then check them every hour or two as needed. also get you some nice new heavy duty straps to use... also get a few extra incase one breaks while on the road!

 

Those Condor wheel chucks are great from what I hear. You should be ok weight wise but how far are you going with these bikes anyway?

 

Thanks for all he help here. We are going to upstate NY from NJ, about 500 miles and hope a trip to Sturgis is in the future. We bought the trailer for my 150cc Crossfire Go-Cart and all I had was an Aztec to pull it with. Last week I got a suburban and was thinking that it could be best to sell the trailer and get a 6x10. Money is tight but I would hate to take a chance of screwing up my bikes. The larger trailer would be harder to store and move around. If I could make this thing work it would be best.

 

JMO, but if you get 2 Dynas on an 5x8 trailer, you've done a day's work. I have a 5x10 Wells Cargo CycleWagon and 1 bike is all I can get in there unless the second one is a bicycle (which I do take with me on ocassion).