Yamaha TRX850 Enthusiasts Forum

Hi, I've got a bit of a dilema....I'm not sure whether to fit a towbar and buy a £400-500 bike trailer to keep in a garage....OR....hire a van to take my bike to a track day?
-I can't afford to buy and run a van
-I plan to do (never done a trackday before) about 3-5 trackdays a year
-I rent a garage (no driveway)
-Not sure if van rental would need to be for 1 or 2 days.
-Don't want to ride bike to track as nearest track is still many many miles away
-If going with van rental, I'd have to clear the garage and get a shed to store the bikes so Mrs can use garage for car
-If going for trailer, bikes stay in garage along with trailer and I fit towbar to my new car

I will make a decision shortly, but wondered if anyone had any hints/tips or faced similar dilema with transport to trackdays.

Will you be using the van/trailer solo? Me and my father use a trailer when we are moving bikes about as he has the luxury of space to leave it outside, however I wouldn't use the thing on my own. You can get it on to the trailer solo [engine on, first gear feeding the clutch] but there is no where to put the stand down to support the bike whilst you go an fetch a cargo strap. I guess if you bought a trailer with a front wheel chock that would solve the problem but its something to think about.

I'd start by hiring a van, see if you get the bug then worry about a towbar. At least with a van you have somewhere to sit in your leathers out of the rain

Whatever you do its going to start getting expensive, depending how aggressive you ride, the van hire might seem expensive now but when you start eating chains, pads, tyres, engine rebuilds, performance upgrades it will just be another number among many. Unless you are very disciplined [which I'm not.. at all] Hofstadter's law [a version of] takes over; things get more expensive, even when you expect things to get really expensive.

Above all enjoy!

Danno, I built my own design of trailer last winter, I do track days on track only TRX, so let me know when you are going it would be nice to join another trx on track. I have booked Cadwell on 18th march as first outing for the year. It was £75 with MSVT and have booked inters. All presuming you are in uk???
Dave

Overlord Neil wrote:Will you be using the van/trailer solo? Me and my father use a trailer when we are moving bikes about as he has the luxury of space to leave it outside, however I wouldn't use the thing on my own. You can get it on to the trailer solo [engine on, first gear feeding the clutch] but there is no where to put the stand down to support the bike whilst you go an fetch a cargo strap. I guess if you bought a trailer with a front wheel chock that would solve the problem but its something to think about.

I'd start by hiring a van, see if you get the bug then worry about a towbar. At least with a van you have somewhere to sit in your leathers out of the rain

Whatever you do its going to start getting expensive, depending how aggressive you ride, the van hire might seem expensive now but when you start eating chains, pads, tyres, engine rebuilds, performance upgrades it will just be another number among many. Unless you are very disciplined [which I'm not.. at all] Hofstadter's law [a version of] takes over; things get more expensive, even when you expect things to get really expensive.

Above all enjoy!

Top man, great advice. I see what you mean with regards to using a the trailer single handed!

Silver wrote:Danno, I built my own design of trailer last winter, I do track days on track only TRX, so let me know when you are going it would be nice to join another trx on track. I have booked Cadwell on 18th march as first outing for the year. It was £75 with MSVT and have booked inters. All presuming you are in uk???
Dave

Hey there, yep UK base down in Newbury. I'll have to pull my finger out and start looking for dates (probably going to stick with summer dates). I'll definitely give you a shout when I've got one booked in. It'd also be useful to pick your brains for bike set up too. Thanks for the reply too.