Metal Twister

We are in the design process for developing a small Off-Road motorcycle trailer that will be fully self contained with a pop-up type tent attached. The goal here is to build it as small and light as possible, and still keep the high quality required for extereme abuse. It will be using trailing arms with airbag suspension with the track with about the same as a jeep. Im looking for ideas that might be unique as far as the bike end of it. because of the small size im leaning towards putting one bike inside, and an oppitional mount for a second bike on the exterior. There are several adventure / expedition style trailers avalible, but very few with the ability to carry a bike or two. The goal is to make everything on this trailer have a dual function. ie. ramp could double as a bench seat when when eating. kind of the Swiss Army Knife way of operation. Any input would be appreciated. Maybe unistrut along the sides and floor to secure the bike down tight ? This thing will have to be Heartattach hill and the Squeeze rated. Thanks again.

Great! I have a few others very interested in purchasing also. I will keep you up to speed on the progress. thanks for the reply.

Thats the Airstream trailer, Base Camp. Nice but not near enough off road worthy. Sorry for not keeping you guys up to speed on this project. I have been busy marketing my newly patented clamp, But that is a no excuse I suppose. We had a real good product development meeting like i mentioned earlyer. As a result of that meeting we decided on a couple of things that might be of interest to you. The trailer will be based on a 4 foot by 8 foot platform. This would allow it to double as a construction trailer if required. At least that would give the construction guys a good excuse to buy a bad ass trailer.LOL It would be built on an expandable 3 stage modular platform. Stage one, the bare bone trailer would be a serious off road flatbed bike hauler. Stage two would be a box that would slide on to the the first stage like a camper in a truck bed. This section would provide all the storage for the kitchen, genertators, shower etc. The third and final stage would be the top which would enclose the unit and supply the roof rack. The roof tent would work on either stage 2 or stage 3. we have designed the trailing arms with the airbag placement. and have worked out the electric E brake that can be set in side the trailer to lock the wheels while parked. (theft prevention) It will have a tow bar that is removable, with the ability to attach it to the rear of the trailer and tow backwards if required. This will also allow you to store the tow bar inside the trailer for storage room savings, and theft prevention. Both of the bikes will be in the trailer, one facing foward and one backward as per bike sluts suggestion. At the present time I am collecting materials to build a basic proto type. This will be a trailer used to abuse and see if we can brake it. If all works well we will be building the first couple in late July or early August. We will be moving my shop location to a new facility at the end of march. this has slowed down the progress on the trailers quite a bit. Thanks for the interest and input. Oh Ken, the back is doing great! Ive got alot going on, and think the DD might not be on the plate for this year. Also wanted to let you guys know that dirt rider 86 never found his jeep! It is being replaced today with a real nice, super clean Black TJ. We truly are blessed! thanks again Bob

I am starting the new year off with a few new goals. One is to not take on things that I really have no business doing. The trail rate thread seemed to be a good idea at the time, and maybe still is? I just do not have the time, or skills required to do it the way it should be done. I am throwing it out for disscussion. is it worth keeping? Is there a need, or desire for it? If so is there anyone who would like to take it over? It seems like it could be a good tool for the novice, but at this point I dont know. Any suggestions?

We had our first Product development Meeting on the 28th of last month. We had some of the planets finest thinkers there. They come from all walks of life, Designers, Machinists, Educators, Fabricators, and End Users along with a Marketing Guru. Several of these guys are members here. Boy what a diverse group of guys riding Adventure bikes. The meeting ended with a lot of positive notes, So much so that the Solid Works Program has been smoking since then. I'm not so sure I want to throw the design out there until we can fine tune it a bit more. But it looks real good and is happening as we speak. We are shooting for our Proto type to be ready in May o8. As far as price, we do want to keep it affordable. We have come to the conclusion that it will be modular. This will allow the end user to order it with what they think is important to them, while being able to control their budget. I'm thinking a basic Off-Road trailer with a arms, air bags, a four person high quality roof tent, and the ability to carry two bikes inside with a few extras should start around $5500.00, and go up from there. We haven’t crunched the exact numbers yet. And of course we will offer a SDAR discount when we get closer. If you have any ideas as far as features you would like to see in them, now is the time to let me know. Thanks Chief

All great points ! Yes the tent will most likely attach and fold out from the top. I am leaning towards a modular design that will have the ability to load it up with all the creature comforts available. They even sell a small 12 volt microwaves now. Its called the Wavebox and might lend its self nicely. Electric disc brakes will be the stopping power. It will have sliders, bumpers, removable hitch that will attach to the rear of the trailer just incase. It will also be removable so it can be stowed inside the trailer while unattended. those things are hard to steel if you cant pull it. LOL Thanks again for the suggestions keep them coming, the more bizarre the better. .

If you have to belong to a cult the KTM cult is the best. So, he really is looking out for your best interest.

Dirt rider 86 called me a few minutes ago. His jeep wrangler was stolen from his driveway last night. he is just sick!!! I know its a long shot as far as recovery but I thought i would ask anyway. If any of you see this unique jeep with its unique roof rack or tire carrier please give us a call at 619-461-3502. if seen anywhere...Mexico or us. You guys have eyes that see the world. Right now it has the brown hard top and stock doors on it. There are more pics on our web site @ wwwbengelsoffroad.com. Thanks for the help. Bob

First thing you learn here is to never cross that Ride Orange mod edit: is a great guy and has ultimate power over some of the posts!!! So your off to a great start already. Welcome and enjoy.

Foe Reels? Great job guys. Looks like you three had a great time! who'ed a thought? :fool:

Thanks Brett, knew I forgot something! (4MMU924 Calif. License) Thanks again.

Maybe a good dualsport ride after the last rider passes through? And just when is it not a good time to drink beer Ken? Ive never experienced that kind of weather. Im in.

I've found that lurking is just fine at times!!! Even though, I do find myself missing this group on occasion. LOL

Be sure to go though the water crossings straight and slow!!! Theres about 40 years worth of slick moss under that thin film of water.

This was sent to me today, not that I needed it or anything like that! I did find it kinda interesting. feel free to add to it. http://www.speedtrap.org/speedtraps/stetlist.asp

I think there was some confusion there Ken. This morning Kevin stated that the 303 truck was dead in the water, and was ass ended by Kevins truck putting it over the edge. The 303 guys were there already.

Hey guys, I got a call from Kevin this morning. I thought you guys might like to here what he wrote about his big adventure. We had a special interest in the outcome of this race for Kevin, Dirtrider 86 did the welding on the roll cage of this race truck. By the sound of it, it did just fine!!! Thank God...Glad no one was hurt worse than they were. Truck # 876 Baja 1000 Details -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey Guys I dont even know where to start First off, HUGE thanks to everyone that has sent emails, text messages and voicemails regarding our crash, very comforting to know that so many of our friends online were there for us! Most importantly everyone is ok, and we are all back in the states! A lot of people have been asking who was involved in the crash: I drove the first 207 miles of the course and did our first driver change @ RM207, Mark Talla (aka TAZ) got in with his dad around 11pm i think. Around RM214 or so they put the truck on its side trying to avoid a bunch of teenages doing stupid things to the track. Luckily it was a very easy roll and no injuries. The same stupid teenagers helped Mark right the truck, he drove it back to the pit @ RM207 and we fixed it as best as we could! Brett and Mike got in and planned to drive to El Rosario where we would load it on the trailer and call it quits because of the condition of the truck after marks roll. We wanted everyone involved in the project to get a chance to drive, so this was a joint decision. About 2 hours later is when we got the call! Of course hearing your guys just drove off of a 1000ft cliff sends everyone into a frenzy, but we had a great group that held it together well and worked as a team to get things done with minimal panic. Yes, the reports were true, the truck went off of a rocky cliff into a ravine approximately 600-700ft. This was at about 3am early Saturday Morning @ RM 235+/- We are unsure exactly how it happened but the witnesses in truck # 303 said that they were stuck on the edge of the cliff, we tried to get around them (single track terrain), clipped their bumper, hit a soft spot and cartwheeled down the hill. They estimated the truck rolled end over end a mininum of 15 times and the co-driver of truck # 303 said he vomitted after watching the truck crash thinking he just watched 2 fellow racers die. People have been asking who was in the truck and their conditions, the driver @ the time of the crash was Brett Garland and the co-driver was Mike Shortt. Both were ok and conscious @ the time, were sharp enough to immediately turn off the fuel pump and batteries and get the hell out. They exited via the hole that used to house a windshield and climbed up the 700+ft hill to truck # 303. The guys @ truck #303 immediately took control of the situation, assesed the injuries and made the immediate call for a helo to extract Brett due to a severe concussion and complains of side pains, they stayed with him for 3+ hours until sunrise when the helo could land. They were in a fairly gnarly area and the guys did some recon to find a landing spot for the helo and then moved Brett as close as they could. Helos cant fly @ night (during a race) and the accident happened around 3am or so, so they were there for approx 3 hours. As soon as the sun rose, the SCORE helo was there and brought him to San Quintin to prep for transport to the US. Not sure what helo arrived but someone showed up and transported him directly to UCSD Medical Center immediately. The total time of extraction from Crash site to a US hospital was under 4 hours, mighty damn impressive! Must give a huge thanks to team #303 (not sure of the name) for staying with Brett and Mike all throughout this and taking care of them! They did a bunch of tests at the hospital, diagnosed it as a moderate concussion and bruised ribs and now he is there for resting, mike is fine and only had a few bruises. We are trying to get pics of the crash, but believe me when i say they are lucky to be alive! The next step was extracting Mike, since the Helo only took the injured party out. We were @ an access road around RM209 and they were on the course @ RM235 or so. Our support trucks were a big dodge diesel truck, a 2wd tacoma, and my 80. Choice was easy, i was going in. Took us over 5 hours to cover 20 miles of trail that made the rubicon look like candyland. We played it very safe and went super slow since we were now down to one capable recovery rig and would be going deep into no mans land solo. Once we arrived to the crash site, we almost threw up too, i looked at mike, looked at the truck and could not believe he was standing there looking at me. The guys from truck #303 were already helping us strip whatever we could off of the truck and helped us hoof it up the cliffside. Again, huge kudos to these guys! We loaded Mike and whatever else we could into my 80 and headed back towards the others. We didnt arrive to them until dusk, and they had been patiently been waiting there ALL day for us!! We swapped stories and decided it was time for a nice steak dinner! Enjoyed a nice dinner, relaxed for a few minutes and headed home to one of the fastest border crossings ever, a whopping 3 minute wait! As for the race and why these crashes, happened, i am going to say fatigue! We have been working on this thing around the clock for the last 3 months, worked on it prepping stuff right up until race day morning, and everyone was just plain wiped out. I did the start and the first 207 miles and did so on adrenaline only (only 3 hours sleep the night before the race), we had a great time, held our own and ran mid pack, but the brand new shocks need some major adjusting after we worked them a little and them got warm @ around RM 50 or so. When the shocks got cushy, we were restricted to about 25mph or so in the rough stuff and we lost a bunch of time. We pulled into the BFG pit 1 (currently in 4th place) where they firmed up the compression stroke of the bypasses a few clicks and it made all the difference in the world! After the shocks were tweaked, We were able make some good time breezing through an uncrowded Mikes Sky Ranch, but the time we lost during the shock softness (around 60 miles restricted to 25mph) got us to our pit quite a bit later then we had hoped it everyone was already getting tired. It is impossible to catch some shut eye when you are waiting to get into a race truck! When i got out of the truck, i was still all amped up, but after sitting down for 5 mins and drinking some water, i was WIPED and crashed hard, no chance i was driving a chase truck for 200+ miles! Sleep deprivation was immediately apparent! Want to give another huge thanks to truck # 303, SCORE Medical, and all the other teams that stopped to help. Well, this was definitely an experience and a 1/2, we are VERY glad everyone is ok! Thanks again to all that sent prayers and well wishes __________________ Baja Overland Vehicle Expedition Equipment www.bajaoverland.com 1993 FZJ80 Land Cruiser 06 Honda XR650L Dual Sport 2007 Baja 1000 Stock Full #876

I cant ride, but I would be more than happy to help with a pit stop or what ever? Let me know.

:boast: :boast:

Glad all is well. It dosnt hurt to know guys with big ass water trucks either. Looked like you guys were having way to much fun for being in the middle of a fire. Any pics of the toy box?

Under your name is says that this is post #2. Welcome to the site. I have to work that weekend so I cannot go. Martoon are you the guy with the coyote tail on your bike that rode Grapevine/ Jasper TT with me a couple months ago? No tail on my 520 or 950 Ya I guess my first post was about the pemix at ojos... Glad to see ya got this posting thing figured out!!!!!! welcome, Great group here Jim. I bet you will find 5 or 6 that you already know by thier real names. Have fun! Thanks Randy for getting Martoon set up so quickly. As far as the ride goes, I am going to have to see how the back is feeling when it gets closer to the date. Bob

We are fine here, we were asked to leave our home yesterday around 2:00pm. We are very close to Steel Canyon High, and some homes have been lost in that area from what Ive been hearing. We will have to wait and see just like 500,000 of others. We are well and the bikes are at the shop, horses are at my sisters. all the rest can be replaced. We will check back in when this thing blows over. Thanks Bob

We will be there Saturday and Sunday, dusk to dawn! IOU a couple of Stop by the pits and join us Rob.