The Best Motorcycle Trailer Ever: Review

What qualities would the best motorcycle trailer have? Heavy-duty enough to handle any motorcycle for certain. Light-weight enough to be able to be towed by even a four cylinder car would be nice. The motorcycle trailer should obviously be as easy to low and strap to as possible. What if there was even a way to use it without needing any ramps?

The best motorcycle trailer ever was a 2013 Klinger 3×8 Ramp-Free Drop-Bed trailer. It was heavy duty enough to handle any motorcycle on the road, and still light weight enough to be towed by a Fiat 500. The best part is that it lowers flat to the ground. You don’t need any ramps to use it.

In this article I’ll be sharing my story with this motorcycle trailer, and why I think you might want to buy one.

Full disclosure: The trailer is already sold. I am not trying to sell you anything. I have no affiliation with Klinger Trailer. Klinger has never sent me so much as a Christmas card.
I do not care what you do with your money, but I think I have the best motorcycle trailer in the world so I want to share that with you.

About me

I’m Adrian from YouMotorcycle. I make a living doing motorcycle stuff. Years ago I bought a Harbor Freight trailer for towing motorcycles. I customized it a bit, but it was still pretty junky. I sold it when I found a 2013 Klinger Motorcycle Trailer for sale that lowered all the way flat to the ground.

Buying the trailer

Buying the trailer involved 250 miles (about 400 kilometers) of driving, or about four hours of sitting in the car each way. It also involved an overnight stay in a freezing cold hotel room that didn’t warm up for 4-5 hours, but that’s another story.

My trip was nothing compared to the seller’s trip. He had driven nine hours, about 550 miles (or 885 kilometers to buy it brand new from Klinger Trailers in Paw Paw, Michigan.

About Klinger Trailers

Klinger Trailers is a father and son team. The father does all of the fabrication. He knows every bit of the trailer, ever weld, ever seam, every inch of it like the back of his hands because he made it with his own hands. The son handles the sales side of the business.

I’ve spoken to the father on the phone numerous times, including before even going to see before buying it. I felt good driving four hours each way to look at the trailer before I bought, based on the conversation he and I had on the phone.

Despite knowing I didn’t buy it from them directly, he’s always been super helpful as if he had sold it to me himself. I think that speaks volumes of the family’s worth ethic. He has always been very helpful.

About this trailer

The trailer I got is the 3′ x 8′ trailer, and it lowers flat to the ground. There is an inner and outer frame, and when they pivot, one goes up, and the other goes down, lowering the trailer deck down. Then you can just ride right on and strap the motorcycle in. At that point you can press a button to control the winch. The winch pulls the inner and outer trailer frame back together and on your hitch ball again.

At first I was concerned about the size. Would a 3′ x 8′ trailer be able to fit big touring motorcycles like a GoldWing or an Ultra Classic? The answer was yes. I might only had an extra inch or two on either side of the bike, but it fit everything!

The trailer came with the beefiest tires I have seen on any trailer. They were bigger, wider, and of better quality than even the wheels and tires on my A-Liner Classic travel trailer.

Klinger is using thick solid metal throughout, and this thing is strong. It’s been rear ended a half dozen times, including by a Mack Truck, and never took more than just scratches. Very impressive.

At around 550 lbs it was still light enough to be towed by a Fiat 500.

A trailer that lowers down flat can be very handy for any number of reasons. Some people don’t feel comfortable pushing a motorcycle up a ramp, either because of physical difficulties or a lack of confidence or strength. Some custom motorcycles have very low ground clearance, meaning they could bottom out going over a ramp and into a trailer, making transportation difficult. Finally, some people simply like the idea of being able to easily and safely load a motorcycle in and out of a trailer without needing anyone’s help.

Motorcycle trailer long term review

Because the motorcycle trailer is so easy, I’ve used it hundreds of times all over Ontario no matter the weather. Pushing dead motorcycles, even very heavy ones, is a breeze because there is no incline like you would face with a ramp.

On camping trips I used to have to choose between taking the motorcycle or bringing the dog with me. With this trailer I could go to my campsite, set up camp, drop off the dog, and go for a motorcycle ride for a few hours.

I was able to break even on this trailer more or less. I sold it for about $100 more than I bought it for, however I had purchased a new winch, new jack, and new battery. In the end many years of use may have only cost me a couple hundred dollars.

How did the Klinger motorcycle trailer hold up?

Maintenance on the trailer was pretty easy and very few things went wrong on it.

The hubs were easy to pack. Other than that it was just a matter of checking on the tires and keeping the trailer clean.

The winch a previous owner put on kept having components fail so I replaced it with a stronger winch. Once the new 3,500 lb winch was on there were no more winch problems.

The LED turn signals and brake lights are easy to find and replace.

We had some problems with the fender needing some additional welding. One of the fenders was starting to wiggle and may have potentially broken. The trailer had also been rear ended by a Mack truck about a year earlier, so that may have been the root cause of the damage. It’s difficult to know for sure, but is something other Klinger owners may want to keep an eye on just in case.

After 9 years of being outdoors 24/7, thousands and thousands of miles of travel, and many winters of salt-covered roads, the trailer had a good amount of surface rust and was due for a sanding and repaint. I think this has less to do with the quality as it does with just how much salt we use on the roads here in Toronto, Canada. Many trailers would look like this after ten years.

The only other work needed was re-securing the aluminum plate to the steel frame. More and more screws were starting to come undone. I did not resecure this myself prior to selling as my original plan was to have the whole trailer repainted. Instead I’ve bought something else.

Would I recommend a Klinger motorcycle trailer?

I would definitely recommend buying a Klinger trailer, they do great work. If I ever get rid of my truck with truck lift I would get an SUV and a Klinger trailer in a heart beat. You should check them out.

What have I upgraded to?

I’ve upgraded from my motorcycle trailer to a truck bed motorcycle lift. I live in Toronto, it’s the most densely populated city in Canada. Getting around with a bike on my truck, instead of having a trailer behind me, is just so much easier.

Obviously, a brand new truck lift is going to cost twice the price of a new trailer from Klinger. If you haven’t already noticed, I bring my bikes with me a lot, so it was worth it.