Towing a Trailer with Motorcycle Equipped with a Brake Controller  

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Personal opinion alert: As a longtime motorcycle rider myself (1982 H-D FLH) I kind of cringe when I see or hear about towing anything with a bike. Just not my world, but of course, folks do it. A heavy dresser that weighs close to 1000-lbs certainly has the grunt needed to pull a small trailer without difficulty, that is the easy part, but the handling side-effects are the concerns. A loaded trailer's tongue tugging at your bike's hitch ball may not be as unpleasant as I imagine. I have not done it, so you can justly call me a worry-wart. If you feel safe towing a trailer with your ride, and you have a suitable hitch on it, then off we go.

Installing a brake controller set-up on a bike will require you to use one of the time-delay type units like the Tekonsha PowerTrac # 39523 which can be mounted in any position. You will need to find a safe place to mount this where it will not be exposed (a saddle bag works).

Electrical connections to the controller include 12V input power (to the black wire, via a 20-amp fuse or breaker); a brake light signal (for the red wire) that triggers the unit to apply the trailer brakes; ground connection to the battery (white wire) and the controller output (blue wire) that needs to be routed to the trailer connector.

The ease or difficulty of the installation really comes down to finding those required wiring connection points. This can vary considerably from bike to bike.

expert reply by: Adam R

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