Apparently bull balls, truck nutz (www.trucknutz.com), or whatever other brand name you know them by are raising quite a stir in Maryland. Del. LeRoy E. Myers Jr., R-Washington/Allegany, filed a bill for Maryland to ban such “toys” and others like them with fines up to $500 for drivers caught displaying them. He sees it as a law supporting decency, others, like the ACLU, see it as a law contrary to the first ammendment.
The text of the bill reads :
“A person may not display on a motor vehicle any model, sign, sticker, or other item that depicts or resembles anatomically correct, less than completely and opaquely covered, human or animal genitals, human buttocks, or human female breasts.”
While I haven’t found Bull Balls anything more than a crude form of humor, as a mother, I would fully support removing the playboy bunny and similar depictions of the famale form from mud flaps and bumper stickers, so I guess I’m up in the air on this one.
To read the full article, click here.
Today is part two of looking at motorcycle trailers. During road trips I’ve seen touring motorcycles on the interstate in the middle of no where. They must be on cross country trips, but how much stuff can you carry on a motorcycle? Some of these bikes have loads of power and a few storage boxes attached saddle-bag style to their sides. There’s just only so much you can carry in them right? On those long road trips you want to have some extra space so you can bring a few more amenities from home. This trailer may be the answer:
The ZZ2000LT is the sleekest trailer I could find that’s designed to attach to a motorcycle. No small surprise that they’re intended exclusively for Harley Davidson and Honda Goldwing motorcycles. This trailer is sweet. It’s also expensive - $3,995 plus $95 for packing and then you’ll pay a few hundred dollars for shipping. It’s going to be worth it though. Chrome wheels, factory matched colors, a tongue-mounted cooler, carpeted interior, suspension on the wheels, chrome trim, and a huge 200 lb. weight capacity. It even has 16.5 cubic feet of interior space. This is a big motorcycle trailer. It’s going to get the job done for you. It will take your cross-country touring to a whole new level.
If you go to google and type in motorcycle trailer you’re going to get one of two results: first, you might find a trailer that you’d pull behind a truck or suv. You know, a trailer to carry a motorcycle. The other option you’d have would be trailer that attaches to a motorcycle. In my next couple of posts I’ll feature an example of the coolest version of each type. Today we’ll look at the trailer you’d load your favorite bike on for a cross-country trip (you don’t want to put unnecessary miles on it right?).
One of the best examples of a motorcycle trailer I could find is the Diamond Deck. As you can see in the pictures, it’s versatile. It can carry up to three dirt bikes if they’re narrow enough; or you could pull a full-sized Honda Gold Wing. I’m not sure why you’d want to though. More about that tomorrow.
The Diamond Deck comes with a 2,200 pound gross weight rating, 12″ sport wheels, and up to three motorcycle rails to keep your bikes stable. The base price is $1,495 for the tent trailers with two rails, and a center rail will run you an extra $125.00. If you’re at all close to the manufacturer you might consider a road trip to pick it up because freight will be between $250 and $350.
Bottom line, this trailer is a great value for everything it can do for you. Learn more about it here.
We have tons of respect for anyone that innovates and creates their own trailer. Hitch up a home-built trailer to your station wagon for a family weekend? Sounds great to me. Michael Boyink put a lot of tlc into this Bantam trailer. He restored it from a rusted relic to a family favorite. It may be old, but it connects to a standard trailer hitch — light enough to pull behind any family vehicle. Check out some pictures from his collection or learn more about what he’s done at his site here.
Michael has added some really cool trailer accessories to his creation including a bike rack and a shelf system to hold camping supplies.
Here’s another creative soul who thought built a trailer you can hitch to your bike. It’s a lightweight, simply constructed design made of bamboo. Pretty cool, and very duplicatable. Here are a couple of pictures to illustrate:
The creator of the bamboo hauler lives in the UK and she’ll give you the plans to build your own. She just asks that you post on her blog what you did with the plans. Pretty generous of her right? Check it out here. Anyway, if you’re a person that likes trailer hitches in all their forms, you should appreciate these two examples of creativity.
When towing, it’s very important that your trailer tongue be level with the ground. If you are always towing the same trailer, you can set your hitch up just right for that trailer and be set for life, or at least the life of that towing relationship. But, if you find yourself with two or more trailers with differing coupler heights, it makes sense to have an adjustable ball mount.
To find the ball mount drop (if your trailer coupler is below the height of your hitch) or rise (if the coupler is above your hitch) that you need, simply park your vehicle and trailer on level ground. Measure from the ground up to top of the inside of your receiver tube (where the top of the ball mount shank will be) and measure from the ground up to the bottom of the trailer coupler. The difference between these two heights is the length of the rise or drop you need in your ball mount.
You can find adjustable ball mounts all over, with prices ranging from $25 to over $200.
Check out some of the best trailer hitches and ball mounts at our new affiliate store TrailerHitches.com.
Trailer Hitch Accessories | Emily, 27 Apr 07 | 
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