Riding motorcycles is something only motorcyclists understand. This holds true to even Roger.
Roger is a homeless man I met at Culvers at I-17 and Peoria. I met Roger because I saw a very unique trailerhitch design system on a motorcycle as I pulled in for lunch today. Roger is homeless and travels around Phoenix with his 750 CC motorcycle pulling a trailer with all his belongings. Roger tells me he had to overcome the challenge of the fasteners coming loose if he attached the trailer to either the axle or the shock bolts. He overcame this challenge with a very unique setup where the trailer is attached to two bars that match the width of his swingarms.
These are attached to the swingarm with what looked like a standard U bolt one can get from your local Home Depot. He also overcame the challenge of being able to lean his bike in a turn with the ball-joint that connects the swingarm attachments to the trailer itself. With his set up, Roger no longer worries about anything coming loose.
I had the chance to chat with Roger for a moment. He told me how his trailer set up has allowed him better sleeping arrangements on those cold rainy nights. The trailer hitch allows him to stretch a tarp – tent like – over his trailer under which he sleeps. Sleeping on his trailer with a sleeping pad under that tarp helps keep him from sleeping in puddles and getting rained on.
Roger also lamented that there are some people who have stolen some of his property directly off his trailer. So now Roger parks where he can see his trailer and carries with him a small bag that contains what he referred to as items with sentimental value. “That stuff can be replaced,” Roger said, pointing out the window to his trailer. This “patting his bag” is sentimental so I keep it with me wherever I go. Can you believe people can be so mean as to steal a homeless man’s property off his trailer?
This was a pretty awesome engineering solution to a problem that presented itself to Roger.
Nicely done Roger! Safe travels!
