Width for trailering two Maxims?

How wide would a trailer need to be to fit two 1985 Maxims?

The quoted width (30.5") online is likely at the handlebars -- facing opposite directions surely they can fit in a trailer less than 61" wide if the handlebars clear the sides of the tailer.

Anybody care to eyeball their bike, take some measurements, and venture a guess as to how wide you would need the sides to be to fit two side by side, one in frontwards and one in backwards? Understanding they need to be put in there by rolling them in rather than using a magical crane.

As a second exercise perhaps how wide you think a trailer would need to be to fit side by side nose first? Again assume the handlebars are not a problem, my trailer has sides but they are lower than the handlebars.

Or maybe it's really the same answer since the widest part of the bike is pretty much at the middle of the length?

Thanks in advance...

 

I wouldn't do it in less that 48" wide, assuming the trailer has no wheel wells in the deck top. Even the wells might be workable with a staggered bike setup, but 4 ft is my minimum width to be able to strap everything solid and not have it too top heavy.

 

I stagger them when I carry more than one. The wheel chock for the second bike is set about 18" back from the front of the trailer. One thng you really need ot watch out for when using a small trailer is not exceeding the load rating, or having excessive tongue weight.

 

The trailer has no wheel wells but the box is about 42.5" inside (again handlebars will clear the sides). Our truck has a 5000 lb tow rating, the trailer is custom built (no rating) but pretty solid. Both bikes will weigh under 1100 lb so I'm not to terribly worried about the weight overall, we have put about 3000+ lb of maple flooring in the trailer before and it did fine, so even if it is a bit unbalanced I think we will be ok for tongue weight. The axel is a bit towards the back so I don't think we are at risk of unloading the tongue either. With regards to being top heavy, I think we are ok here too as the wheels are outside the box, it's got a good wide track.

However, your width numbers seem reasonable to me and I'm not at all convinced we can mange to fit both bikes in there. The trailer is 85" long but we would leave the back of it off. It has good tiedown locations all around. But 5" is a lot to make up and we have limited length to work with for doing a stagger.

So the next question is, can I squeeze one in a 6-foot pickup truck box if I leave the tailgate open and put it in diagonally? It's a 2006 Nissan Frontier and the bed is 73" long by 44" wide. Notwithstanding how much fun it won't be to load a bike into a bed that high off the ground, what do you think? Also a good tiedown system in the bed.

If it makes any difference the second bike is a parts bike so if I need to commit any onsite mechanical indignities to it to make it fit, I'm game, as long as they don't cause permanent damage to parts I want to preserve, and still allow me to load/unload/strap it in.

 

Best setup I had was an old chev S10 pickup with a long box. 2 bikes all day long unless it was a touring bike. Nice and low for easy loading. Find an old wreck and make a trailer out of it. Longer tailgate chains for better angle of ramp was perfect. Piece of 2" angle iron with 3 wheel channels mounted to front of box to prevent wheels from turning left/right or box warping. And on top of sides, angle iron with lots of tie down holes

 

You should be able to fit the parts bike in the truck bed at an angle.