When a customer tours the factory or picks up an Ironhorse, a frequent question is “what made you get into this business?” The answer is very simple—PAIN!
In the late 90’s, our primary recreational activity was riding motorcycles. But with a busy work schedule and little time to ride, it was hard to ride in the beautiful parts of the southeast without spending a lot of time on freeways. Trips further west or north were simply out of the question. Then there’s the fact that I always was a “fair weather rider” and needed “stuff” with me…well, you get the picture! So a trailer was the solution!
After a fruitless search for a light-weight trailer that would be easy (for a trailer novice like me) to use going forward (or backward), easy to hook up , easy to tow, and safe and easy to load bikes in, we settled for the next best thing–a small, single axle, box trailer.
Step one – buy trailer. No big deal! Done! Step two—turn a cargo trailer into a bike hauler! BIG DEAL. Not to bore you with all the agonizing detail, but converting a cargo trailer to a bike hauler took a 3 day weekend, countless trips to Lowes and bike shops looking for “accessories” like hooks, ratchet straps, d-rings, wheel chocks, etc. followed by a lot of measuring, drilling, frustration and cussing!
Finally finished equipping the trailer, we were excited for our first trip to the mountains, so the bikes were loaded (a tedious task) and strapped down (even more time consuming since one person had to “stand” on the bike to make sure it was straight while the other struggled with long, thin, twisty ratchet straps.)
Off we went on our first voyage! Towing with our prized (renovated) 1970 Chevy truck with a V-8 engine, we discovered that 60 was top speed and the truck was very unhappy, especially going uphill. Despite normally decent gas mileage, we stopped a couple extra times on the way. But we made it, parked the trailer, opened the door and to our dismay, one bike was snuggled up to the other. Not much damage, but also not good so a new tie down method was important, and what to do about our tow vehicle dilemma?
First the tie down part—I felt like I had won the lottery when I found “pingels”—a u-shaped predecessor to a ride-in, step-off wheel chock. At least pingels keep the front wheel from moving, so a bit of an improvement over nothing! One person still has to “stand” on the bike while the other fights the ratchet straps. Since I was the “stander” and Ed did the tie down, he would inevitably finish, stand up and announce that he was ready to go…but I, of course, needed to finish packing!
After a few more trips with the Chevy truck, we decided the truck was the issue. So we bought a new 8 cylinder Explorer to use on the next journey. While we had overcome the tie down problem, we still couldn’t say that about the vehicle problem. Towing our trailer with two bikes with the Explorer made no difference. Overdrive was a fantasy. Fuel went out as fast as we put it in. No speed, no ease and every time we drove past a “big rig” our trailer swerved and swayed. Towing meant PAIN–not pleasure. Then there was parking, hooking up, unhooking to store, backing it up, and on and on and on!!! Every part of dealing with that trailer was PAIN!!! After about a year of taking several trips, all painful, it became too much hassle to take the trailer so we could have the bikes at our disposal.
Finally, after buying one more vehicle (2002 Navigator—the biggest engine at the time) for an extended trip and discovering (within the first 50 miles) the problems we encountered with the Explorer, we finally accepted that the problem was the trailer. But we were westward bound so on we went and on the way back, learned that with a strong crosswind, it required real strength to keep the “rig” on the road. 4700 miles down and 300 left to go, the conclusion was “there has to be a better way”—meaning there has to be a better trailer and if there isn’t, this is the last trip!
After much searching and researching, we discovered that a fixed top version of a fiberglass trailer was produced in Arkansas. It was relatively light weight, sort of aerodynamic although too tall at 87”. Best of all, the owners were tired of dealing with transporters, dealers, suppliers and all the other every day issues a business owner faces. So we bought the molds, brought them back to Tennessee and started Ironhorse Trailers!
Since then, there have been hundreds of improvements and changes–
-from fixed top to flip top
-from an epoxy painted chassis to a powder coated chassis to an aluminum chassis
-from a small two bike version to one bike, big two bike, and four bike versions
-from a four-piece main body to a single piece main body
-from a one-year warranty to a five-year warranty
And those are just the big improvements. We have incorporated small improvements on an ongoing basis to make the product more reliable, safe, user friendly, aesthetically pleasing and easier to use—in other words—PAINLESS!
