Towing a Trailer with the R65

[oz_johnno]

blokes,
When my dad died and I inherited beryl (1986 R65 monolever) with a genuine 40,000km (25000 miles thereabouts) on it.  I also got his motorcycle trailer and a shitload of camping gear.  A friend of dad's was nice enough to maguyver up a tow hitch so I could take the whole rig on the ferry to mainland Australia (I grew up in Tasmania).

I loaded the trailer with the hitch on a set of scales and the load came out  to 15kg down force on the hitch.

The ride back to melbourne went really well with the bike able to sit on the speed limit 110km/h (approx 65mph) with only a little more throttle than normal.  Hills were a bit more of a challenge naturally enough but I took it relatively easy and the bike slowed to about 80km/h (50mph).

The question is, Am I doing any damage to the bike by using it as a tow vehicle?  Does anyone else out there do this?  If they do, what recommendations do you have re precautions or extra maintenance on the bike?

My thought was it wouldnt be any harsher on the bike than carrying a pillion?

I throw these questions open to the wisdom of the masses......

Cheers

OZ

[Barry]

My thought was it wouldnt be any harsher on the bike than carrying a pillion?
 

My thoughts exactly. It's not likely to be worse than carrying a pillion. I would keep the revs up just as you have to do running 2 up.  

I've been doing a lot of miles 2 up this year and have been surprised that there is little if any impact on fuel consumption. That might be because I'm going a little slower.

[montmil]

...Although the limited amount of torque produced by the short-stroke R65 might be a problem touring the mountain states. Not such a big deal Down Under, me thinks.