Surprise! Inder trailer holds a LOT of stuff

It looks like a magic act. In fact, these pictures illustrate how much you can pack into the one-wheeled Inder trailer, offered for Royal Enfield motorcycles.

Classic Motorworks shot these pictures in response to my question about how much fits. Even Kevin Mahoney, Classic Motorworks president, was surprised.

According to Classic, the little trailer holds "nearly two cubic feet" of stuff, and they proved it!

The cute trailers are on sale right now at Classic for $999 plus $150 for shipping. Regular price is $1,299. The price includes attachment hardware for Royal Enfield motorcycles and a fold-down stand to keep the trailer upright when it's not attached to your motorcycle.

Classic is the sole distributor of the Inder trailers for North America. Here's some background on Inder, provided by Mahoney:

"They are in the Punjab region of India (north). They were large LML dealers, which is the company in India that makes the Stella (a license-built Vespa scooter). Because of that they were very familiar with the Stella colors. They are not familiar with Royal Enfield colors, which is why I didn't get any in Royal Enfield colors. He could do Stella colors so I bought a few.

"Fortunately the vendor has a real paint booth and uses DuPont paint so the next step is to try some Royal Enfield colors. This is not as easy as it sounds. OEM paint systems are different than what is used in the field for repair work. For example Royal Enfield paint is baked on and the trailer paint isn't. It will take some experimenting to get it right."

The Inder trailer has a bunch of lights, from the big taillight to the little bullet lights on the sides and big round fixtures on side stalks. I asked Mahoney what they're for.

"The orange ones that are on stalks are reflectors. They are like your appendix: an appendage from another time. The middle light is the brake light and the two other lights are turn signals. Inside the trailer are the wires from each component. There is no wiring harness. It is up to the customer to decide what they want to use it with and how they want to wire it. For example, do they want to use a trailer loom like a boat trailer, or some other arrangement."

Attaching the trailer itself is easy, Mahoney said. On the Royal Enfield "it is a bolt-on deal."

The single wheel is pneumatic and turns on real wheel bearings. There is a suspension system: the wheel moves on a swing arm cushioned by a rubber bumper. The stand provided is to hold the trailer up when it is disconnected from the bike. You don't need it when the trailer is attached to the motorcycle.

The Inder trailer is truly a vintage item. It is modeled after PAv trailers made in Czechoslovakia during the 1960s and '70s for Jawa motorcycles. Comparing those early PAv trailers to the Inder it is hard to tell the difference. The prototype for the PAv was aluminum, but production models were steel, like the Inder. Early Czech trailers had lift-off lids without hinges and you sometimes see pictures of them with a cute little rack mounted on top. How much storage room do you need?

"One other thing to note is that because the trailer has one wheel it leans with the bike and you hardly know it is there," Mahoney said.

Update: After a comment (below) from a reader I looked for a good video of a single-wheel trailer in use, leaning with a motorcycle. I didn't have much luck, although the Uni-Go video recommended by a different reader actually does show the combination turning.

It happens with very little drama. I guess that's good, but it doesn't make exciting video. You have to look closely.

Here's a fun YouTube video of a single-wheeled trailer in use, in a straight line: