Well I went and did it yesterday, had a tow bar fitted to my Vstrom 650. It was a bit of a task as I live in Tadley, near Basingstoke and the company who fitted the tow bar, Freewheel Trailers is in North Walsham in Norfolk.
that's 186 miles each way, with the return trip in snow judged as `interesting' especially the last few miles with snow laying on the roads.
The towbar was made form scratch by the company and seems firm enough do do the job OK.
I will post pictures later and of course a report on how the 650 copes with towing a small trailer.
As for those who may ask `why'. I have towed a trailer many times behind Goldwings and it does make thinks better in many ways. Apart from the increased carrying capacity (my wife likes her comforts), the weight of a lot of your camping gear is placed in the trailer and not loading up the bikes suspension. This in turn results in a better handling bike. It does still have the same effect on braking and acceleration as loading the bike up does though.
As for getting through traffic, the legal max for a trailer behind a solo motorcycle in the UK is 1 metre (or 3ft 3 and 3/8 inch for those still stuck on imperial measurements) so if the handle bars go through then the trailer will. It also means that bike is actually narrower with a trailer than it is with panniers on
In the future I might even let others have a go on my 650 to see what they think of this way to carry enough gear for longer trips.
Keith C