I think a lot of people would agree that the best way to transport a motorcycle is to ride it but that’s not always possible. Breakdowns, flat tires, or moving across the country can be some of the reasons why someone would need to transport their bike. From loading up your track-only beast to getting ready for a ride on the trails on your dirt bike, we’ll take at some of the best ways to transport your motorcycle.
Loading up a motorcycle into a trailer or on to a pick-up truck may sound like the safest way for your baby to move around but risks still exist in the form of sloppy tie-downs or poorly secured anchor points. Loading and unloading your motorcycle also plays a huge part in whether or not your bike would get to the destination in one piece or in pieces.
Different types of vehicles
There are different types of vehicles you can use to transport your motorcycle. Please allow me to explain the pros and cons for each type below.
Using a pick-up truck
This is arguably the best and most common way to transport your motorcycle if you can’t ride it to your destination. Pick-ups are common and chances are you or one of your buddies might have one. It’ll also be easier to maneuver as you wouldn’t really need to mind the added weight all that much as pick-up trucks were designed specifically to carry heavy loads.
The problem with a pick-up truck, however, might lie in its loading height. Motorcycle range in weight from just over to several hundred kilograms. Since most pick-up are built with off-road ability in mind, most pick-ups have tall ground clearances and therefore have a tall loading height. Having a loading height too high will surely add to the difficulty.
Motorcycle on a Trailer
If you don’t have a pick-up truck or don’t have access to one, you can always buy or hire a trailer you can attach to your car. There are lots of motorcycle-specific trailer vans that would work great for any type of motorcycle. This would be great if your vehicle has the towing capacity available.
A trailer where you would load a motorcycle into attaches to a car and one of the problems with this type of motorcycle transport might have something to do with getting used to how a vehicle would handle once you attach weight to the back. Also, finding good quality and sturdy motorcycle trailer can be another hurdle.
Unlike a pick-up truck, trailers may react differently to bumps, corners, sudden stops, and accelerations. Regardless, this would be a great choice for riders who don’t have a pick-up truck and have vehicles that have towing capabilities.
Using a Utility Van to Transport a Motorcycle
Now, what if you want to protect your baby from the elements as well as from people who might have an interest in stealing it? A utility van would be a good choice. Renting a utility van may sound a bit more tedious or more expensive but for some people who don’t want their bikes exposed to dust, debris, heat, and cold, this is a good investment. If you’re headed for a track day several hundred kilometers away with a track-only supersport, it would be more reason to rent a utility van as this would not only be a good way to transport your motorcycle but could also serve as a place to stow away your gear and equipment at the track.
Some utility vans, however, can have a low roof so depending on the van, you may have to crouch or hunch down a little bit. This can possibly make loading and unloading the motorcycle a bit more difficult. Also, if you’re renting a van that has an open loading area connected to the driver’s area, the smell of gasoline from your bike might dominate the journey. It would be best to empty it before loading it up.
Loading your bike
Transporting your motorcycle can be compared to a plane’s flight. The flying part is actually the safest. It’s the take-off and landing you would need to worry about. With motorcycles, it’s the loading and unloading that’s the most crucial.
The four most important things you’d need to transport your motorcycle would include a motorcycle chock stand, a ramp, at least four tie-downs, and a buddy to help you out with loading the bike.
Loading the motorcycle is all about managing its weight. If you can, it would be a good idea to remove all liquid from your bike. This would include gasoline, coolants, and oil.
This not only removes a lot of weight from the bike but it would also ensure that your bike doesn’t leak oil or coolant onto your pick-up truck. This is also a good thing to consider if you plan on renting something to use to transport your bike.
The first thing you might want to do is to back up the vehicle or trailer you’re loading your motorcycle onto. Back it up near the curb so that the rear wheels would be in the gutter. This would cause the pick-up, van, or trailer’s rear end to dip a little bit, maybe a foot or half a foot. This may not sound like a lot but flattening your loading ramp as much as you can is important to make loading your motorcycle easier.
Don’t use a cheap loading ramp
Speaking of your loading ramp, try to use a real and sturdy one, not a couple of 2×4 pieces of plywood. A steel loading ramp would be best and getting a wide one or several slim ones would be good. This would allow you to easily walk by the side of your bike as you push it up the ramp onto your vehicle.
Motorcycles come in different shapes and sizes so make sure you would get the one appropriate for your type of motorcycle. A ramp you would use to load a dirt bike might fold in half when you use it to load a cruiser.
Get a friend to help out
Make sure to have a front wheel chock ready before starting to load up your motorcycle. There’s nothing worse than loading up your bike with nothing to hold it up securely. Also make sure that your front wheel chock is at the center to make tie-downs more secure.
You might consider riding your motorcycle up the ramp to make the loading process easy and quick. If you want to risk scratching your bike, your truck/van, and injuring yourself, then by all means. But if you want to do it properly, don’t get on your bike and ride it up.
The best way to load your motorcycle up to whatever you’re using to transport it is to do it slowly and if you can, with a friend helping you out. You can load it up in two ways, by purely just pushing it, or using the clutch and idle to run it up. Depending on your bike’s power and weight, you most likely won’t need to fiddle with the throttle.
You’re going to want a friend helping you out as you’re doing it. You’ll be doing most of the push, though. Don’t tell your friend to push your bike as he might push it further than what you’re ready to support and cause it to tip over. Simply tell your friend to just hold it steady as you push it forward or to “catch” it if it starts to fall.
Best tie-down’s money can buy (Amazon)
Securing your motorcycle
Once it’s loaded up securely on your wheel chock, it would now be good to use tie-downs to ensure that your bike wouldn’t tip or move around during transport. It’s best to get at least four tie-downs onto four tie-down points.
For the most secure fit, try to anchor your bike at a 45° on all sides. If you’re using a pick-up truck, anchor your motorcycle to the two edge corners on the front and the two rear corners at the back. This way, your bike would be supported both from the front and the back.
Where to anchor the bike
When deciding where to loop your tie-downs around your bike, keep in mind parts that are sturdy and won’t move around. This means that you should stray away from anchoring it on the handlebars, it’s plastics, side mirrors, or the rear muffler. Instead, use the motorcycle’s frame, engine parts, crash guards, the triple clamp, rear foot pegs, or passenger handles.
Make sure you tighten down the motorcycle’s tie-down and eliminate any slack no matter how minute. In fact, it’s best to compress your motorcycle’s front forks so that the suspension doesn’t make it budge. Compressing the front forks would would make the motorcycle tight and add more immovability.
On the move
Once you’ve loaded your bike securely and you’re ready to move, remember to move slowly at first and observe how your load behaves. After about ten or fifteen minutes, stop by the side of the road and check your tie-downs if they’re still tight and if any slack has shown up. It’s also best to routinely check your motorcycle throughout the journey.
If you experience a few bumps and potholes, stop to check your bike. If you accidentally accelerated to fast and yanked the truck, double check the bike. If you took a corner a little to fast, make sure to check of your motorcycle is still upright.
More security
If you want to add a bit more security, you can also put in a band or lever lock around your front brake lever so that the front wheel doesn’t budge. Also, disc locks and sprocket locks can also be used to add to the bike’s immovability.
If you’re using a van or a truck, make sure you can still close the tailgate or rear doors before you do any tie-downs. I once saw a pick-up truck with a 1200 GS in the back with the tailgate down. I never cringed harder looking at a motorcycle.
Unloading
When you finally reach your destination, all you need to do is to do the whole loading procedure but now in reverse. It’s best to undo the tie-downs first before taking it off the chock but make sure someone is supporting your bike. Sometimes people would forget that bikes can’t balance when removing the tie-downs. When they untie the tie-downs on one side, the bike would tip over to the other side.
Unloading the bike can actually be a little bit harder than loading it. When you load the bike, you have control in the form of the idle and a friend pushing. When unloading, you’d still have your friend to help you unload it but your control over the bike’s weight is reduced to just the front brake.
If you are able to get your motorcycle off of your trailer, truck, or van then congratulations, you just successfully transported your motorcycle. All that’s left to do now is to check for any scratches or dents that may have popped up. At least now, your motorcycle is back on its two wheels.