Hauling a motorcycle- Advice needed!

Hello all!


This coming thursday, I'm driving from northern Minnesota to New Hampshire. I'm pulling a 6x12 uhaul trailer but I'll have my motorcycle in the bed. My concern is when I strap it down from the handle bars, obviously the front shocks of my bike will compress. From loading to unloading, the bike will be strapped down like this for 4 days. I'm just wondering how detrimental will it be for the shocks to be compressed like this, in such cold weather, for 4 days straight. Thank you for any and all help!

 

Just cut a section of PVC pipe (1 1/2 inch or so) the length of your fork travel, place under front fender, on top of front tire, and pull it down tight. Even a piece of a 2x4 will work.

 

I had the same setup when I moved from North Carolina to Florida. My bike was strapped down on the back of my truck for almost 2 days and I didn't have any issues. Might be a good idea to release the pressure every now and then but idk....

 

Yeah, I'd doubt there would be any issues, but a spacer is just too simple to make/use not to. They even make things for that purpose.

 

You do risk blowing the front shocks when you strap the bike down using the handlebars, but really only if you crank them down. You want it just tight enough to hold the front end, too much and it can blow if you hit a bump. I'd recommend releasing the tension a few times over the course of the trip, just to be safe.

Using a spacer is the best method, not required, but it will eliminate the concern.

 

As mentioned above, I would use a spacer if it will be tied down that long. What kind of bike is it? If you can, I prefer to strap down the front from the head of the frame and used straps on the handle bars just to keep the front from shifting. I bent a set of clubman bars moving a bike once.

 

What's a front shock? I think you mean forks. I've been doing suspension for many years, and I've only seen a bike have trouble from being strapped down too tightly, and the oil seal was already weeping oil beforehand. Modern springs/seals are designed to take a lot more abuse than they're given.

 

You won't blow your suspension from strapping it down. You may however side-load your fork bushings/oil seals by overly tightening the front down. That can cause a fork seal leak... been there done that.

I don't recommend strapping the front down more than 1/2 of the fork travel. That's when I had fork seal issues (about 2/3 fork travel compression). I also don't recommend clamping from the handlebars. I've used canyon dancers and had a clip-on rotate. I've seen bent harley bars from clamping from the bars.

I don't generally use a wheel chock in the back of my truck, just park wheel against front of bed. Rotate rear tire (while in gear) to prevent bike from rolling back at all from transmission/drive train play. I use soft strap loops around lower triple and use a good quality ratchet strap, symetrically strapping bike down so bars don't turn. Same for rear. You just need enough tension to keep the bike stable, and preventing strap hook from coming off over big bump.

For peace of mind, you can relieve the strap stresses when not in motion, then re-tighten when in motion.

I've transported my bikes over 100 times in the bed of the Taco, for thousands of miles. Only had issues that one time when over tightening.

 

How old were the seals that went, and I'm curious what led you to the conclusion about side loads.

 

Well technically it would be fore/aft loading. My strapping points do not line up on the same plane as the forks. The fork isn't being compressed in a perfect linear line.

Seals were around 2 years old. Bushings were still in decent shape.

 

Gotcha. We did some gnarly torture tests on seals back in the day. I compressed a fork and locked it in place for 3 months with no issues.

 

Here's a pictorial of what I mean, it's exaggerated, but to show the theory. There's also the dynamic movements of the bike moving up and down, back and forth while the vehicle is in motion.



If your experiment was strapping a fork down with no side loading, then technically it shouldn't leak. If you strapped it down and repeatedly side-loaded it, as if how the bike would be reacting while in transit, it may have given different results. Again, this is theory. But the one time I did strap the crap out of my bike and drove like I stole it, my seals immediatly were leaking.

 

While that is a great diagram, and I appreciate your theory- modern motocross forks do not have those shortcomings. If that were the case, teams would be unable to use 49mm lower fork legs, and 51mm upper tubes. Is it possible for a fork to leak due to side loads? Yes. Is it going to blow out from being strapped down for an extended period of time? Highly unlikely. If you get a chance, watch a slow motion video of a motorcycle through a whoop section, and see the action of the forks. You'll see what I'm talking about.

 

I imagine moto forks have larger bushings to compensate for the fore/aft loading, than a street bike. You would probably know better, I've only had street bike conventional forks apart. My fork tubes are only 43mm. Newer gen of my bike inverted are 41mm.

OP, if you want care free security, no straps needed:
http://www.pit-bull.com/category/trailer_restraints.html

 

Nice chicken strips (or lack thereof). I never pushed it hard enough to get to the sidewall; maybe if I grew a pair and registered at a track day.

 

Supermoto bikes are a blast on tight road courses/canyons.

 

Here my setup

 

I know its too late now but this is what I use. Sport Chock from Baxley. This thing is invaluable. You don't even have to strap the bars. Chip sells an anchoring kit if you need it that works great.
My wife uses it to park her bike in the garage. We actually fight over who gets to use it so we're going to have to buy another one. Here is his website....
www.baxleycompanies.com

 

Would be nice to know what type of bike op has. I dont have my bike in the bed of the truck enough to justify a Pitbull. So when I go to the track and dont trailer her, I just use the CycleCinch, put the front tire all the way against the front of the bed and only snug it up enough to compress the forks maybe another half inch while im still sitting on the bike. You never want to ratchet it so much that it compresses the front fork past normal operating range. If its a mx bike use get a block of wood or use what T4daddy said. Had several customers come in needing new seals because they decided to compress the suspension all the way cause they were afraid the bike would fall.

 

Thanks guys!! Sorry I didn't have a chance to respond but I appreciate all your responses. I have a 2013 CBR so she isn't too heavy. I have the forks locked and the straps tight enough so that it won't move but not bottomed out and a rubber chock holding the back tire in place. Thanks again!