Author Topic: Different Ways You've Transported a Bike! (Read 3292 times)

bill440cars · « **on:** June 02, 2007, 06:54:11 AM »

How did you transport a bike, that was different than usual?

Let the tales begin!

Later on, Bill

Gordon · « **Reply #1 on:** June 02, 2007, 07:07:48 AM »

I bought my 750 from a guy in Denver when I was living in Eugene, OR, and borrowed my friend's '84 Toyota minivan (brick on wheels

) to pick it up with. No trailer, so I just removed the benches and brought along an 8 x 10 board for a ramp.

I really lucked out because it just barely fit. Had to remove the mirrors and rotate the handlebars all the way down, and had to open the left side window in the back of the van so the left handlebar could stick outside.

On the way home, somewhere out in middle-of-nowhere Utah, I pulled off the road to sleep for a few hours and had to contort myself and curl up around the bike. When I woke up it had leaked a little oil on my pant leg, and that was when we bonded.

333 · « **Reply #2 on:** June 02, 2007, 07:39:51 AM »

When I was young and stupid....

I didn't have a way or freind with a way to get my first 4(550K4) home. It ran(sort of) so I rode it home. The only light that worked was the headlight, and it was a car bulb taped in place. Of course it was just after dark. The countershaft sprocket was so worn that if I gave it too much gas, it would spin in the chain. My plan was to tailgate( so I could stay close to something people might see) my wife home for 30-35 miles. It worked, but it was a white knuckle ride.

I.m much smarter now. And I have my own trailer.

nickjtc · « **Reply #3 on:** June 02, 2007, 08:37:01 AM »

When I was an impoverished optical apprentice I bought an old (can't remember the year, but probably '60s) BSA C15 250 with the idea of restoring it. It was a non-runner in every sense of the word!

I had no access to transportation and being impatient wanted it at my apartment, at least so I could look at it. So I pushed it the five miles or so. In the rain. On flat tyres.

It languished for about a year and survived one failed theft attempt. Why anyone would want to steal it is beyond me. It made such a minimal impact on my motorcycling life that I cannot even remember what happened to it.

boatsdickson · « **Reply #4 on:** June 02, 2007, 08:52:49 AM »

One chunk at a time.

Gordon · « **Reply #5 on:** June 02, 2007, 09:04:08 AM »

Quote from: boatsdickson on June 02, 2007, 08:52:49 AM

One chunk at a time.

I bet it didn't cost you a dime!

Rocking-M · « **Reply #6 on:** June 02, 2007, 09:17:38 AM »

After our journey to a foreign land.....Maine,

where I traded a strip canoe I had built for a 81 DOHC 750.

When we decided to move back to civilization (Virginia) I loaded everything
we owned in a Rider truck, 24 ft, loaded the 3/4 ton chevy van with everything
else that we couldn't get in the truck, including the 750.
Put the van on a tow bar behind the rider and haul buggy back to Virginia

kslrr · « **Reply #7 on:** June 02, 2007, 09:46:56 AM »

When I had to move my 350f from Santa Ana to Wesminster (10 miles) about 8 years ago, I made the following contraption. The first 2 pics show the loading position, the next 2 the locked position. The frount wheel of the bike was rollod into the frame, the bolts went through the spokes and then the front was lifted and the device locked. Tie downs from the bars to I-bolts on the bumper of the Suburban (not this one, the '85 before my divorce) kept the forks rigid and the bike rode on the rear tire.

bill440cars · « **Reply #8 on:** June 02, 2007, 10:19:11 AM »

We're collecting some cool stuff here. I bought a 71' Suzuki TS125 and had no truck or trailer. So I dropped the top on my 73' VW "The Thing", took the left rear and right front doors off, folded the rear seats down, loaded the bike in through the right rear doorway, tied that sucker down, pit the doors back on (they are quick detachable) and drove off. I got some pretty funny looks BTW.

I've got a picture somewhere and, if I can find it, I'll post it. My VW was like this one, only white with black trim.
Later on, Bill

bill440cars · « **Reply #9 on:** June 02, 2007, 10:31:02 AM »

Hey klsrr,

That's quite a rigging you have there.

I have had the occasion to tow a bike behind my VW "The Thing" by pulling the front wheel, fender and chain. Then put the front axle back in and putting the bike's front axle where the trailer and rear bumper meet (that forms right angle) and tie down the bike by the handlebars with rope to the ends of the rear bumper. Have to remember not to back up too hastily!

$:-\$

Later on, Bill

Glenn Stauffer · « **Reply #10 on:** June 02, 2007, 10:57:19 AM »

I was given a CL360 and had no access to a van or a truck, so I took it apart and got it home in a 4 door VW Fox. The engine went in the trunk with a bunch of other bits and the frame and the wheels went in the back seat.

Soos · « **Reply #11 on:** June 02, 2007, 12:24:31 PM »

I've only had 2 vehicles used in moving bikes so far.
The F-150 is a tad difficult for one person to push up a bike on a 4X4 into the bed to say the least...

The other I've used took the most creativity.
I went to Idaho to pick up a '79('78?) KZ1000 with hard bags, full fairing, and a trunk.
It was like a jigsaw fitting all of that into a '95 ford aerostar.
But without the bench seats, it (barely) all fit.

Couldn't see out the rear view mirror due to the fairing would only fit in one spot.

It was pretty easy to load though, nice and low to the ground.

I REALLY like the hitch for the front wheel of the bike there!!

l8r

bill440cars · « **Reply #12 on:** June 02, 2007, 07:01:09 PM »

In the back of my 93' Dodge Grand Caravan, I've carried several motorcycles over the few years I had it. Once I carried 2 TS400 Suzukis w/o the motors. I also had 4 TS400 motors and some misc parts in there with those bikes.

Later on, Bill

johnl · « **Reply #13 on:** June 02, 2007, 07:36:02 PM »

I had a pretty nice T200/X5 Suzuki at one time and I was moving to Montana from North Dakota and had no way to get it there so I had a friend help me slide it sideways in the back of a Subaru Justy hatchback (remember how small those things were) with the back seats folded down. I slid the passenger seat all the way forward and folded it down, but still about 1/3 of the bike was sticking out of the hatch. I just tied the hatch to the bumper tow hook and off I went. 900 miles later I had a pretty good headache from all the exhaust fumes flowing through the car even with the front windows down. The amazing thing was that the bike was completely undamaged when I took it out of the car! I have a trailer now...

pyro139 · « **Reply #14 on:** June 02, 2007, 10:11:26 PM »

k was my scooter not my honda thank god honda is heavy scoot is 230pound, pushed it 5 km up a mountain after spark plug fried half way up

DarkRider · « **Reply #15 on:** June 02, 2007, 11:33:00 PM »

Then again if it was the honda you may not have had the problem of the plugs burning up from the climb lol

74cb750 · « **Reply #16 on:** June 03, 2007, 05:41:33 AM »

I had a 1968 CB350? stolen, long story was, cops were off duty so they couldn't help me
recover it. Went and found it, put it in the back of my American Motors Gremlin.
Definitely a tight fit.
peace,
michel

Rocking-M · « **Reply #17 on:** June 03, 2007, 05:47:52 AM »

Hey Johnl, do you pull that trailer with that Justy?

Tim. · « **Reply #18 on:** June 04, 2007, 07:31:04 AM »

My trick isn't innovative or messy - just cheap

I live a couple of minutes away from a Home Depot. They rent trucks for $20/90 minutes if you buy something.

So, I buy a 2x10 12 foot board, rent the truck, go get the bike using the board as a ramp, drop the bike off at my place and then go back to HD.

Then I return the board, making sure to put it on the cart with the tire tracks facing the floor, get in my car and drive home

My only car is a Honda Civic, and while I can haul my engine and frame around, throwing a complete bike in the back would be a challenge, although that is how I got my wife's to-be-restored 1971 Motobecane moped home.

csendker · « **Reply #19 on:** June 04, 2007, 08:35:03 AM »

CB550: trailer (borrowed)
CB175 (first one): pickup (borrowed)
CB175 (second one): hitch platform; short, but scary ride for sure.

I now own one of those little fold-up trailers.

pyro139 · « **Reply #20 on:** June 04, 2007, 10:14:43 AM »

here are proper bicycle rack style carriers actualy made for motorcycles

http://www.versahaul.com/vh55.html

csendker · « **Reply #21 on:** June 04, 2007, 07:26:12 PM »

Quote

here are proper bicycle rack style carriers actualy made for motorcycles

I like yours a lot better than mine.

(...but now I like my trailer even more...)

cb350f_rider_73 · « **Reply #22 on:** July 04, 2007, 01:48:19 PM »

Mine was pretty strange. I took the seat, tank, driver pegs, and exhaust system off a 66 Honda CL77 Scrambler, then flattened the tires and with the help of a good friend, stuffed it into the trunk of a 1987 Pontiac Sunbird GT. The trick was to have the front wheel sticking out from the proper side so it didn't block access to the gas filler cap. I drove that thing 120 miles that way, but it got home.

turtle · « **Reply #23 on:** July 04, 2007, 02:52:31 PM »

We went on a rally once on our Suzuki GT250 X7 (2 up with all our camping gear). Our friends likewise on a CB250 twin. One of friend's coils died in the mountains (for any Kiwis it was halfway from Napier to Taupo). We girls hitched a ride to the next town and my partner towed friend bike-to-bike for about 50 miles.

merc2dogs · « **Reply #24 on:** July 04, 2007, 08:20:00 PM »

hardest way was pushing, longest distance pushing was a half mile with a flat tire, but when someone gives you a nearly mint 65 BSA 'If you take it now' it's not too hard.

stupidest way was to tow one home with another bike, that takes seriously coordinated steering, towing with a car/truck is extremely easy comparatively.

Current method is to use my little sailboat trailer, since it sits low I put a plywood deck on it, and use a 'channel' made of 2x6 and 1x4 to run it up onto it. loosen up the mast support and slide it up to the edge of the plywood so the front tire sngs up into the bow chock and use a short strap on the winch to hold it. When I hauled the chop I had to keep the mast support at it's boat hauling position and U-bolt a short 10x24 chunk of plywood to the tongue for the front wheel. that trailer has hauled all of my current bikes, most of my friends bikes, dirt bikes and quads on a regular basis.

Funnest way, ties for stupidest, old bike that had been stolen and recovered, gas tank and carb bowls among the missing parts, but would fire up and run with ether, I got home by using a couple 1lb propane tanks and a short length of hose from a propane torch. poked four holes in the hose, hose clamped a bolt in the end of it, then tied it in front of the carbs so the holes lined up, tied the tank to the backbone then rode the bike home by playing with the throttle and the propane valve all the way home, 2 miles like that and got some strange looks on the way home.

Ken.

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Author Topic: Different Ways You've Transported a Bike! (Read 3292 times)

Rocking-M

johnl

pyro139

Rocking-M

pyro139