How do you tie down two motorcycles on a trailer?
When transporting motorcycles, you might occasionally need to load two bikes onto one trailer or truck bed. This isn’t too difficult to do, assuming there’s enough room. But how stable will those bikes be, stacked so close together? Are there any special precautions you could take?
Here’s a simple primer on how to connect two bikes inside a single trailer.
Tip #1: Have them facing opposite directions
This may seem obvious to some, but a lot of people make the same mistake. When loading the bikes, you can save space by having one face forward and the other backward. This helps maintain stability as well — the handlebar straps won’t get in each other’s way.
Just don’t forget to stagger your wheel chocks too! The bike that foes in backward will need to be held in place until its chock is set. Have someone else keep it steady on the trailer as you ratchet in the chock, then wedge it in. And of course, the same goes when unloading it.
Here’s a visual aid, courtesy of the kind folks over at Harley Davidson Forums :
Tip #2: Use extra straps
Now, some folks tend to go overboard when strapping down two bikes together like this. But in our experience, they’re no less (and no more) secure than single-bike loads are.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t play it safe, of course. Depending on your choice of trailer, there should be enough tie-down fixtures for both bikes to stay nice and stable. And with a little creativity, you can avoid any straps going directly from one bike to the other.
Here’s one possible strap setup that works well for in a u-haul rental trailer (an older model):
Tip #3: Pony up for a double bike trailer
If doing this kind of transport on the regular, consider investing in a more permanent solution. There are double bike stands you could get that fit into your average truck bed. Even better, there are also double bike trailers that hitch easily to almost any vehicle.
Like any sort of specialty gear, trailers of this type can rarely be used to transport anything else. But on the upside, they tend to be very compact and practical. The following video illustrates their ease of use.
For a more thorough take on motorcycle hauling, click here.
The featured image on the post is taken from: advrider.com
Originally published at https://citizenshipper.com on June 14, 2020.
