trailer travel advice

[trbig]

I still don't understand taking the tank off... unless you plan on hauling it down gravel roads behind the Jeep? Nothing should hit it any more than what will happen when when riding it. If that concerned about it, get a sheet of something and stick it to the front of the tank like that white stuff they use while transporting new cars. Wetting the tank and some window tint stuck on would probably do the trick, but I still don't see the point... unless it's just going to be a trailer queen its whole life.

[mjpxs11sh]

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thanx again James for all ur input. its greatly appreciated
tr, i think im just paranoid, but there r gravel trucks and misc stuff flying thru the air. i just put the cover on and it wont work with the ratchet straps. im thinkin better safe than sorry and thowin away a new paint job. hopefully everything will go as planned.

[sparks]

What I would do is get one or two of those movers blankets from Uhaul and strap them over the bike.. Something that would penetrate that would probably kill you anyhow..

My two cents worth..

Lee
(Sparks)

[ViperRon]

If the trailer you get does not have high sides and tie downs and you have to strap it low you may want to put some blue painters tape on the frame rails where the straps wrap around. Bumps on the road can make the straps polish the paint some. My trailer has only low straps and I have traveled more than 500 miles with no problems before but you need to check it in the first 50 and then again at 100 incase the straps loosen some. have a good trip

[MaximPhil]

Putting a cover over the bike seems like a good idea, except for the fact that the wind beating the cover and having it flap against the tank paint for countless miles will damage it right quick. JMHO

Ditto to what Bikerphil says. I left the cover on mine for a 600 mile trailer ride and it took the gold right off the logos and scratched the tank and side covers. I would leave everything on and just strap it down.
Phil

[James England]

it took the gold right off the logos and scratched the tank and side covers.

I bet you were cheesed off about that!

[mjpxs11sh]

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i never thought the straps and/or a cover would cause such issues. guess its a live and learn process, but with all the experienced help from you guys, it will either survive the 800mi trip or ill be one to post to help all XS brothers.
thanx all!!!! im not leaving till this Sat am. so im lookin forward to any more posts/tales.

[tv5150]

No Center Stand

I agree NOT to put it on the center stand, and no cover or blankets either.
Another helpful tool is the Canyon Dancer Bar harness that is real popular with the sport bike crowd. It has 2 sleeves that slip over your bar grips and loops that come-out on the opposite side so you get a criss-cross effect that pulls the bars to the opposite side of the bike to be tied down. Also, pick-up a couple of pairs of soft ties that allow you to loop them around your frame tubes and then attach your hooks of your rachet straps to them (I use them on the fork tubes at the bottom of the triple trees) Position your soft ties while the bike is on the ground and it's much easier to hook them when you get it on the trailer.
Here's a pic of the KZ1000 Police bike I bought in Phoenix. I've trailered GL1800 Wings and every other type bikes and never had a failure or damage to any on them. Also, after you leave, stop after the 1st 5 or so miles and double check the straps (I use Gorilla tape to wind-up the excess straps-up and tape them close to the rachet release). BTW, do not compress the front forks beyond a couple of inches as you could blow-out your fork seals if you pull it down too tight.... Happy Motoring

[mjpxs11sh]

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no center stand, got it! thats a really nice bike tv5150. i have 4 soft loops and 4 ratcheting straps. s/b good.

[trbig]

Just my 2 cents, but I wouldn't suggest tying down an XS by the ends of the handlebars. They are pretty weak bars, and where they get pinched and held at the triple tree isn't the strongest setup. In a laydown, my weight will push those bars down, spinning them in the clamp on the triple tree, and you're talking of strapping down over twice that much.

I just hook the straps to the lower part of the bars, in closer to the triple tree. With the straps pulling forward there, there's no pressures trying to make the bars rotate, and there's not so much fulcrum effect trying to bend them at the clamp.

AND.... Unlike some, I pull down the straps and take out all the suspension on the bike. You want the bike to be one with the trailer and use the trailer's (Or truck's) suspension. If you allow the bike's suspension to still work and it drops down on the bumps, it allows the straps to get loose momentarily which can let a hook come off either end, but also jerks back against the strap on rebound. Those straps can take a good steady pull, but 600 pounds snapping back against them will break them. Dirt bikes are much lighter and hard to ratchet all the suspension out of, and I've had them snap straps that were rated at more than 10 times the bike's weight.

One other thing I do is put the sidestand down if there's room with the suspension mashed. IF one of the straps does happen to break, you've got a 50/50 chance of it being the one on the right. If a strap breaks, the other pulls the bike over, but a sidestand stops that from going to the left. Using 4 straps on each corner helps prevent that though.

As suggested... drive the first couple miles and check everything out... then after another 20 or so, one more check.. then I check it every 100 or so for the first bit. Then, I just watch the rearview mirror after that and check it at fuel stops. Oh.. another trick I learned is when you go to hook the straps to the bike, if you don't have any twists in the strap and it's straight and flat from hooking point to hooking point, the wind will vibrate that strap like a guitar string. You may be able to play a nice tune by varying your speed, but it's tough on the straps. If you put just one twist.. or even just a half twist between the hooks, it will prevent this from happening. Kind of like the new external antennas on cars have a corkscrew twist in them to keep them from whistling in the wind. Anything more than 1/2 or 1 twist makes it tough to keep the strap straight when you're ratcheting it down. Oh.. and make sure to take care of those strap ends well! They are like Hudini on poorly tied knots, and they'll whip the paint off of things quite well also.

OK.. maybe that was at least 4 cents worth. Sorry if I rambled.

[mjpxs11sh]

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im glad u posted. lots of great info. ill follow ur suggestions and see how it works. i dont know what will work considering there r plenty of contradictive posts. everyone makes sense, so ill be the next one to babble my 4 cents haha thanx tr!

[James England]

Not being provocative but...... I've always used the centre stand when picking up XS1100's and the last three I bought, I had collected by a bike transport man....All three were delivered on the centre stands. One travelled 250 miles that way... the others about 200. No problems with any of them.....

When I've transported them myself, it's always felt safer to me with the bike on the stand. I've always been bothered about a bike sliding to one side whilst being ratchet strapped either side.

IMO, it would take a hell of a pothole in a road (like maybe a bomb crater) and a veehickle with no suspension whatsoever to damage a centre stand/mounting.

Anyway, that's how I've always done it. Not saying it's right but I've not had any problems.

[DiverRay]

James, I know you don't live on this side of the pond, so you don't understand the so-called "roads" that some of us drive on. I use the side stand as a start, pull the front down a little at a time on each side until the front forks are MOST of the way down. I then put a strap from the rear of the bike down to a tie point on my trailer. 3,200 miles all over the Southwest with ZERO problems. I have seen bikes with bad frames from traveling on the center stand, so I would NOT recommend it. JMHO.

[tv5150]

[QUOTE=trbig;380273]Just my 2 cents, but I wouldn't suggest tying down an XS by the ends of the handlebars. They are pretty weak bars, and where they get pinched and held at the triple tree isn't the strongest setup. In a laydown, my weight will push those bars down, spinning them in the clamp on the triple tree, and you're talking of strapping down over twice that much.

I just hook the straps to the lower part of the bars, in closer to the triple tree. With the straps pulling forward there, there's no pressures trying to make the bars rotate, and there's not so much fulcrum effect trying to bend them at the clamp.

AND.... Unlike some, I pull down the straps and take out all the suspension on the bike. You want the bike to be one with the trailer and use the trailer's (Or truck's) suspension.

Maybe you should get 2 cents back in change...
As far as the using the Canyon Dancer Bar harness on the hand grips, they are not to hold the bike down (the ones on the fork tubes do that) there're more for stability side to side (you don't use a lot of tension on the harness).
And for pulling the suspension all the way down, there's no better way to blow-out your fork seals...Good luck with doing that
I've hauled every bike made (every Goldwing ever made, Valkyrie 1500s, Harley Road Glides, Custom Harleys, Honda ST11s and 13s, XS11s, Pacific Coasts, Suzuki GL1000s & 650 Burgmans, V-65 Sabres and Magnas, V-Maxs, ole school Venture Royales, Kawa Voyager XIIs and old KZ models)----prolly 30 or so in the last 35 yrs. and I've never had a failure or damage to anything on any bike I've ever hauled (some 1K+ mile trips)...
So I must be doing something right???
Live and learn...and you'll pay the piper when the time comes (and it'll be more than 2 cents) :

[James England]

James, I know you don't live on this side of the pond, so you don't understand the so-called "roads" that some of us drive on.

True. An important point.I must confess, my experience with moving these bikes is on flat roads, motorways, etc and nothing as rough as what some of your roads sound like in your post. If they are comparable to some of our farm tracks here, then yes, you're right......don't use the stand!