was wondering if anyone has ever loaded and carried two bikes in the back of a truck before. if so, how did you secure them? I am moving across the country and would like to be able to carry them both in the back of my chevy silverado if possible. any help will be greatly appreciated. thanks.
later.
The ease of transporting your bikes is going to be determined by the size of them and if you have a LWB or short bed. With a little ingenuity, virtually anything is possible. To wit:
When I was in the Air Force, I wanted to bring my 1978 GS400 to the base. All I had was a 1973 Mercury Montego 4 door, aka "The Bay" (this was in 1982, mind you). After measuring three or four times and sure the carcass would fit in the back seat, I began to unbolt. I wish I had taken pictures to document this. I removed both wheels while balancing the chassis on a Radio Flyer Wagon. I removed the handlebar,bodywork, forks, fuel tank, turn signals, exhaust; basically everything except steering head, frame/engine, swingarm, and rear shocks. What made this a little tricky was that the rider footpegs were solidly attached to the frame, making the unit ten inches wider. After taking the bottom of the back seat off and sitting it vertical, My dad and I used plywood sheets as a ramp to slide it in and over the driveline hump. Everything else fit in the trunk or in a box on the front floorboard. I made the five hour drive back to the base with no problem, except I was required to keep the front seat one notch closer than usual.
After my shift the next day ("Hey guys, look what I've got in my car!"), I had one guy help slide it out far enough to mount the forks, handlebar, and front wheel. As I pulled it out by the bars, my partner pushed from inside. I got the centerstand down, and there it sat. I was able to maneuver the car out from under the swingarm from there, and I thanked my partner for his help and told him I owed him a night of drinking on me. Two hours later, everything was back in place, and I rode it that night. With the exception of a little paint scraped off the bottom frame tubes, nothing was worse for the journey.
Sorry if I'm going on, but if you're willing to dismantle (maybe only narrowing it a bit would be enough) it really wouldn't be a problem. Just have a little help arranged at both ends and it helps to have a little beer handy. :cheers:
when I started racing in....94ish
we used to put 3 bikes in the back of my 80 nissan 4x4 xtracab
SR500
and 2 GS's
and drive to Savannah GA...250+ one way
i fit a gs500 and 91 honda f2 in my gmc s15 just mount a tie down point in the floor of the truck bed
try this, point 1 forward and to one side, (try to remove pegs,)point the other one backwards, try to remove pegs. that way you can take advantage of your tie down points, did that with my gs and a friends rm250, that was in a nissan frontier btw
yea its not hard to do, just take your time, and load the heaviest one first.
Andy is right...side by side facing forward (both of them) is best -you just need an extra mount point for your straps in the middle of the truck bed. Then do the regular job of strapping them down by the front ends (lower clamps work well...) a set of rails in the bed might be a good idea (I've never used them and haven't dropped a bike....but rails are a good idea)....
Anyway good luck.
thanks for the tips everyone. I did a little trial run today and managed to get both bikes in and tied down using a center tie down point. should make it cross country no problem. Thanks again.
GS oragami anyone?
Quoteif you're willing to dismantle (maybe only narrowing it a bit would be enough) it really wouldn't be a problem.
Holy cow!! :o
Maybe the GS is like T2... you can melt it down, drive it cross-country in a bucket, then let it spontaneously reform at you destination? yeah... that's the ticket.
Well, now that I've looked at a couple of pictures, I couldn't recreate the stunt I pulled with my '96 GS's grandpa. For one, the oil sump which hangs below the frame tubes would drag and possibly damage the engine. That wasn't an issue on my '78. Two, that '73 Montego did not age well, and is surely dead. I don't think the GS will fit in the back seat of my Corolla. ;)