Me and a buddy are looking to start our biking career this weekend by joining the GS family.  We're renting an F-150 and driving 600 mile round trip just to look at some bikes.     (Help me choose a GL)  Anyway, we are leaving tomorrow and don't have anything in the way of a ramp.  I think it'd be expensive to buy one at a B&M, and was wondering what suggestions people might have to load them and secure them on the cheap.  I'm thinking Home Depot, except an 8' long wood plank is going to be impossible to transport once the bikes are in, right?  And what about securing?  Tie downs, but do we need to chock the wheels with something special?  Also, 2 bikes will fit, right?

Thanks for helping us newbies join the club.

-'gmo

Find a hill and back up to it. As for securing the bikes I've always just used two tie-downs for each bike. Hook them on the handle bars and tighten them down. You shouldn't need any chalks, if you wanted to be super safe you could put a strap or two on the back of each bike, but its not really necessary.

Usually you can find some kind of hill to back up to and just push it right in... My nephew and I drove over 900 miles one way to pick up my bike and we backed up to a hill near the house where I bought it. the tail gate was still about 2' too high still but w/ 2 people the short lift up wasnt bad, front up and in first then steady the front and lift the rear in  . Be sure to take some good ratcheting tiedowns ( dont buy the cheapo ones) 

yup what scott said . a six foot board should be fine .   the bike shop you go to should have a ramp ( most good places do ) and they will let you use theres .

I had an old H-D so I was pretty good at getting bikes into PU trucks (by myself! And a 1985 small Toyota at that!) 
Ditto the hill idea- look for a place to back the truck to lose some height.  Even backing it crosswise into a curb helps. 
Do not cut a plank and use a hinge- it will snap off.
Use good quality tie downs- cheap ones will break.
For 2 bikes, you might have to put one in backward.  This sounds difficult but you have help.  Good luck.

A friend and I went to pick up my gs about a week ago and we just used 2 ratchet straps on the handle bars to hold it. The bike didn't move one inch

I just picked up my bike two weeks ago.  used a ramp kit(attaches to a board and sits on your tailgate).  i used a 6ft board but i have a lowered s10 so my truck is alot lower than yours.  just make sure the angle isn't too steep and the hill is a great idea.  i have a ditch that works great for loading and unloading at home. i used 4 cam lock staps to play it safe. two on handle bars, two on frame above rear tire. glad i did.  i drove 300 miles to pick it up and drove through a horrible rain storm for half the trip home.  i'm talking 40mph and still can't see with winds gusting to 60mph.  bike didn't move at all.

i think the ramp kit and 2 2x8 6ft boards cost me about $30 at lowes

Also I forgot to mention that we didn't use a hill or ramp or anything. We just picked up the front of the bike and put it in the back then lifted the rear. These bikes are pretty light.

If you go with the Board/Ramp kit i would definately drive some nails on each side of the board about 2 feet down from where it meets your truck and then get an extra tie-down to wrap around the board(at the nails) and loop the other end around your trailer hitch(underneath the board).

Those supplied pins with the ramp kits need holes somewhere to fasten?

I put a GS500E and an SV650S side-by-side into the bed of my Regular Cab 2000 Nissan Frontier.  I couldn't quite get the tailgate up (either bike needs to be just a little sideways for that, or the air let out of the tires), but otherwise they fit fine.  Definitely use good ratcheting tie downs for the front.  Cheaper ones will work for the rear (just to keep the rear from bouncing around) if that's all you have. 

Whatever you get, be sure to get something so that you can walk beside the bike.  It gets hard to handle when the bars are over your head.  I bought a pair of the 7.5' plated arch ramps from allramps.com.  They do the job, but the finish is lacking.  The aluminum ramps at Sears look really nice for only about $50 more.  If your budget is tight, a ramp and a 6' 2x12 will work well too (and fit in the back).  You can run into clearance problems when using a couple of boards, but if there's a hill then you'll probably be okay.  However, if your budget is *that* tight, maybe you should be working or studying instead of buying motorcycles.  

So it looks like we wont be able to rent a truck.  All that is avaliable is a large 15 passenger cargo van.  I did some searching, and it seems users have had no problems fitting one bike into these vans, but does anyone have any experience squeezing in two?  The Enterprise van seems pretty big, and I dont think it would be a problem, but really have no clue.

I have an E350 Ford Cargo for work (pretty much the same size as the 15 passengers ... mine's a 1-ton), and I know my bike would fit in it even with my shelves . without the shelves , i'm 100% positive you could get them both in . You may have to put the 1st in backwards and the 2nd facing forwards , that way the front wheels can overlap if needed . The only thing i'm unsure of is how hard it'd be to find places to hook the tiedowns to inside the van ...

What about renting a trailer?  providing you have a hitch...

home depot rents folding aluminum ramps for about $8 per day.

Quote from: Egaeus on April 14, 2007, 01:39:21 PM
I put a GS500E and an SV650S side-by-side into the bed of my Regular Cab 2000 Nissan Frontier.  I couldn't quite get the tailgate up (either bike needs to be just a little sideways for that, or the air let out of the tires), but otherwise they fit fine.  Definitely use good ratcheting tie downs for the front.  Cheaper ones will work for the rear (just to keep the rear from bouncing around) if that's all you have. 

Whatever you get, be sure to get something so that you can walk beside the bike.  It gets hard to handle when the bars are over your head.  I bought a pair of the 7.5' plated arch ramps from allramps.com.  They do the job, but the finish is lacking.  The aluminum ramps at Sears look really nice for only about $50 more.  If your budget is tight, a ramp and a 6' 2x12 will work well too (and fit in the back).  You can run into clearance problems when using a couple of boards, but if there's a hill then you'll probably be okay.  However, if your budget is *that* tight, maybe you should be working or studying instead of buying motorcycles.  

Same truck I have, mines a '98 though.

Quote from: bucks1605 on April 14, 2007, 07:43:34 PM
Same truck I have, mines a '98 though.

Well, it goes...and stops.  It's an appliance though, and now my air conditioner is acting up....

Two guys + truck + gs500 =  easy cheeze


lift the front, get the smaller guy up in the bed, steady the front, lift the back.

strap it down snug and GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE BEFOR THE OWNER KNOWS YOU STOLE HIS BABY!

really now, we all know thats a joke.

Thanks for all your input, guys.    Picked up two GS's this weekend and loaded 'em into the van w/ no problem at all.  Bench seat anchors on the floor were perfect tie down points.  Followed your suggestions, backed into driveway, used ratcheting tiedowns and 3 or 4 people, and it was snap.  Pretty ghetto extraction procedure, we used a box spring we found by a dumpster to lessen the drop for one of the bikes, feet popping through the box as we supported the bike, then used a 4 inch metal plank in a harrowing balancing act for the 2nd bike.  Anyway, excited to join the family!

OK... Now... New thread with pics !!! 

Quote from: Egaeus on April 14, 2007, 08:00:48 PM

Quote from: bucks1605 on April 14, 2007, 07:43:34 PM
Same truck I have, mines a '98 though.

Well, it goes...and stops.  It's an appliance though, and now my air conditioner is acting up....

Same here, I don't even use it.