Any suggestions on how to do this? I was planning to use some kind of ramp, but i don't have at the moment. How should I tie it down? I don't want it to fall over, or out heh.  

two or three people should be able to just lift it up.  when i loaded mine, i back the pickup truck up to a sidewalk, and rode the bike up the handicap ramp, onto the sidewalk and then just lifted the front wheel in, and then the back.  make sure when you strap it down, you have the suspension compressed as much as possible.

Throw it over your shoulder and jump in the back of your truck!  :nana:  Jk don't hurt yourself.  

Whatever you do, please get someone to help you!!!!! Do not try to load up a ramp by yourself it is really dangerous.   Depending on the height of your truck, you could find a small hill to back up to and just push the bike in. Or use a ramp and get help.
Once you have the bike in the back, i use 3 straps. 2 on the handle bars to keep the bike up-right and not falling to either side, and the 3rd aross the back to keep it from jumping up if i hit a bump hard.

Good luck.

If yours is a '04 with the fairing, you will need to be very careful about the lower portion of the fairing as it can easily high center on the tailgate.  Otherwise its pretty easy with two people.

You or someone ride it home?

I forgot the site but there's some good small foldable bike ramps for this purpose that are pretty good.  You may want to look into that.

ASLAM.

Welcome to GStwin!

Did you buy this brand new? If so, ask if the dealership, er, service department has a ramp that you can borrow. Two person job, definitely. Two tie-downs, put the front tire, straight, into one of the corners (I prefer right front corner, I leave the sidestand down), and if you can get the tie-downs to the handlbars without touching the fairing, tighten down and compress the forks almost all the way.

Thanks everyone, very helpful, I'm leaving now to go buy it!

Quote from: jiggersplatmake sure when you strap it down, you have the suspension compressed as much as possible.

that is a very good way to blow your fork seals (it happened to me).  Have the suspension compressed but not much that it is bottoming out.

i've heard leave the sidestand up cause it can mess up the springs when it bounces around
i'm just a noob, but when i picked up my bike the side stand stayed up

Actually, you're probably more likely to break the sidestand, and I even doubt that will happen. Stopping the springs from going full travel is the same as bottoming out.
But the reason for leaving the sidestand down is twofold. 1. In case when braking the straps come loose the bike will hopefully come to rest on the sidestand instead of putting the headlamp through the back window of the cab. 2. I just forgot what the second reason was...

I could see if the sidestand was down, and while braking the straps come loose before the forks compress completely and at the same time hitting the sidestand, the side stand may 'pop' up the bike in the other direction, but the sidestand is not a spring. Also, the left strap shouldn't 'loosen' on its own, and should 'catch' the bike from going over in that direction.

Oh, yeah, something else, don't strap the tiedown so that it is potentially, crushing the throttle tube in the throttle grip.

ride the bike up the ramp, (which ever ramp you get) kinda hairy 1st time, but easy afterwards. i use my friends ramp for that, if not available, i use a 2 by 8, back up close to a bank, (in my yard), and use the wood as a bridge. :dunno:

I built my own ramp, bout two feet longer then the bike, damn sturdy too.  So far the bike has seen more miles in the back of the truck then on the road itself wouldn't you know it :guns: *satan*

Matt

i haven't had to load my bike up but twice, once when i picked it up, again when i wrecked it. both times we did it the same way.

First time, we had an adjustable stationary ramp. Second time, we backed up to a hill and did the bridge thing. Pulled the bike into the truck straight, kept it standing straight up. One strap from the left side of the bars, right above the triples, another from the right side, both hooked onto mounting points in the bed of the truck. Pulled the front shocks down enough that the bike wouldn't move. Then ran another strap from the back left mount point of the truck, through the bike frame, and onto the back right mount point. Pulled it tight to pull the rear shock down a little. Bike didn't move or wobble or even vibrate the whole way. Worked for me.