Motorcycle loading on a hitch

Hey look! They even show my bike (Sportster)! I made my own, but it is very similar to what Blue Ox does. As for loading, I have a good (Wheeldock) that the front wheel goes into. Once the front wheel is in, you flip a lever and you can walk around tying things down as needed. They are a bit pricey, but how much is that bike worth? As for loading, I sometimes put the front levelers down and that lowers the back to make loading easier. At the tender age of 68 reaching over the tank to work the clutch can be a bit iffy. You should have seen me load the V-Strom!

MrWizard wrote:
caymann
i think you should look at the 'lift' style carriers
they work like the loading gate on a freight truck
roll/ride the bike onto the platform
tie it down
then raise it to the carry position

I have been thinking about an overbilt system too.
It appears, for a few extra bux, it may be the way to go.
There are several used overbilts on the market.
At least this may take out all the guesswork.

caymann wrote:

Dale.Traveling wrote:
Concerning the height of the bike once on the stand why not used the coach levelers/jacks to raise the front end up? Considering the length of an average coach a three inch change in height at the front could amplify to 12 inches at the rear. Rasie the front end enough and you might not even need the ramp.

I have thought about this and probably should try how much does the bike hauler platform comes down by raising the front end. The bad news is, i don't have hydraulic leveling - only air leveling and it doesn't have as much play as a hydraulic leveling jacks do. I do expect to gain a few inches but i may be speaking ahead of me.

jim

I think the measurements are a little backwards here. If you lift the front of the coach, the fulcrum will be the rear axle which is a lot closer to the rear bumper than the front. I'd have to know the exact measurements to do the math, but raising the front end three inches will more than likely only lower the rear by about 1/2 inch.

caymann
i think you should look at the 'lift' style carriers
they work like the loading gate on a freight truck
roll/ride the bike onto the platform
tie it down
then raise it to the carry position

One other possibility is to purchase a couple of platform steps - the kind made to sit under your entrance way step. These are very solid, and run around 50 bucks a piece. That would raise you up, once the bike was up, so you could maintain control.

Second item is, I'm not sure about your riding habits, but you need to train your self to use your first 2 fingers on the brake, and your last 2 fingers around the throttle. This way, you can run the brake and the throttle at the same time, having enough RPM to move the bike up hill, but dragging the front brake to prevent it from rolling back down. The amount of brake and throttle can stay the same, and you just slip the clutch to make the bike move forward. I learned this from riding in stop and go traffic in downtown Chicago, so it was second nature to use the same technique when loading the bike. You can also do this with the clutch, so you have full grip of the bars. This allows you to stop midstream, and step up onto a platform step, so you are at the right height.

schlep1967 wrote:
If you do not have a platform wide enough that you can sit on the bike with both feet down for support from ground up to load level, do not use bike power to load the bike. You may get away with it but eventually it will end ugly. Either with the bike falling and you barely getting out of the way. Or the bike falling and you ending up under it. Like stated above there are systems out there that do this safely. $2000 might seem like a lot but it looks like a really good deal when you are laying in a hospital after being pulled out from under a motorcycle.

Right on!!
Scott

JoeH wrote:
Several years ago I had made a setup similar to the one your are considering.... except I mounted it to the front of the motorhome. It was an old 454 gasser and I never had problems with weight or overheating.... but I digress. On my setup, I What I did to facilitate single handed loading was to get the bike up there in position and tied down. Then I fabricated a couple of upright angle iron pieces that were welded to the base channel and were notched out so that the front footpeg mounts fit into the notches.
Now, when I slowly ride the bike up the ramp and onto the channel, it goes forward until it slides into the notches in the uprights. That holds the bike in place while you attach the tiedowns... worked like a champ for many years.

The SC2000 already has something similar built in to arrest the front tire. But first, i have to get the bike up the ramp into the hauler to its end. That is what we are discussing, unless i misunderstood you. :)

jim

schlep1967 wrote:
If you do not have a platform wide enough that you can sit on the bike with both feet down for support from ground up to load level, do not use bike power to load the bike. You may get away with it but eventually it will end ugly. Either with the bike falling and you barely getting out of the way. Or the bike falling and you ending up under it. Like stated above there are systems out there that do this safely. $2000 might seem like a lot but it looks like a really good deal when you are laying in a hospital after being pulled out from under a motorcycle.

The ramp width is a little bit more than the tires, say an additional few inches. This is not wide enough to ride up on the bike and i would not try that in my sane mind.

jim

Dale.Traveling wrote:
Concerning the height of the bike once on the stand why not used the coach levelers/jacks to raise the front end up? Considering the length of an average coach a three inch change in height at the front could amplify to 12 inches at the rear. Rasie the front end enough and you might not even need the ramp.

I have thought about this and probably should try how much does the bike hauler platform comes down by raising the front end. The bad news is, i don't have hydraulic leveling - only air leveling and it doesn't have as much play as a hydraulic leveling jacks do. I do expect to gain a few inches but i may be speaking ahead of me.

jim

Several years ago I had made a setup similar to the one your are considering.... except I mounted it to the front of the motorhome. It was an old 454 gasser and I never had problems with weight or overheating.... but I digress. On my setup, I What I did to facilitate single handed loading was to get the bike up there in position and tied down. Then I fabricated a couple of upright angle iron pieces that were welded to the base channel and were notched out so that the front footpeg mounts fit into the notches.
Now, when I slowly ride the bike up the ramp and onto the channel, it goes forward until it slides into the notches in the uprights. That holds the bike in place while you attach the tiedowns... worked like a champ for many years.