How to carry motorcycle

[diver57]

Hello I have a 10’2” northern-lite with a 2016 3500 gmc dully thinking of get small
Motorcycle carrier and putting on they front of truck anybody done this.
Question what is the biggest size of bike you would carry,which type of bike and will you get enough air flow.
Any pics would be great thanks

[K_Mac]

When I ordered my truck I had the sno plow option installed at the factory, knowing I would be using the front of my truck for lots of cargo space with a TC. The plow frame is designed to carry well over what I would be putting out front. (Some Plows weigh well over 1000#) I had custom racks made for fishing, and a bike rack. I had my fabricator make these out of aluminum and, most importantly had them come out of plow frame with a "Z" bar attachment to give me enough clearance for your normal gas station dips n rises you encounter. As all ready mentioned, I try to avoid nite time travel. You can determine the height of your rack ( Z bar) if you have bike all ready picked out, this will be helpful for determining your line of sight. Using Plow frame option doesn't limit your weight carry capacity.

[MikeinSA]

tuna fisher wrote:
Carried my Honda Trail and TW200 up front for many years with no problems ever with my Diesel GMC. Over 100 pulling hills no problems, like others you do loose the lights but I don't run at night anymore. As far as I'm concerned with a TC it's the only way. Springtime you do have a bug guts problem, but only on 1 side.

We carried a TW200 on the front also, for thousands of miles. Same problem though - we loose a headlight. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's pretty stressful if you end up running late and have to drive in the dark. We learned to roll the clutch lever up when traveling. The bike bounces around a bit, and the lever can hit the hood in the normal position. But we're full-timing in the truck camper right now and have found the bike to be more trouble than it's worth. On the front, you can add about 3' to the overall length which makes us too long for a normal parking space. And the big thing was the ground clearance - you really have to watch you don't nose dive, like when coming out of a gas station. If you do decide to carry on the front, I'd recommend spending the extra money and getting a VersaHaul -they're really beefy and have an extra set of tie-down points.


Edit: How do we post pictures on this forum? Looks like we'll need a photo hosting site?

[tuna_fisher]

Carried my Honda Trail and TW200 up front for many years with no problems ever with my Diesel GMC. Over 100 pulling hills no problems, like others you do loose the lights but I don't run at night anymore. As far as I'm concerned with a TC it's the only way. Springtime you do have a bug guts problem, but only on 1 side.

[bitster98]

I tried it on my dodge 2500 4x4 cummins. Curt front Recievr 600 pound rated carrier. Bike is a Rokon trailbreaker. Did not work for my truck , no problem weight wise big problem cooling wise!! Also you lose your headlights & turn signals. Novel idea for tc , but not worth cooking a very expensive Diesel engine. Might work for some but not for me.

[Freeborn530]

Its a Kimco 200 Like

[diver57]

Freeborn what type of bike is thar

[huasnaian]

There was a post about this a little more than a month ago with lots of good photos here:
https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/29609536.cfm

My Curt front hitch is rated at 500lbs. My hitch motorcycle carrier states it is rated to 600lbs (100 more than the front hitch).

I carry a 300ish lb drz400 and the rack is probably another 50lbs. It feels heavy. If your bike is going to weigh more than that I would get a front hitch that has 2 box receivers similar to Travel Ram's rack on the previous post. Mine rocks as I am driving, but nothing to worry about.

No problems with wind or heat. I drive thru the California valley in summer when it is over 100F to get to the Sierra Nevadas with no overheating issues.

I would look for a motorcycle carrier that has a storage basket or space to hold a fuel bottle on the rack if I bought another one.

[Freeborn530]

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