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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Trailering a Savage?
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Message started by TBeck2000 on 06/17/05 at 11:48:09

Title: Trailering a Savage?
Post by TBeck2000 on 06/17/05 at 11:48:09

I am going to be picking up my Savage tomorrow with an enclosed trailer and bringing it 3 hours home. This is my first bike, so I am not exactly sure about how I should cinch it down.

I was wondering if the Canyon Dancer Bar-Harness would be a good idea to help tie the bike down. I know that it is a popular device for sports bikes and I was not sure if it would work well with a cruiser. I can pick one up locally if it's worth the $30.

I have tie down points available at waist level and near the floor inside the trailer. I was thinking that the floor ones would be the best choice in this case.

I've been doing some reading and I just wanted your inputs as to the best trailering methods. Chocking, angles, straps, etc.

Some of my reading:
http://www.whybike.com/motorcycle6.htm
http://www.pingelonline.com/load_your_ride.htm
http://www.sportutilitytrailers.com/motorcycle-tie-down-procedure.htm

Thanks in advance for your replies! 8)

Tim

Title: Re: Trailering a Savage?
Post by bentwheel on 06/17/05 at 12:41:52

I would say you have Googled yourself some good advice. You will be fine. I do like the idea of the suspension saver. I wish we had them in the seventies when I was trailering MX bikes, especially in the winter for Ice racing.

Title: Re: Trailering a Savage?
Post by bentwheel on 06/17/05 at 12:43:24

Oh yeah, welcome to the forum.

Title: Re: Trailering a Savage?
Post by TBeck2000 on 06/17/05 at 12:56:07

Thanks for the welcome. I'm an engineer, so I wanted to cover all the bases before attempting this. ::) It shouldn't be very difficult, but I wanted to see if there were any nuances of which I was not aware.

BTW, this is Chris Marsh's bike that he was selling on here: http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=Market;action=display;num=1115822698

It's got a couple dings and scrapes, but that will make me less uncomfortable about using it as my first bike.

Hopefully I'll be able to post up in a bit saying that the Savage had a safe and comfortable trip home.

Title: Re: Trailering a Savage?
Post by cain9580 on 06/17/05 at 13:13:42

I brought mine from TN in a U-Haul. The only thing I did was tie it to the siderails with 550 cord...Just parachute crod. Anything with 150 strength or better wrapped a few times around it will hold that sucka.

Title: Re: Trailering a Savage?
Post by Greg_650 on 06/17/05 at 14:52:46

Get 2 tie down straps with good rubber coated hooks for the handlebars. Butt the front tire to the front of the trailer with the bike on the side stand. Have the wheel turned straight. Cinch it down on the right side to the lowest floor mount point just enough to pick it up off the side stand. Then cinch it down on the left side.

Evenly tighten both of the straps with enough tension to compress the forks about 2/3 way. That should be just about right.

BTW - In the interest of economy, I towed both of our Savages in an open U-Haul trailer from NC to OR....they got pretty nasty but they never came loose.

Title: Re: Trailering a Savage?
Post by TBeck2000 on 06/20/05 at 05:11:05

My new Savage had a safe and comfortable trip home. :)

I followed portions of the linked websites and I didn't have any trouble at all. I strapped the front end down pretty well (using rags where my straps went around the triple-tree), compressing the suspension and then I ran a strap through the rear wheel (being sure not to place an pressure on a spoke). Good thing I paid extra for the D-rings in the floor when I got the trailer.

Thanks for the help.

Tim