moving question

[tunes]

Hey all, i am moving Friday across the country and had a question about the best way to move the bike. I have a 26" truck from Penske and was looking for the best way to load the bike and keep it safe. What i have found is:

• Consider removing mirrors and other protuberances to avoid damage enroute.
• Avoid riding the motorcycle up the ramp and into the truck. It might seem to be the easiest solution, but it can also be VERY dangerous. Instead, consider getting a few helpers to push it in.
• Consider loading the motorcycle longways in the truck. Placing it sideways decreases its stability and will cause rocking with every start and stop of the truck. Of course, the final decision should be made dependent on your particular load.
• Bags stuffed with pillows, bedspreads, sleeping bags, etc. can provide excellent padding on either side of the motorcycle to help prevent movement and abrasion/scratching. Make sure that anything allowed to contact the motorcycle is non-abrasive.

any other tips or any better way to do it? Should i use the center stand rather than the regular kick stand?

Thanks!!

[suzukiray]

It sounds like you pretty much have it figured out. If you can, put it on the kickstand, with the front tire against the front wall, along side a wall, with the bike leaning toward the wall. Place pillows, or moving blankets or whatever you can get that will cushion it between the bike & the wall. Tie it down to that wall & the front wall first. Load everything else you have, again, putting cushion between the bike & the other stuff. If there is an object on the other side you can safely tie it down to, that would be good also. Good luck! It sounds like you have good common sense & that is most of the battle! Just remember, you can't protect the bike TOO much! LOL!! Oh yeah, try to drain most of the gas & make SURE you disconnect the battery! Ray.

[jgust25]

a 26 inch truck? that won't do you any good...

[MMCdude]

First time I moved the bike cross country, I had some paint rubbed off the plastics from things contacting the bike. Second time, I placed plain cotton T-shirts between anything that was or possibly could rub against the bike in transit, and not a scratch.

[The CyberPoet]

If you have the centerstand on the bike, by all means use it. If you have additional bodies to help you move at both ends, put it in the truck (wheel against the wall), hoist it up on the centerstand, then have three-to-five people physically heft it (by lifting it) forward so the front wheel is in contact with that wall again. This way it can't come off the centerstand by rolling forward (forward in the sense of the bike's direction).

Tie-downs: Tie it down well, but try not to compress the suspension components to their maximums by any means (doing so can blow out fork seals, shock seals). IF the truck has a very low tie-down rail, use it as well as higher ones. Feel free to tie the centerstand to the forward-of-the-bike wall.

Covering: Aside from covering it with blankets/pillows, place something very flat and large atop of that if you've got it (e.g. - bulletin board), so that if something else shifts ontop of the bike, the weight of the shifted thing is spread out (as verses to like the corner of a drawer in motion punching through a pillow and denting the tank).

Placement of furniture: make sure all cabinets are faced in such a way that the drawers open away from the bike.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[Londob5]

One of the best tricks I've found for moving stuff that you need to have tied down in a truck, but don't want rope to slip en route is to use heavy duty electrical extension cords instead. they have less give than rope, and are strong enough to hold a Kat in place (that's how I took mine by UHaul). Plus, I'm too cheap to buy rope that I'll only use once.