Bike cover recommendation

I will be hauling my 850 Roadster to the Tall Timbers Rally in the back of my pickup. Any first hand experience with a nice cover to help protect my scoot? It has to be well made so that it will withstand about 4,000 miles of highway. This will be my first time not riding to a rally so I have no experience with covers.
Thanks

Good plan to protect from prying eyes as you will be a longway from home

All the covers I have purchased to date warn about transporting the motorcycle with the cover on. The idea here is to keep the flapping/vibrating cover from damaging the finish of the motorcycle. A "dust" cover will tear in a relatively short time, an "all weather" cover, being much heavier, will do more damage as it flaps/vibrates, but may be viable if you are willing to spend the extra time to chinch it down and place soft towels on the painted parts first. Some covers have grommets on the underside that can be used to run belly ropes to cut down on the possibility that the cover will flap/vibrate; any place the cover is a loose fit it will flap/vibrate. Any way you cut it's a bit of a dice roll. If you have the cheese to have a custom cover made, call the nearest marina, they always have a service (if they don't provide it themselves) that can whip one up; "top" shops, may be more local and should be able to do the deed as well.

An enclosed trailer is the best protection, you can also sleep in it. If you are committed to an open trailer I recommend that you cover the motorcycle when parked and let it enjoy the ride, uncovered, when moving; it gets to see what you see.

My bike needs to ride in the bed of my truck as I will be towing a travel trailer. The rally is only one stop on our 2 month vacation. I'm more worried about road debris smacking into my paint than rain. Plus the prying eye thing.

Unless you have huge rust holes in your pickup bed, you should not have much to worry about road debris. You might want to look into a truck bed cap. You can load the bike and then set the cap on the bed afterward. Added advantage is it keeps prying eyes away while parked at restaurants, etc. Also it can improve aerodynamics and gas mileage.
I would never cover a motorcycle in an open truck bed or trailer. It will beat the paintwork to death.

A cover will also usually interfere one way or another with your tie down method, making it more difficult to keep the cover snug. I've tried hauling a covered bike in an open trailer, and was always looking in the rear view to see if the cover was about to blow off, stopping to adjust, etc.. I finally resorted to just covering it when I had stopped for the day.

I'm planning to trailer my ride to the Rally in July, but it's only a day's drive from my home in Southern Oregon

Does your truck have stake holes in the bed rail? You could make a simple wood frame from 2X3 and 1X4, then secure a tarp over that. Just screwing through the tarp to fasten a batten over the frame would make a fast shelter that was easy to remove.

You will get more road debris from riding you bike than being in the back of your truck so really I wouldn't worry about traveling with a cover on it just throw a tarp over it when parked up to keep prying eyes away or take the dog with you and let it stay beside the bike when parked up.

Ashley

You could try using Cling Wrap. That should do the trick! The only problem I see is it's not reusable.

Peter Joe

Thanks all for your input. While the ultimate solution would have been the canopy but at $2000 that's a bit much to spend at this time. Since no one has any actual experience I'm going to rely on some online reviews. Empire Covers is one that I've found but I will continue to research it a little more before buying. Thanks again

Warning, the flapping, even just WIGGLING from wind turbulence (behind the cab!) will combine with the unavoidable airborne dust to ABRADE & ruin your paint.
As mentioned, it will be protected from stone chips behind the cab.

Perhaps (to reduce interest from bags of douche) tarp it when you stop, 6'x8', bungees to the stake pockets, teepee (easily over the tie down straps) style?

PeterJoe said:

You could try using Cling Wrap. That should do the trick! The only problem I see is it's not reusable.

Peter Joe

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I agree with Peter. Use Cling Wrap then a cover tied on well. That’s how I had a car transported on a trailer back in 1992 and it arrived undamaged.

Thank you for all of your help and opinions. I was hoping for some actual first hand experience. Lacking that I'm going to order up one of the many that I've seen on line. I will cover my bike with a nice soft blanket before putting the cover on. I do need something that is easy on easy off since I will want to go for many rides during my 2 month trip.