"towing" a bike

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MexicoMike

MexicoMike

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Short of a trailer, anybody know a method to move a bike using a car/small SUV? I'm thinking of some way you could lock the front wheel into some sort of "carrier" so you could essentially tow the bike with the back wheel on the ground. Any ideas or knowledge of such a thing?

This would be for "emergency" use, not normal operation - sort of a rescue method in the event it becomes necessary.
 
http://www.billybob1.com/insta-tow/insta_tow.html

http://www.prohoists.com/Shopping.idc?ProductID=35

http://hoghauler.net/

http://www.oldinc.com/rhmcbscan.htm

Or?
"towing" a bike
 
Neat stuff, LAB - you 'da MAN!!

I like the pics ...but I don't see how the front wheel is held in the trunk - that's EXACTLY what I'm looking for.
 
"towing" a bike

I would never haul a bike with the back wheel down unless I pulled the chain off.
 
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I agree re pulling off the chain/towing but I don't think our Hyudai Santa Fe can handle all the weight on the back that hanging a COmmando up there would entail.
 
Definitely, you would want to pull the drive chain off, which shouldn't be a big issue.

Dave
69S
 
I had a friend that towed a bike similar to lab's pics but he took the front wheel off and removed the rear chain.
 
The trailer in that photo is for CHOPERS. it says so, right on the ad.

Don't disgrace your poor Norton by using a chopper trailer. It's already not running, now you are going to have it be the butt of all the other norton's chopper jokes?
 
Years ago I used to tow my commando all over the Northeast behind my 71 VW beetle.
I used a welded up carrier that fit on a trailer hitch ball. It was braced on the sides so as not to turn on the ball like a trailer.
It ras made out of 4" channel iron welded in a L shape with diagonal supports and a rubber covered thru bolt thru the diagonal straps to hold the front wheel of my bike in place. I also used tie downs to the VW rear bumper to handle bars & compressed the forks about 80 %.
I would disconnect the chain from the rear sprocket but leave it on the counter sprocket with some creative coat hanger engineering.
Worked great the VW never even knew it was there.
Bruce MacGregor
 
Bruce MacGregor said:
Worked great the VW never even knew it was there.
Bruce MacGregor
Click to expand...

You had me until this part. Really? The Bug didn't notice some 400lbs? hard to believe. :mrgreen:
 
Two years ago when I was looking for a Norton all over the west, I wanted to be prepared to move a dead one. I saw an ad for a carrier like L.A.B.'s, but since I had not seen one on the road in California in many years, I went to the California Highway Patrol to see if they were legal. No way, said the CHIP. Unstable. I didn't agree, but he had the ticket book.

If it's not a trailer or a truck, check with your state, country, or planet, before buying. Also, remember, many of these things look great, but YOU have to get a four (4) hundred pound hunk of steel UP into it. If you have put your heart and soul (and often blood) into it, be careful.

I love my Norton with all my heart, but I don't want her on top of me. Well.......you know.........get you mind out of the gutter.
 
Diablouph said:
Two years ago when I was looking for a Norton all over the west, I wanted to be prepared to move a dead one. I saw an ad for a carrier like L.A.B.'s, but since I had not seen one on the road in California in many years, I went to the California Highway Patrol to see if they were legal. No way, said the CHIP. Unstable. I didn't agree, but he had the ticket book.

If it's not a trailer or a truck, check with your state, country, or planet, before buying. Also, remember, many of these things look great, but YOU have to get a four (4) hundred pound hunk of steel UP into it. If you have put your heart and soul (and often blood) into it, be careful.

I love my Norton with all my heart, but I don't want her on top of me. Well.......you know.........get you mind out of the gutter.
Click to expand...

You mean one like this is illegal?

"towing" a bike


That would surprise me. Now the hauling it the trunk was a joke.
 
swooshdave said:
That would surprise me. Now the hauling it the trunk was a joke.
Click to expand...
No joke, he's on the road getting the bike home.

I always remember the saying "do the best you can with what you've got"
 
RennieK said:
swooshdave said:
That would surprise me. Now the hauling it the trunk was a joke.
Click to expand...
No joke, he's on the road getting the bike home.

I always remember the saying "do the best you can with what you've got"
Click to expand...

That's what this guy was thinking....
"towing" a bike


and this guy...
"towing" a bike


and I'm getting tired now.
"towing" a bike

"towing" a bike

"towing" a bike

:shock: :mrgreen: :shock:
 
Reminds me of one of my more stupid moments in college.
My girlfriend blew the transmission in my Volvo 122 by accidentally selecting reverse while going forward. I didn't actually think you could do that, but it had a lot of wear on it which may have helped.
All I had running was my Commando so I decided to tow it the mile or so home with that. I put a long rope on the Commando and got rolling. Every time the rope came taunt the car would snap me like a whip. I tried to keep it tight to avoid that but in certain places like a railroad crossing it got me pretty good.
In the end it almost tossed me several times but I got both car and bike home in one piece. I also made a resoloution not to attempt towing a car with a bike again. It has been much easier to keep this resoloution that the average one I make at New Years.
 
LOL! Great shots!

It reminds me of a documentary I saw where a couple on welfare had saved up and after about a year and a half they had enough money to buy a brand new mattress. There's this scene in the movie where you see this long stretch of hiway then up out of one of the dips in the road the top of a mattress appears and rises into the frame. The guy carried the mattress home on his back for something like 12 miles.

I just watched "Worlds Fastest Indian" for the 1st time a few nights ago. It's one of the best bike films I've ever seen and I highly recommend it to all who have never seen it. It is a true story and does a great job in showing what the biker of yesteryear was all about. Don't want to spoil the movie but there is also a great method of towing your bike in the movie.
 
Swooshdave.

According to the California Highway Patrol Officer I talked to in person at their office, it is illegal. I guess they are trying to avoid stuff like the pics that came after your post.
 
Cookie, that's a great memory! Where did you fix the rope?

One time a buddy and me were having a few in a town about 30 miles from home and my bike wouldn't start when it was time to leave. After a lot of kick starting and push start attempts my buddy offered to tow me with his 650 Yammy. Only thing was we only had a bungy cord for a rope. The idea was we had to get going fast enough for me to let out the clutch in 4th gear and keep towing till the bike started, then I'd take up the tension in the bungy cord and let go of it so it didn't snap free and sling shot him in the back. We wrapped the end of the bungy around my handlebars a couple wraps and then I clapped the end with my clutch hand and got going. Did you know a 30" bungy cord is 60" long when it is taught? When we hit 30 mph I dumped the clutch which pulled on one side of my bars jerking me off balance and prompting me to let go of the ever so taught bungy (or wipe out). Sure enough the bungy recoiled and hit my buddy square in the back and gave him a 6" bruise with an interesting center spot. We stuck to it though and finally got my bike started and got home.
 
The picture of that in my mind almost put me on the floor Rennie.
I was trying to recall where I hooked the rope and after 40 years it is gone from my memory. I was pretty familiar with towing large equipment like trucks and tractors so I probably went with a wrap around large frame tubes, I don't remember any damage to bike or clutch but it was 40 years ago. I think both your story and mine show the creativity kids will come up with as well as Dave's pictures do.
In truth until this thread reminded me that event had been completly gone from my memory and I would not care to repeat it without a stunt rider.
 
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