Re: Moving a Motorcycle on a Moving Truck w/o Cartoon-Like Mishaps

On Feb 9, 5:40 am, Richard Kanarek
<FirstInitialthenLastN...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Greetings,

I may be moving 600 miles away shortly and I though it would be nice
to take my motorcycle with me (I'm sure it would do the same for me if
our roles were reversed). I expect to be using a Budget or Penske
moving truck, not a ($1000 more expensive) U-Haul truck, with its
lower floor height.

Considering I will be former bicyclist, current motorcyclist, and
almost never car driver driving a 16' truck (!!!), a certain amount of
cartoon-like mishap is probably unavoidable. I'd prefer, however, to
avoid any involving my motorcycle (I want it looking good for my
estate sale ;-).

Questions:

1. Has anyone ever tried loading/unloading a bike onto a (stationary)
moving truck (particularly by themselves), and moving one across
country? Tips? Warnings?

2. The Penske people, on their awful, Opera unfriendly web site, claim
that their truck "includes a 1,500 lb. capacity loading ramp to make
loading easier" (but it doesn't mention the length or width). What are
the odds of my driving the bike up and, later, down the ramp without
amusing onlookers and bothering the local EMS team?

3. Any ideas on how to secure the bike to the inside of the moving
truck without having the bike come out looking as if it had spent 600
miles secured inside a moving truck or, even worse, as if it had spent
600 miles unsecured inside a moving truck? (N.B. I've never seen the
inside of a moving truck.) I was thinking of buying a "MCK2 Tie Down
System" (I found it athttp://discount-trailers.com/mck2.htm, but I
know nothing about it or its seller) and a slab of thick plywood, and
then, with the bike (Honda 919), securing everything to everything
else. (I'm assuming that the Penske folks wouldn't like my screwing
things into their truck floor.) Does this seem like a workable idea?
Any better ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Cordially,
Richard "Dead Man Driving"


All these replies seem to ignore basic physics.

When the moving truck begins to roll forward, the bike will roll
backward. This effect is summed up by Newton's 5th law of classical
mechanics, which i can't be bothered to provide. You can look it up.
Most people think there are only 3. This one is special for
motorcycles.

You will need to ride the bike while INSIDE the moving truck, as it
moves, in order to keep the bike from driving itself out the back of
the truck. This is why moving companies cost so much, and why
motorcycle towing is nearly the most costly service one can request.
My friend is a surgeon and he offered 3 coupons for free triple-bypass
surgery to a guy who had a truck or trailer or giant robot that could
move the surgeon's motorcycle.

If you have ever played the game Spy Hunter, you will understand that
the moving truck must be stationery as you get the bike inside. If you
were to try to ride up its ramp into it while it was moving, you would
instantly be traveling at its speed + your speed. Then there's the
rotation of the earth which adds to that speed. On a regular US
highway, you would be going 3,610 mph! You would break the sound
barrier! Very dangerous!

Sheesh!

As far as your initial concern, getting the bike into the truck, you
should rely on Newton's 9th law (ditto above). The most surefire way
to load the bike is with a crane. You will need to saw a hole in the
roof of the truck and lower it in.

In the event you can not find a crane, you can dig a very large hole
and drive the truck into it. Then you can just drive the bike over the
truck's roof and drop it in. You will not need to put blankets down if
instead of a hole you dig a ditch, and drive the truck along it and
drive the bike over its ridge, and drive the bike off the ridge into
the truck (through the roof-hole) as the truck drives up the edge of
the ditch (because all ditches have to end some time).

In the event you can not find a shovel to dig the ditch, or a saw to
cut the hole, you can simply mail a letter to yourself that crosses
the international date line explaining that yourself, one day ago,
should invest in whatever stocks rise a whole helluva lot today. Then,
instantly, you will be rich enough to buy a new motorcycle 600 miles
from here, thereby removing the need to move the bike at all.

I will pick up your bike an hour or so if you want to give me your
address.


-c

.

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