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Bike Saga


Guest DOUGDANGER

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Guest DOUGDANGER
Posted

Well the saga continues, pick up bike today a real clean machine. So after loading the and starting to get under way, tie down breaks bike tips over breaks both right turn signals and a nice dent in the muffler. :'(

Can you say pissed!!!!!!!!!!

Posted

Bummer, I'd be pissed as well. :bbblll: At least the signals are easy and cheap to replace. :huh2:

yeah if you lived in the twin cities area I'd GIVE you a new one, OEM or buell whatever. :bier:

Posted

Turn signals are cheap at your nearest Buell dealership.

 

Buy some nice tie downs. They are indespensible.

 

Keep in mind that if you'd cracked the fairing or damaged the tank, those Ancra tiedowns wouldn't seem so expensive...

 

 

:2c:

Posted

Turn signals are cheap at your nearest Buell dealership.

 

Buy some nice tie downs. They are indespensible.

 

Keep in mind that if you'd cracked the fairing or damaged the tank, those Ancra tiedowns wouldn't seem so expensive...

:2c:

 

:homer:

 

 

Bummer, Doug.

Posted

Well the saga continues, pick up bike today a real clean machine. So after loading the and starting to get under way, tie down breaks bike tips over breaks both right turn signals and a nice dent in the muffler. :'(

Can you say pissed!!!!!!!!!!

 

This brings up a side topic [not to make light of your situation! I feel for you, my Guzzi brother! :(], but after moving lots of bikes in the back of my pickup, the procedure I follow is thus [note: only good for carrying one motorcycle at a time in the back of my compact p/u]:

 

Load bike along rt side of bed, w/ front wheel angled into front left of bed. Try to get the steering to full lock (this may require dragging the rear wheel over to the left a bit.)

 

Put bike on sidestand [anyone ever notice that motorcycle sidestands are always on the left? This is a holdover from horseback riding, where you always mount/dismount on the left! Kinda like the standard railroad gage is a holdover from Roman chariot tracks... ;)]

 

Cinch bike down on the left side, against support from sidestand. Minimum two tiedowns, both anchored to truck fwd of the sidestand. Tight as you can, altho' you may need to go a little easy on the front for now, unless you've got one of those nifty gadgets they sell for dirtbikes to prop between tire & lower triple clamp, and have removed your front fender! ;) -- This will nevertheless pull the bike forward into the pocket at the left front of the bed fairly snug.

 

Cinch two tiedowns around the rear wheel, one to each corner at the back of the bed, & haul away till good & taut. -- This stabilizes the bike fore/aft so that it can't roll off the sidestand no matter how much the wild ride may compress the forks!

 

Now cinch down the rt side of bike. (1 or 2 tie downs) -- Because of tension already supplied on left & aft of bike, these both can run to front rt anchor of truck bed, if no mid-bed anchor is available. This may also lift the bike toward center enough to actually put sidestand back up, but I usually leave it down so that I can't forget it when untying at the end of trip... :homer::grin:

 

If you kept track, you can see it takes a minimum of 5 tiedowns [6 is better] to anchor a bike well enough to not expect it to flop over at the 3rd left/right turn on your trip! I've also managed w/ one 50ft piece of 1/2" nylon rope [which nobody w/ a pickup should ever be w/o! ;)], but it's a PITA & you'll have about 6' - 8' of loose rope left over flopping around, plus it'll loosen up considerably by 5 minutes into the trip so either pull over & retighten or limit yourself to short slow trips, & you'd better have read the Klutz's Book of Knots & know what a trucker's hitch is or you're doomed w/ only rope for tying down!

 

Anyone else have modifications/additions/revisions to contribute to my description? Have at it!

 

Ride on,

 

:bike:

Guest DOUGDANGER
Posted

yeah if you lived in the twin cities area I'd GIVE you a new one, OEM or buell whatever. :bier:

Thanks Man

DougD.

 

Turn signals are cheap at your nearest Buell dealership.

 

Buy some nice tie downs. They are indespensible.

 

Keep in mind that if you'd cracked the fairing or damaged the tank, those Ancra tiedowns wouldn't seem so expensive...

:2c:

I had Ancra tiedowns, go figure.

DougD :bier::bier::bier::bier:

Posted

Oddly enough, I use only 2 tie-downs, and perhaps a couple pieces of 2x4, never had any problems. I pull the bike straight into the truck bed, and run the tire up against the end of the bed. then I loop a tie strap around the top clamp (to prevent scratching) and attach a tie down to each side, running to the front corners of the truck bed. Attach such that the straps tighten as they are pulled up. Then, I sit on the bike, and grab both tie downs, and pull like a madman. This pulls the front tire tight against the truck bed, and loads the suspension, keeping the tie downs nice and tight, then I tie a half hitch in the tie down to insure that they don't magically come undone. Moved bikes hundreds of miles this way without incident. In slippery situations, I'll put a piece of 2x4 in between each side of the back tire and the truck bed to prevent the back from moving.

 

(For the record, I figured out this method the hard way after my V65SP fell over twice moving it back from CT to IL, once on each side giving it nice matching scars)

 

:2c:

Posted

Doug...I have a set of stock pipes here in Mystic (02 LeMans)

I doubt there are any here that have trucked more bikes than Doug...which begs the question..

What the heck happened to the Ancaras?

Posted

yeah, if youre set on original guzzi parts I'll mail you a guzzi one but like its said the buell ones are almost the same thing for like $6 max I think. Reminds me I wouldn't mind a buell everything for them is dirt cheap. :bier:

 

as for a new exhaust can just ask around or buy a upgraded mistral set :thumbsup:

Guest DOUGDANGER
Posted

yeah, if youre set on original guzzi parts I'll mail you a guzzi one but like its said the buell ones are almost the same thing for like $6 max I think. Reminds me I wouldn't mind a buell everything for them is dirt cheap. :bier:

 

as for a new exhaust can just ask around or buy a upgraded mistral set :thumbsup:

 

Thanks Ben for your genorisity.

I bought a set of Clear turn signals for a Ballabio from Todd.

He also hooked me up with a muffler. The people on this forum are Great.

Thanks again

Guest DOUGDANGER
Posted

Doug...I have a set of stock pipes here in Mystic (02 LeMans)

I doubt there are any here that have trucked more bikes than Doug...which begs the question..

What the heck happened to the Ancaras?

Stiching came out :bier::bier::bier:

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