Loading bike in pickup truck

[tedzemlicka]

I made a set of ramps using 1 x 2 and 1 x 1 steel tube. Two pieces, 30 x 60 inches, that I bolt together and can ride up. A 3 pc set with each section 20 inches wide would be easier to stow. They're probably 25 years old. The first step is having a welder.

 

[bigjohnsd]

"Hold my beer" "Watch this!"

 

[mjfink420]

"Hold my beer" "Watch this!"

While I think I'm going to take a trailer down this weekend, if I do get the guts to try for a run into the truck, I'll setup a camera. If I have a spectacular fail, at least others can get a laugh out of it, right?

The setup I have now to get onto my work table is 3 ramps wide (36"). That doesn't feel "sketch" at all to me, however, the table is only 24" high. The truck is a lot higher, so there's probably a point getting on the ramps where I won't be able to touch the ground (at least on the XR, on the 660, it's so much lower, probably not).

The first step is having a welder.

Check. However, the 2nd step is "knowing how to weld well enough that you trust your weld with your body and bike". No check there. I "can weld", and I do it with some regularity to fix stuff around the farm, but only things where a failure would be "darn it" not waking up in the hospital.

It does feel like 3 ramps (36" total width) is "enough". I can get a foot down on either side and ride up the middle ramp. It's amazing how much of this is mental, I ride a mountain bike often and really like riding "skinnies", small trees and planks that people set up as a challenge. I can confidently ride 4" logs 10+ ft; I do it all the time. But it took a lot of "self talk" to get myself to try it and get to the point where I felt confident doing it. I'd like to get to the same level with a motorcycle but it's a little higher stakes; falling off a log on a mountain bike is a skinned knee/elbow. Falling off a loading ramp with a motorcycle could be a trip to the hospital and lots of $$ in damage.

 

[r0ckrat]

At home, yes, I have a good place that can reduce the load angle a bit. At the track, probably not, it's pretty flat in the pit/parking area. Maybe there's a good spot to do it, sure they'll know when I get there, but I figure I have to be ready to load on the flat in case there's no area that would help me reduce the angle.

Take a pair of car ramps, run the front up on the ramps, and that will drop the rear height. Just an idea.

 

[mjfink420]

Take a pair of car ramps, run the front up on the ramps, and that will drop the rear height. Just an idea.

That's a good one; hadn't thought of that and I have a set of light/easy to move ramps for changing oil already.

I'm going to do some looking at it and, if I feel comfortable enough, practicing load/unloading at home today. Figure I'll shoot for a few dozen times and try to put myself into some easier and some harder situations to see if I can do it comfortably under different conditions. Like I mentioned, I have a good place to load at home, so I'll start there, see how that is, then onto a flat section with no hill to help reduce the angle and repeat until I get some comfort with it.

 

[PGlaves]

Take a pair of car ramps, run the front up on the ramps, and that will drop the rear height. Just an idea.

Interesting, but the problem I have with this approach is that then the bed of the truck is slanted and the push is uphill all the way. I quit trying to haul in a pickup truck the last time it took four of us to load the bike when 6 would have been better.

 

[mjfink420]

Interesting, but the problem I have with this approach is that then the bed of the truck is slanted and the push is uphill all the way. I quit trying to haul in a pickup truck the last time it took four of us to load the bike when 6 would have been better.

We loaded the XR with 3 of us, 4 or 5 would have been better. Probably be Youtube famous right now if I had video of it; not exactly a "smooth" operation (walking/pushing the bike up the ramp).

 

[omega man]

Up in North Conway New Hampshire, there is Hurricane Mountain Road.
A wild ride that is so steep in places that it’s like loading a pickup truck…..two dozen times in the length of the road.
OM

 

[mjfink420]

Up in North Conway New Hampshire, there is Hurricane Mountain Road.
A wild ride that is so steep in places that it’s like loading a pickup truck…..two dozen times in the length of the road.
OM

Green River Cove rd in NC is kind of like that. I ride it sometimes, but it's honestly so steep and so tight that it's not "exciting", you're more trying to survive. There are a few sections that are so steep coming out of a switchback that I slip the clutch in 1st gear to get up them. On a public road! Wish the XR had a road slope to go with the lean angle sensor, I'd love to know the pitch of that road!

 

[mjfink420]

Spent the morning practicing loading/unloading. Shot a little video for anyone interested, as mentioned, my truck is a F450, probably about as high as they come from the factory (lifted trucks, obviously, much higher!). After my struggle with the XR, I added another ramp and decided to try riding up. MUCH better. Like so much better I don't even know how to compare the two.

I did about 100 load/unload cycles to get some comfort with it. Midway through, I added some difficulty, trying to do it without putting my feet down (how we used to load dirt bikes, a single 2x, no way to catch yourself) and while I was successful almost every time, no way I'd try it with a single ramp without a LOT more practice. I then did a few intentional "mistakes". Stalling the bike on the ramp, locking up the front tire coming down, stuff like that. The one thing I didn't try was wetting the ramps, I'm sure that would make it MUCH more difficult, but I also don't see a huge need for that day to day; lot of things would have to go wrong at once to have a need to load in the rain without help.

3 ramps, for me, is the right number. I'm riding on a 3K ramp and the two sides are 1.5K ramps (a bit lighter and easier to toss around). 2 ramps is a bit of a mess because you have to ride in the middle of them, traction isn't great there (at least not on the ramps I have) and there's always the possibility of them slipping apart. I have the ramps secured to my trailer hitch and also have them secured together using a trigger clamp. Even trying to push them apart, they were solid.

One thing that I wasn't expecting, unloading it actually seems to be preferable to let the front tire lock up. I was trying to feather it down and while that worked fine, I felt like I had more control if I just held the front brake hard and let it slide down. Unexpected, I thought it would be all sorts of sketchy with the front tire locked up, at least with these ramps, because of the big holes between the "treads", a locked up tire seems to come down nice and predictable.

The video is when I moved to an entirely flat area. I started with the ramps on a hill, that does make it easier, but I wanted to make sure I could do it from the flat as well. No problem at all, although the breakover angle on the ramps is getting "close" on the 660. About 1.5" between the belly pan of the bike and the tailgate at the closest.

Thank you for the help everyone, I feel a LOT more comfortable doing this now!

Ramps -
Sides:

https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/ramps/loading-ramps/1500-lbs-capacity-12-in-x-90-in-arched-aluminum-ramps-set-of-2-58119.html

Middle:

https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/ramps/loading-ramps/3000-lbs-capacity-12-in-x-90-in-arched-aluminum-ramps-set-of-2-58115.html

 

[omega man]

That looks like it will do it. I generally back off the truck with the engine off and the bike in first gear. Working the clutch for rear wheel control helps to minimize reverse speed should the "drag" of the front wheel not be enough.
OM

 

[mjfink420]

That looks like it will do it. I generally back off the truck with the engine off and the bike in first gear. Working the clutch for rear wheel control helps to minimize reverse speed should the "drag" of the front wheel not be enough.
OM

Good advice, thank you! I was doing up/back (as you can see), but I could see how having the bike off would give you even more control with the clutch to help slow you and not relying totally on the front tire (that, because of the angle, is almost totally unloaded). I'll do that tomorrow though, sounds like a better approach. I will say, even without the back tire to help slow me down, there was nothing in the many times up/down that made me even the slightest bit nervous.

With the XR, the difficulty level goes up a bit though, it's heavier and higher, so having a "rear brake" via the clutch might be a real nice to have!

 

[paul_f]

You made it easy; actually much easier than I anticipated. Congratulations!

 

[horacewill]

Interesting thread and the three-wide ride up is my preferred also. My next project is going to be a small Harbor Freight winch with remote so in case of a break-down/rescue of a non-running bike I can still get it up the ramp and into the truck. Remember a few dead Harley rescues from back in the day, and without a handful of buddies to push it, the usual recourse was to call the tow company. But then, BMWs don't break down like the scooters I remember...

 

[mjfink420]

You made it easy; actually much easier than I anticipated. Congratulations!

Thank Paul, hopefully it helps others to get the confidence (or decide it's not for them, even with 3 ramps, is was a bit nerve racking the first time) to try it for themselves.

Interesting thread and the three-wide ride up is my preferred also. My next project is going to be a small Harbor Freight winch with remote so in case of a break-down/rescue of a non-running bike I can still get it up the ramp and into the truck. Remember a few dead Harley rescues from back in the day, and without a handful of buddies to push it, the usual recourse was to call the tow company. But then, BMWs don't break down like the scooters I remember...

Yeah, 3 wide just "looks OK", at least to my eyes; you can catch yourself on either side if you lose your balance and you're centered on one ramp (instead of trying to ride in the middle if you're doing 2 ramps). I know the standard advice is "walk it up under power" but, at least for me/my situation, that seems more difficult. Even the videos of people doing it look all sorts of sketchy because the bike gets so much higher than you until you jump into the bed of the truck. I can see how it works for some, especially if you only have one ramp, but I don't think it's the best place for a beginner to start. Having now tried both (as a beginner at loading a street bike into a truck), I definitely prefer riding up.

Remember a few dead Harley rescues

Sounds like the start of a meme!

I think if I was going to do a walk up again, I'd set the ramps differently. Put a gap between the bike ramp and the ramp the person guiding the bike is using. Part of the problem was that there just wasn't enough room to get far enough from the bike to have leverage over it. I have seen a few videos of people setting ramps up a bit staggered, I can see why that might be good advice for the walk up method.

Offset ramp setup:

I found this video really helpful about riding it into the truck:

 

[oldnslo]

Reminds me of the time many years ago when I sold my '68 Bonneville. After completing the transaction I offered to help load it in the guy's small Toyota pickup. He says "nah", puts the bike at foot of a narrow ramp, kickstarts it, rev's it to about 3000 rpm, pops the clutch and screams up the ramp, landing in the little truck bed something like a jet landing on an aircraft carrier. Brakes to within a gnat's ass of the front of the bed. "Piece of cake" he says. Turns out he was a motocross racer, and it really was a piece of cake (for him). He said it's how all the motocross guys loaded up their bikes.

Adam

 

[mjfink420]

Reminds me of the time many years ago when I sold my '68 Bonneville. After completing the transaction I offered to help load it in the guy's small Toyota pickup. He says "nah", puts the bike at foot of a narrow ramp, kickstarts it, rev's it to about 3000 rpm, pops the clutch and screams up the ramp, landing in the little truck bed something like a jet landing on an aircraft carrier. Brakes to within a gnat's ass of the front of the bed. "Piece of cake" he says. Turns out he was a motocross racer, and it really was a piece of cake (for him). He said it's how all the motocross guys loaded up their bikes.

Adam

Yup. I used to load my 125 into a pickup (admitted the old Toyota was a LOT smaller/lower than the 450!) with a 2x6 (or 8, I don't remember). And guys at the track would make fun of me (because they did it with a 2x4!). Looking back, it's amazing nothing even happened, but we used to do that all the time. I honestly think it's one of those "don't think about it too much" things. A few minutes watching "fails" and how horrible that turns out shoots your confidence out entirely!

That said, hopping on a brand new (to me) bike and firing it up a narrow ramp into a pickup?? More a man than I!

 

[Lendog]

Had to load the S1000XR into a truck for the first time this weekend (flat tire, so new it still has the nibs on it... Yeah, that hurts, we'll see if Michelin helps out).

I know there are a bunch of opinions on this, but I tried what seems to be the "most preferred" method (walking the bike up with the engine running in 1st gear) and I must say, it was a STRUGGLE. The XR is crazy tall already, trying to walk it up, keep an eye on where it is on the ramp, where I am on the ramp and the height of the truck, man.. I got it in, but nearly dropped it at least twice, including once the tweaked my wrist enough that it still hurts.

Anyway, seems common knowledge here may not be right, at least not for these taller bikes going into taller trucks (F450).

New plan, I got another set of ramps and plan to use 3 or 4 of them together (giving me either a 36" or 48" total width) and riding the bike in. I have my worries about the new plan too, but I just can't see how walking it in is supposed to work with such a high bike (and truck).

Wondering if anyone else has been down this path and has any advice to offer? My ramps are 90" long and arched, so, especially on the XR, can't imagine I'll have clearance issues. Of course, try to use a hill or some other way to make the angle less severe. But it seems that every guide I can find says "Don't ride it in".

Any opinions/guidance others can offer on this?

I spent my youth riding my 250cc - 500cc dirt bikes into my pickup without injury, it is good to be lucky or whatever it is, I would never recommend it to anyone

 

[Lendog]

Reminds me of the time many years ago when I sold my '68 Bonneville. After completing the transaction I offered to help load it in the guy's small Toyota pickup. He says "nah", puts the bike at foot of a narrow ramp, kickstarts it, rev's it to about 3000 rpm, pops the clutch and screams up the ramp, landing in the little truck bed something like a jet landing on an aircraft carrier. Brakes to within a gnat's ass of the front of the bed. "Piece of cake" he says. Turns out he was a motocross racer, and it really was a piece of cake (for him). He said it's how all the motocross guys loaded up their bikes.

Adam

That is how it’s done

 

[Lendog]

This endeavor drifted way beyond its stated desire long long ago. I get the sense you have been asking us to help justify taking this further and further down a rabbit hole, perhaps to help get buy-in by SWMBO. If so, may not end well. Sounds like you are now justifying a bike lift for the truck, then a new truck for that lift, oh, and then a new garage to fit it, which means a new house. I think you get my drift. All so you could see what it might be like to try riding a bike in a safe environment beyond regular speed limits, all because you got a speeding ticket. The amusing part is you still haven't even done a track day.

Bikes are built to be ridden not transported, I have seen many bikes ridden 50,000 miles without harm, transported a block and damaged, tragic oversight or idiotology, I dare not say,
A bike is an extension of the rider, a dam shame to not ride it