So here's what happened...

We had plans to meet up with vintagewannabe today for a nice street ride but one of my employees called off and as a salaried General Manager it is my responsibility to feel those gaps so I had to call off the ride. Well, I got out of work a little early and the weather looked bad so I thought I would just ride the dirt bike for a bit. I called one of my friends to see if he wanted to go but he was working. So I asked if another friend(outdoorsy74 on here) could ride it and he said sure. We load up, one in the bed of the truck and one on the trailer. We strap them down as we have hundreds of time before and we are off. We get on to the interstate and cruising about 70 mph whenb one of the straps on the trailer lets go. My friends dirt bike, which is the one we are borrowing falls off the trailer and is dragged 300 feet(estimated)until we can come to a stop. I run back and see the bike is on fire. Craig(outdoorsy74) goes back to the truck for the fire extinguisher, but I pick up the bike and blow out the flames. Needless to say, we repaired what we could and still got to ride but now have about $150 worth of stuff to purchase to make it right. We spent $60 just to get it rideable and are swapping some of the road rashed parts off of my bike to make it good. Thought this might brighten someone day if they have had rough one.

 

Begs the question... Can you have make-up sex with a dirt bike?

 

Damn, makes the fact that the gate fell off (yes, all the way off) of my trailer not so bad.

You win!


GL with fixing the bike. So what did your buddy say? The one who owned the bike.

 

this is why I use ancras, not cheap wally world straps. I also retire them after one season, and never let them sit around in the elements/trailer or bed of the truck.

 

The answer is yes... Three times. After that your "member" is raw from the perf tube in the muffler.

He was cool about the whole thing. He understands shit happens and knows it will be fixed. The bike is not that bad. The mastercylinder is ground down but does not leak and still works. I need to get him new plastics, new Pro Tper FatBars, new grips, and a new bar pad.

These were good straps. We have went through the scenario a hundred times and can not figure out how it happened. I guess it was one of those freak accidents.

 

Sucks man!!! I had a brand new couch get picked up by some wind and pitched off my trailer on the interstate.... As if it's not bad enough, some mini-van mom isn't paying attention and smashed into it.. Blew the couch into pieces, I was bummed and the mini-van kept on truckin....

 

That's what you get for canceling on me

Hate to hear that man, but it does happen. Several years ago, on our way to Mid-Ohio, we had several bikes on a little trailer. Got going a little too fast, trailer started swaying back and forth real bad, and chucked a bike off the side. That's why I always have everyone check and double check their own straps.

You're lucky the damage is minor. Falling off a truck, a bike can pretty easily start to cartwheel and do some real damage.

Oh, and I'd blame the guy who called in to work.

 

I've had more than one Ancra loosen up.
Steve

 

thats some funny stuff, sure it wasn't at the time though

 

How many straps did you use?

 

I had a similar thing happen. I had low sided my '95 ZX7R team muzzy edition on one of my fav corners. While in the hospital I had a friend pick the bike up and drop it off at my house. The next day when I got out of the hospital, I loaded the bike on an open trailer to take to the insurance adjuster. At this point it was not too bad. No where near totaled. The route to the adjusters office is a very windy road, and in one corner I see a bike pass my truck, and I think what a dumb ass he just passed me on the right shoulder. Then I thought, hmmmmm....That bike looks like mine, and where is the rider? I looked back and...Crap!!!!....The bike came off the trailer and stayed on two wheels and passed me!!!!!...I watched it hit a tree and fly through the air! well I called the adjuster and told him it was now totaled! The funny part of the story was when I finnaly got the truck turned around and back to where the bike was there was a cop there. He was looking through the woods for the rider. Seems he got a report that there was a bike crash and someone thought the rider died. He was nice enough to help me load the bike back on the trailer. I will never use an open trailer again!!!!!!!

 

I almost peed my pants!!

 

I always put an overhand knot in the cinch strap just below the buckle in case it let's go -it prevents any more strap from running thru the buckle and loosening further and yes, they all can let go at some time. It works for dirt and road bikes. I've had to cut the strap to get it loose when it's slipped, but it's a small price to pay in lieu of a bike ejecting...

 

RATCHETING straps for those wondering.

 

Motorcycle slid or dragged for 300' at 70 mph and it's only gonna cost $150 to fix!

That woulda cost $47,000 if it were a street bike!!!

 

Anchors are cheap

I use 4 straps on my CRF and before I sold my TL-R, I used 2 up front (sometimes 4 in the hills), two on the rear subframe and a huge 4" trucking strap that I tied at the rear of the bed and had looped around the tire and spoke. Plus, I kept the bike in gear with no slack, which prevented it from moving backwards, although the transmisson may have eventually popped out of gear.

I have had straps loosen under rainy conditions but I am cognizant of that fact and pull over for an all-round cinching ceremony. If one comes lose, it will not end my day, as I have at least three more straps in the system operating as backup.

In over 27 years of towing bikes in trailers and truck beds, I have never had one tip over or fall out and I attribute that to being super cautious and down right paranoid, in addition to the fact that I hate wasting money. Besides, how much does a set of quality tiedowns cost, less than $30? And if you figure the probability that if/when a tip-over or a fall occurs, you are out at least $30, especially on a streetbike, straps are a very cost effective investment. The cheapest body panel on a street bike is in the neighborhood of $250+ thesedays.

 

I've seen those loosen up as well if used improperly or in the right conditions. I use four straps and a baxley.

 

what's a baxley? Is that one of those wheel holder deals?

 

If I had gotten off earlier I was going to call you to see if you were still up for a ride but it did not work out that way. And I also blame the person who called in

We used two straps with a wheel chock on the trailer, as we do everytime we haul a bike.

Thats funny as hell!!!

We did have knots in them. We think the suspension might have compressed farther then we had it strapped, and one of the straps came out of the "ring" on the trailer.

Oh no, if we replaced everything that was damaged I am sure it would be close to $1000 but since most of it is cosmetic I am going to take the parts off of my bike and put them on his, such as the muffler and master cylinder.

 

Yep, http://www.baxleycompanies.com/