Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique How to ride up a ramp, to transport your bike..

well, maybe that should have been how NOT to do it:

http://fail.nl/index/video/je_motor_inladen

Well, I have to admit I've "been there, done that"...well, sorta anyway.

The year, 1990, and movin' from our first condo to our first house.

Except, whereas this guy only seemed to get half way up that moving van's ramp before goin' over the side, I got all the way to the top of it. However, the ramp was at such a steep angle to the van that once I got to the top my 1980 Yamaha XS1100 bottomed out right where the ramp met the van.

(...and let me tell ya, there's no worse feeling than throwin' your feet off the footpegs and findin' nothin' but air below 'em!!!)

Ouch. Luckily its mainly Harleys that get loaded into trucks.

Even knowing what was gonna happen I still groaned and cringed. Arghh!!

Ouch, that was painful to watch!!!

And they all gathered round like they knew it would happen too. Easy chairs set up in the garage... check! Video camera... check! "You guys gonna catch me?"... check! Bunch of morons.

It seems to me that he spun the tire out halfway up, losing his momentum. Right?

I reckon you're right about spinning the rear.

I trailered my bike once. Borrowed a trailer from a buddy. He said the tail gate was too short to ride a bike off, but I could find a small incline and put the gate on it, reducing the angle. We drove to Topsail (pronounced "topsill"..) Island and I had a tough time backing up the single axle trailer, so my choices were limited and I feared getting stuck on one of the tight roads. So, I found a unoccupied house with an inclined driveway. I got the rear wheel of the bike off, but couldn't get the rest of the bike weight up the hill. So, I had the wife pull the truck forward, while I kept my foot on the rear brake. Despite my wife's misgivings, we somehow managed to pull this off without damaging the bike, trailer or truck. I later learned how to back up the trailer, giving me more options!

Looked to me, he went too slow and lost momentum. You can almost always find a shallow ditch and put you rear wheels in it. I had to do it that way once, but I'm a fraidy cat, what can I say?

I have a bike trailer, with a fairly steep ramp.

I have a plank of wood placed to the side of the bike ramp, and simply walk up it next to the bike, engine running, in gear, and it goes up a treat with no issues, moderating clutch/power as it goes.

Coming back down however, remains an issue if the ramp is wet, because the wheels just lock with the brakes on and it can slide easy. Dry no problem at all, but wet requires some care!

The first problem here is fear, yes he pulled the clutch in. Second you are really not supposed to load bikes into those trucks if you read the rental agreement, in the event of an accident they will not cover anything if you do. and thirdly you can rent for about $30 more a trailer for motorcycles.
I did enjoy the event seating set up and the worlds dumbest stunt man rutine. it was like watching an out take from Hot Rod.

Maybe he stopped for a rest on the way up? It was a long ramp...

Based upon the size of the audience and (at least) two video cameras, I'm thinking this wasn't a large surprise to the spectators.

I remember our neighbor Bill DeVries used to pinstripe bikes some 40 odd years ago. One day we watched him back a chopper down a 2X8 by just throwing a leg over, taking a seat, and letting it roll down the plank without looking back. Perhaps he was showing off for we tykes. It worked. From then on we regarded him as a motorcycle God. Plus he had a 3' pony tail, and we thought that was pretty cool too, what with our bowl cuts and all...

I was waiting for it to be a pick up and when he got to the top hit the front of the bed and broke the back window of the cab. Seen that happen. Also had a trailer at Laconia that we loaded the bike on fine at home. When we went to leave Laconia the ramp was in a small depression and the 72 Bonnies center stand caught at the top and stopped my friend dead in his tracks! That was a funny scene.

Very true - no sense buying $200 sneakers (not that they had such a thing back then) to hold up a bowl cut or sheep shear. The damage is done.
It would be akin to putting $1600 worth of rims on a rusty mini van.

As kids we had 'short back and sides' haircuts - probably what you would refer to as marine or military haircuts - lots of kids with sticking-out-ears - complemented by hand-me-down school uniforms that were too big or too small

Note. Take your chances being able to stop in that situation rather then worrying about making it there.
Have a single rail trailer with good foot placement once there but it still gets me nervous on the way up.

That bowl haircut worked for Johnny Ramone right up until his death.

~Brent