New Bike - Looking for trailer strap-down advice

[mmonroe]

Hello to All,

I purchased a new 2007 yesterday and hope to pick it up today. Unfortunately I can't find anyone to give me a ride to my house and over to the bike shop so that I can ride it home - so - I will be picking it up with my 5x10 utility trailer today instead.

I have loaded up many bikes through the years onto this trailer, mostly sport bikes, however, I have never loaded a sport-touring bike like an FJR up before. The trailer is nice and has ramps. It also D-rings all around its perimeter. As such, it only made sense to seek the wisdom of those who have been-there and done-that.

Would you guys mind sharing with me the tie-down points that are recommended and any tricks and whatnot involved with safely strapping down an FJR? On the front, I generally use the hand grips over to D-rings and if there is room I will strap down from the triple-trees as well. On the hand grips, I usually dont hook the "hook" directly onto the grip, but instead use a small 12 inch strap to wrap around the grip a couple of times and then hook my main strap to this secondary strap. On the back, I will generally tie from the passenger foot peg area over the side of the trailer to keep the back-end from bouncing around if big bumps are encountered.

I am a little nervous about using the hand grips as a tie point on the FJR since they rise up farther than I am used to with sport bikes (I dont want to break the risers) and whatnot and it looks to be a squeeze to get straps up above the front tire to the forks and whatnot. I surely dont want to mess up my new bike or rub the paint raw from a poorly positioned strap.

Any and all thoughts/ideas will be greatly appreciate!

Mark Monroe

Harrisburg NC

 

[no5s]

Google "Canyon Dancer" They are a great tie down for faired bikes. No scratches, or rub marks. Good luck.

 

[Beal]

Good Morning Mark,

First take the hard bags off and store carefully. For the front I use the "Canyon Dancer" tie downs across the handle bars. For the back I use the passenger grip bars to tie off from. Also tie the front tie to the front of the trailer.

All straps are "firm" but not too firm.

Hope this helps.

Where did you purchase your bike? Where is Harrisburg?

Rick Davis

New Bern, NC

 

[mmonroe]

Thanks for the feeback guys, I really appreciate it. I'm really looking forward to riding the FJR.

Harrisburg NC is about halfway between Concord and Charlotte.



Mark

Harrisburg NC

 

[Nice Rumble]

Congrat's on your new FJR.

To avoid placing an undue amount of pressure on your handlebars as they are cast aluminum and can only hold so much pressure, I would use soft ties around the lower triple clamps. Attach your tie-downs to your D-rings from there. I would also attach soft-ties to the passenger peg brackets and tighten down your tie-downs to D-rings in the rear to help stabilize the bike. You can use a Canyon Dancer as secondary support but not as your primary support. Canyon Dancers were originally mean't for race bikes with clip-on's.

 

[Gary]

I'd think the dealer would be willing to help out with a ride, considering that you're making a $13k purchase...

 

[TellurideFJR]

Leave your cage at the dealer and pick it up sometime in the future. Once you have the bike you wont want to drive it anyway

 

[mdisher]

I'd think the dealer would be willing to help out with a ride, considering that you're making a $13k purchase...

Amen to that....

If you can't locate a Canyon Dancer you can do basically the same thing with a 3rd tie down.

Shorten it some, and then wrap it around the top of the triple across where the handlebars mount, not out on the ends. Then use each end of the tie down to connect each of the other two tiedowns too. Have trailered the ZX11 this way many a times.

(Oh and bring a couple rags to protect the paint from anywhere the tie-downs might touch.)

 

[06FJRider]

One last point -- I happened to witness this one last year at the dealer -- watch out too for the front disk brakes when trailering! I saw a new owner that was so intent (intense?!) on getting his new bike home that he did not notice the front wheel holder of the trailer interference with the disk brake rotor as he tied down the bike tightly...

He ended up damaging and having to replace it (and from what I understand these rotors are expensive).

Enjoy the new bike!

 

[mmonroe]

Many thanks to everyone that posted help on my questions...

I just decided to lay the bike down on its side and strap it down good. This way there would be no straps to the hand grips and no chance of issues with them. (just kidding!)

Seriously.. I got the bike home and then rode it on into work. This is the first sport-touring bike I have ever had. All of my bikes in the last 20 years have been more pure sport bikes like Ninjas and whatnot - ZX-11, ZX-12r, etc. The FJR is a totally different ride in no uncertain terms. It is going to take time to get used to it I think.

I'm going to put some miles on it tonight after work and go from there.



Mark

Harrisburg NC