How do I get a motorcycle into my pickup?

Factual Questions
1

FYI I am not a motorcyclist, and do not know how to ride one.

I need to transport a motorcycle about 1500 miles in my pickup bed. It’s (I think) a Honda NC750 (?) weighing around 500 lbs. I will already have a large trailer behind the truck, so a motorcycle trailer is not an option. The truck is a 3/4 ton long bed, so there’s room for the bike to fit with the tailgate closed. I have a pair of heavy duty ramps (1000lbs capacity), and plenty of big tie down straps.

Any suggestions for getting this bike up in the bed? Even if I could ride one, I would be afraid of a disaster using ramps. Will a bike dealer load one for me? (I could rent a bike trailer and my wife and I could push it aboard – then drive to the dealer).

Any pitfalls I should watch out for when securing it? Should I fabricate something to ensure the wheels stay in place (side to side)? I’m unsure if the normal bounce of the ride and the bike suspension might cause the wheels to shift to right or left (and allow the bike to fall). Is it OK to tighten the tie down straps such that the bike’s suspension is compressed? This will be a 3 day trip.

Any and all suggestions appreciated – I’m outside my expertise here.

2

You’re kind of making this out to be harder than it is. A Honda NC750 is only a medium sized bike. it’s nothing to be intimidated by even if you don’t ride. You should be able to walk it up those ramps. If you can’t push it up in neutral keep it in 1st gear and let the engine help you. Just be sure not to pop the clutch if you do it that way. Keep a good grip on the clutch and ease it out while the bike goes up the ramp. And, of course, make sure your ramps are set up properly and secure.

It should take about 10 seconds to walk it up the ramp. I do this all the time with my Harley into my Silverado.

As far as securing it, does your truck bed have brace bars or loops for tie down straps?
Secure straps on each side of the frame and forks. You might want someone sitting on the bike while you do this for stability. A well strapped in bike is very secure nd shouldn’t move around or shift at all during transport.

3

Concerning the ramp into the pickup, dig photos 6 and 7 from this site. I don’t know that I agree with all of the other stuff in that article, though. I’ve tied down and transported 100s of bikes, but I’ve never strapped them like those guys show.

Will the motorbike be loaded straight in, or you going corner-to-corner in the back of the pickup bed?

4

^What they said.

Also consider using your landscape to your advantage. When I’ve loaded a bike I parked the truck in “just the right spot” so that my ramp was actually level and I actually just used the bike’s hand brake.

5

You might want to watch some You Tube videos so you know what not to do.

6

In my younger days, I lifted similar size bikes onto pickups, with the help of a couple of friends.

Ramps will make it much easier. If you are not a biker, don’t use the engine, take the suggestion of others here to make use of any raised ground. Push the bike up one ramp, walk on the other. Have someone on the opposite side to help in case you lose balance to prevent you from dropping it. It is not too hard!

I would place the front wheel in one of the front corners, with the bike diagonally across the bed of the pickup. Secure the front by tying down the handlebars, compression of the suspension is a good thing, that way the bike tightens the straps. Avoid strapping over the brake/clutch levers and mirrors - they will break under strain, so tie directly onto the metal parts of the handlebars. Also try to avoid putting any of the cables under stress.

The back end can be tied less tightly than the front, but still put the suspension under compression. As long as your straps hold tight, this should be no problem over 3 days.

7

If you’re not used to moving a motorcycle, and have never loaded one before, then don’t listen to anybody who says it is easy to roll it up a ramp. With experience it isn’t a terrible difficult activity, but the risk of damage or injury are high if you don’t know what you’re doing.

A quick youtube search for motorcycle loading fails will quickly show you not to trust anybody who says they’ll just ride it up.

As others have suggested, using terrain is good. A vacant loading dock, like behind a school or office building can also be useful (don’t trespass, obviously). Those are good options if you have a way to transport the motorcycle to the destination. If you don’t ride, do you know somebody who does who can help you?

Last time I had to load a motorcycle into a pickup I fortunately found access to a hydraulic lift. That made it incredibly easy.

Once it’s loaded, strapping it down is not difficult to get right, but is also easy to get wrong. As others have said, avoid strapping to parts that can break off like mirrors, brake levers, etc. The best place in the front is to the triple tree, where the frame and handle bars come together. The important thing in the front is to compress the suspension a bit, and not let the handle bars turn. Don’t compress the suspension completely though.

A front wheel chock is useful, but not necessary, particularly if you don’t want to fasten one to the bed of your truck. As suggested, putting the front tire into the corner is a good substitute for a chock, but be sure that the handle bars are straight.

It’s not necessary to compress the suspension at the rear. You can strap down over the tire. The rear will bounce around a bit no matter what you do.

Be careful of the plastic bodywork. Straps can easily scratch it, and it certainly isn’t strong enough to be a good tie down point.

Be careful of the side stand on your truck bed. It can dent and scratch the bed if you’re not careful. BTW, you want to strap the bike down upright, not while it’s on the side stand, but it’s useful to put the bike on the side stand while you get the straps in position. Have something handy to put under the side stand to protect the truck bed. Even a sturdy piece of cardboard will probably work.

8

Similarly, looking at YouTube “boat launch fails” will freak out any new boat owner.:slight_smile:

9

Yes.

The chance of problems increases with the steepness of the ramp - it’s worth considerable trouble to find a way to limit this.

10

Having access to a dry grassy swale is very useful for this kind of situation. The one beside the road in front of my house is about two feet deep with gently sloping sides. I used to back my truck from the road into the swale so my rear tires were centered in the bottom. When I lowered the tailgate it was only a couple inches off the ground, making it easy to ride a bike or lawnmower into the bed.
Luckily the front of the truck was clear of the road and could get out of the ditch on its own.

11

That’s exactly what I would do, back the truck up to a hill/bank or loading dock and just roll the bike onto the truck.

If you aren’t a rider I wouldn’t even attempt to get the bike up steep ramps into the back of a pickup. You could try to find rider(s) that have experience or ask a dealer for suggestions.

12

Gave myself hemorrhoids pushing the 500 up a very steep ramp into a truck by myself.

I reckon it probably would have been ok with two of us.

13

I did this a few months back. I sold the bike to someone and asked him when he wanted to stop by with a trailer to grab it. He told me he was just going to put it in his pickup. It was a Honda Shadow 750, so not overly heavy, but not exactly the type of bike that you could just pick up and toss in the bed. It also wasn’t running, and it was the middle of winter, so riding it up the ramps wasn’t really an option.
It took the two of us probably 3 or 4 minutes from the bottom of the ramps to having the bed in the pickup, but it felt like a lot longer than that.
I was on the right and each time we’d give it a good push and then I’d grab the brake so we could rest for a little bit. Then on three, we’d push again, I’d let go of the brake, it would go another 6 or 12 inches and I’d grab the lever again.

It wasn’t horrible, but I have no interest in doing it again. I consider us lucky that we didn’t step off the ramp or drop the bike.
In retrospect, I should have had him sign the bill of sale/title and gotten copies before we did that.

14

Sounds like the ramp was too steep. Three and four segment ramps that are longer and less sharply sloped are easier.

15

I’ve also seen, but don’t own, ramps that have a curve in them. That eliminates the sharp angle at the top that seems to be the issue in the videos. Also note the straps securing the ramps to the truck so they can’t kick out.

16

Thanks to everyone for your advice. As PKBites says, I may be making a mountain out of a molehill, but losing balance of a 500 lb machine 2-3 feet in the air could be a real problem.

Thin Ice, Ctrl-z, and kayaker – I have a section of yard that’s almost bed-high to the truck (within 8"). It’s a raised section with railroad-tie retaining wall. I can position the truck on the low side and easily roll the bike up to it. This should make the ramps almost level. I’ll check with the tailgate down to see if I actually need the ramps at all.

ShunPiker and GaryM, thanks for the links, they follow fairly close to the method I had considered to stabilize the bike in the truck. I think their method is better so I’ll use that.

I think I’ll use the pizza-and-beer method to attract a few friends over to help push/pull/lift/etc. and make this easier. Cheaper than going to the Doc with back (or worse) problems after straining to get it aboard.

Thanks again for the suggestions – I have a month to accomplish this, so I’m not on a schedule. I’ll let you know how it works out. :slight_smile:

17

Looking at the pics in the linky above, I would not be happy with the way they strapped it down. The forces acting on a load when you corner, brake or accelerate (especially uphill) are considerable, so you need plenty of straps (Ratchet straps are the best).

I would have run a strap from the rear tie-downs right around the front and from the front around the back. Ideally, the front tyre should be right up against the front of the truck bed. You also have to stop it falling sideways so a strap around the handlebars or the front forks would help. Strapping over the seat will do very little as it can slide sideways easily.

18

The answers above are moot because this answer to this is “yes.” I’ve never seen a dealer who wouldn’t load a bike for you. I’ve yet to meet a private seller that wouldn’t help load a bike for you, and I’ve had a couple that pretty much took over because they were quicker.

My problem has always been a lack of experienced help unloading, which has twice resulted in someone say they’ve got it when they don’t got it.