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Old August 4th, 2011, 12:16 PM   #1
exploring/carolina
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Transporting the Ninja

Normally haul bikes on a trailer behind a 87 Toyota Pickup. Wanted to find a way to reduce overall vehicle weight to increase fuel economy. Had a shell given to me a few years ago for the Pickup, so decided to remove the shell to see how loading & unloading the Ninja on the back of the pickup would work.

Found the Ninja is easy to load/unload using an inexpensive aluminum ramp from Harbor Freight. The Pickup also has tie downs in each corner of the bed that should work fine for the Ninja.

Will haul the Ninja 400 miles tomorrow to see how the 2.4L four cylinder Pickup performs with the Ninja in the back.

Bet the Pickup will handle the KLR or CRF easily, too!








Last futzed with by exploring/carolina; August 4th, 2011 at 01:19 PM.
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Old August 4th, 2011, 12:22 PM   #2
jamesio
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Nice...are you going to be able to close the tail gate? I was wondering about this. I have an '01 Dakota and I will likely be transporting my ninja in the bed as well. How did you secure the bike?
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Old August 4th, 2011, 01:14 PM   #3
exploring/carolina
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Quote:
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Nice...are you going to be able to close the tail gate? I was wondering about this. I have an '01 Dakota and I will likely be transporting my ninja in the bed as well. How did you secure the bike?
Cannot close the tailgate with the bike loaded. It's a 6' bed.

The bike's unloaded right now, but will reload it later today and secure so I will be ready to roll in the morining.

Will post photos later today in this thread with the Ninja secured.

Have a 400 mile round trip tomorrow to Deals Gap, not including riding the Ninja, too .

Last futzed with by exploring/carolina; August 4th, 2011 at 02:38 PM.
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Old August 4th, 2011, 02:19 PM   #4
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Did you ride that up on there or muscle it up?
Those ramps make you have to really watch your step where you put your feet for balance. Watch your butt coming down if you are sitting on the bike.
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Old August 4th, 2011, 02:34 PM   #5
exploring/carolina
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Did you ride that up on there or muscle it up?
Those ramps make you have to really watch your step where you put your feet for balance. Watch your butt coming down if you are sitting on the bike.
I walk beside the bike with it running in first gear to get up the ramp.

Coming down the ramp, I put it in neutral, use front brake & walk beside the bike.

I wear good shoes, not flip flops. Have to have a ramp wide enough for the bike & person walking. With the Ninja around 300lbs, not too bad going up or down the ramp.
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Old August 4th, 2011, 02:58 PM   #6
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when i load bikes into trucks (seems like i've been doing that a lot lately... ) i put them in kitty corner. the corner of the bed acts as a wheel chock and the tailgate closes no problem
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Old August 4th, 2011, 04:14 PM   #7
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I've towed mine over 600 miles round trip with a 2.2L Celica with little noticable drag, so the back of your pickup should fare just fine :


Gas mileage ftw Although I'm mad jealous of your ability to just load it in a truck and actually be allowed to drive speed limit and not get stuck in the crappy truck lanes going <55 mph up the Grapevine.

Ahem, yes. I'm not even bitter about it, I swear
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Old August 4th, 2011, 07:09 PM   #8
exploring/carolina
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That's a good idea placing the front wheel caddy corner secure the wheel.

Like the trailer behind the Celica. Would like to get one like that for our 2.3L 5 speed Focus.

Got the bike tied down & road tested tonight, very stable. Every thing is a go for the "Dragon" tomorrow.

Used the red straps close to the front axle on the fork to keep the front of the bike from moving left or right.

Placed the red straps on the cross tube on the centerstand to keep the rear from moving left or right.

Used the blue straps on the twisted throttle trunk mount to stabilize the top of the bike.





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Old August 7th, 2011, 10:07 AM   #9
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why don't you put straps on the handle bars? that compresses the suspension (near bottoming out), and makes it really stable. you can buy straps that look like a figure 8 that do a half hitch around the bars so you can hook ratchet straps to them without marring the bar.
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Old August 7th, 2011, 12:31 PM   #10
exploring/carolina
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Quote:
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why don't you put straps on the handle bars? that compresses the suspension (near bottoming out), and makes it really stable. you can buy straps that look like a figure 8 that do a half hitch around the bars so you can hook ratchet straps to them without marring the bar.
Compressed the rear shock by using the Twisted Throttle luggage rack as a tie down. It was very stable.

Would have used the the handlebars, but the angle from the tie down in the truck to the portion of the handlebars I wanted to use, allowed the tie downs to contact the fairing, which I did not to do. My first choice is to use handlebars compressing the forks if possible.

Use the figure 8 straps on other bikes when using the trailer, but did not use them on the Ninja until the return trip from the Dragon. Like the figure 8 straps, too.

Hauled the Ninja 420 miles last Friday, and it worked well with the pickup getting 28MPG in the mountains during the round trip to Deals Gap from 55 to 60MPH.

Thanks,
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Old August 7th, 2011, 01:03 PM   #11
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When I was looking into tying down my ninja way back when, most people recommended going up and under, looping the tie downs around the lower triple clamp (Supposedly the canyon dancer/handlebar method is prone to grip damage). So that's what I do. It's very stable, doesn't touch the fairings, and you can compress the suspension safely. I've never had anything damaged doing it that way.

Just another method to consider next time if you'd like
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Old August 7th, 2011, 01:55 PM   #12
exploring/carolina
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zombiphone View Post
When I was looking into tying down my ninja way back when, most people recommended going up and under, looping the tie downs around the lower triple clamp (Supposedly the canyon dancer/handlebar method is prone to grip damage). So that's what I do. It's very stable, doesn't touch the fairings, and you can compress the suspension safely. I've never had anything damaged doing it that way.

Just another method to consider next time if you'd like
Thanks, will give it a try!!
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