Tying a bike down on a trailer

[austin]

My bike and newly restored trailer had their first proper outing today: over to Thirsk to get new Tubeless wheels fitted. They’ve only been on order for 2 days short of 12 months!! I’ve loaded the bike on the trailer several times and tried various places to tie the bike down and thought I had it sussed: 4 straps, two at the front round the lower fork legs and back to the trailer axle; two to the back through the pillion footrest hangers and again back to the axle - there’s some brackets for this purpose.

Going was fine mainly as I went the main road way - dual carriageway way for 90% of the way. Everything still nice and tight when I got there. Coming back though the A66 was closed so I came through the Dales: Leyburn, Hawes, Ribblehead etc. I took it pretty steady but when I got home the two rear straps had both un-hooked themselves from the eye on the axle. My assumption is that the rougher route had caused the bike’s suspension to move enough so the straps went loose enough to un-hook themselves. Is this likely?

I suppose I need to either crank down the straps so there is no suspension movement possible, or tie down to the wheel or swinging arm where there can be no movement. Any thoughts?

trailer is a Bike Lug trailer - now Moto Lug. I suppose the good bit is even with just two straps the bike was still as steady as anything.

 

[Lowflyer]

Austin,

I have/had exactly the same issue with the WR on the trailer. The hook popped out at the tie down points when going over a bumpy road. ( rather embarrassing to have the bike leaning at a peculiar angle on the back of the trailer )
Solution is tie down loops. I pull the loop through the tie down point and insert the hook of the ratchet strap through both ends of the loop.
You can buy a pack of 4 for a tenner. I went for the ones without the metal hoops at the end as I think there is more flex in the webbing than metal.

Good luck, works for me

 

[austin]

Thanks John, I’ll look into tie town loops. Something with a tiny bit of stretch sounds like a good thing.

My other thought was Carabiners instead of/as well as the hooks. That way even if the straps momentarily loosen due to the bike’s movement they won’t unhook.

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

The front straps look low, wouldnt it be more secure mounting them higher like to the crash or handle bars, splaying the bottom mounts wide (to make an A shape with bike in the middle of the A if looking at it from the front or rear, if you know what I mean!), strap it down tight to compress the suspension, same at the rear but use a spreader bar to splay the mounting points wide but keeping the straps relatively vertical when looking from the side.

As every bloke always says when strapping something down "thats going nowhere" [emoji106]

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[Lowflyer]

Oh FFS , never looked at your pic.
Phil is right, tie down in an angular -- eg handlebars tied down to front tie down ( as far away as you can from handlebars ), the rear, tied down from the highest point on the rear of the bike to the most furthest away anchor point
Well done Phil, good point to make
As an afterthought, I compress the hooks of the ratchet in the vice, just to make sure the kittle fekers don't slide out of the tie down loops.

Hope this helps

 

[austin]

Thanks for the tips both.

tie down loops on the trailer axle are as wide as they can be - fixed to the wheel’s bracket. The front wheel is in a clamp too although that really only steadies the bike enough that you can let go of it while you fit the tie downs.

I went low for the straps on the bike thinking i would find somewhere where I wasn’t compressing the suspension. I did try up by the top of the forks and rear subframe but I seemed to be tightening for ever as I just kept on compressing the suspension and the straps never went “solid”. I’ll have another go tomorrow and put up a few more pics.

I’ve ordered a few screw gate carabiners. Always useful even if I don’t end up using them.

edit, what’s a spreader bar in this context phil?

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

Austin, by spreader bar, I mean a long bar something like what I presume the axle is (say 40 or 50mm box section steel) mounted across the trailer underneath/perpendicular to where you are attaching the straps on the bike are mounted while maintaining a good wide A shape, if you know what I mean.
Having said that, if extra bits of metal were required, presumably they'd be part of the trailer!
Are there any tips or pics on the motolug site?

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[austin]

Tips from Motolug are pretty much to tie down as I have done ie to somewhere robust on the bike and to the lashing points on the axle. I bought the tie down straps from Motolug so the metal hook ends is what they recommend.

Maybe I’m overthinking the tying down thing and suspension. Perhaps the straps moved after I’d checked them or I hadn’t closed the ratchets. Maybe just crank down on the ratchets and get nearly all suspension movement eliminated.

 

[Lowflyer]

I tighten the front ratchets on the handlebars and pull them down really tight so that the front suspension is pretty much hard down. Mind you I am talking about a pig of a WR compared to your fine steed
Much the same for the rear straps.
I have done this for countless crossers in my time.
I have also crimped the ratchet hooks in a vice to decrease the likelihood of them slipping out of the tie down loops.

If you want to be extra extra sure, especially at the back wheel where there is little movement, put a small ratchet strap through the rear wheel and onto the chassis of the trailer. The front wheel will be secure enough.
As you say, maybe you are overthinking.
The only way is to go on a dry run like you have done and monitor it regularly.

 

[Rubberchicken]

I'm just wondering, if both rear straps came loose, what exactly was holding the bike on the trailer? Not a lot from the looks of it, the front straps look like they pull back which is completely opposite to what you want but apparently they pulled down just enough that it won't pop out of the front wheel clamp? Lucky.

And hooks, just say no, for exactly this reason. I've got long ratchet straps that loop around, like those little cam straps except with a beefy ratchet. They only come off when I want them to.

 

[austin]

I'm just wondering, if both rear straps came loose, what exactly was holding the bike on the trailer? Not a lot from the looks of it, the front straps look like they pull back which is completely opposite to what you want but apparently they pulled down just enough that it won't pop out of the front wheel clamp? Lucky.

And hooks, just say no, for exactly this reason. I've got long ratchet straps that loop around, like those little cam straps except with a beefy ratchet. They only come off when I want them to.

yup, just the two front straps and the wheel clamp holding the bike on. It was rock steady with just those though. Which is good as it gives me some confidence that four straps when done properly are more than adequate.

 

[austin]

Ok, so taking into account what you lot have said as best I can. Here’s plan B. Carabiners in the post from Amazon today so I’ll be using them at the axle end. Prob just hook them through the hooks or in the webbing loop where the hooks are.

 

[Rubberchicken]

That one is the tiniest bump away from falling out, a carabiner would definitely take care of that.

 

[austin]

Ooooh, good spot. I was only offering up the different tying down options. I’d like to think I’d spot that before I set off for real.

I still think that tying down without compressing the suspension is a better solution though. I think the bike felt more solid the way I did it previously. I just need to ensure the hooks don’t come out the lashing point.

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

The hooks on the straps do look like they want to fall out of the loop on the trailer at the first opportunity. The straps I use have a hook like an '8' but with a bit missing.
The carabiner sounds a good shout - assuming they are decent quality.

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[Rubberchicken]

I still think that tying down without compressing the suspension is a better solution though.

Maybe, it's supposed to be better for the bike, or it might ride better because there's less unsprung weight crashing about I guess, but I've always been of the "tie it DOWN" school, making big triangles to points high up on the bike so there's less leverage and yanking that suspension right down so it stays put and becomes one solid whole.

Kinda like this.