Did your avatar change? It looks like it's a different perspective
Variety is the spice of life!
Sevulturus wrote:
ZooTech wrote:I see rocket-boys pulling stoppies all the time, and I don't imagine this device puts any more strain on the forks than bringing 500lbs of bike plus 200lbs of rider to a stop on the front wheel. I'm not saying I'd buy/use one, but I don't see how or why it would damage the bike in tow.
That's true, but then again it'd be a couple of seconds vs several hours as a minimum or days/weeks at a max. I doubt either is good, but saying just because one doesn't seem to be bad doesn't mean that either is.
Whether braking normally or being pulled by an SUV the steering head bearings are going to be under stress, so I doubt either scenario would come close to doing any damage to them. It's definitely an odd way of getting the job done, but if using that device would damage a bike then suddenly I'm a little worried about my front end coming apart on me from just normal usage.
The part I would be concerned about is the drive train. I would be curious if the rear wheel spinning like that could damage anything? Sure it's in neutral, but there are even speed limits for towing cages...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Four wheels move the body.
Two wheels move the soul!"
Why use this? When I was in the Service, my Dad brought my bike from NY to Ft. Bragg, NC. He used a caddy like this. Since he couldn't ride it, it was a way to bring it to me without having to have a trailer. The one we had was cheaper, no Jack on it. Was around $80. The trick was to pull the chain off. My Dad pulled the master link off, left the chain on the countersprocket, wired the rest high so it wouldn't drag. Without the engine running, the transmission gets no lube and would of burned up had he not done this. He towed my 1969 CB350 down to me. No issues. Put the chain back on and I was good to go.
So towing/trailering a bike has it's place.
With a Shaft drive or riveted masterlink, this isn't so handy.
The thing that boggles my mind is that for $535 you can buy a flatbed 4x8 trailer with a ramp and get tie downs to put a bike on it. Granted storing it might not be easy but around me you can leave a trailer anywhere on the street and you can chain that sucker to a lightpost if you're afraid someone will steal it. for a bit more you can have a 6x8 and hold two bikes easy...
I see nothing wrong with towing a motorcycle. Right now here in WNY its below zero and lots of ice on the road, suicide if not impossible to ride. During this time my freind goes to biker events in daytona so he trailers his bike to N.C. and rides the rest of the way.