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Bikes in Vans and trailers etc etc
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I am driving my van round the country soon and I will be taking a 900
Hornet along with me. The van I got is the LWB Mitso Express with the
small bonnet. The hornet will fit in OK although mirrors have to come
off to get it in. It will be a tight fit with the bike, camping gear
and various other odds and ends but I will get it all in. Yesterday my
thoughts started drifting towards an enclosed bike trailer, but do I
want the hassle of a trailer or the hassle of wheeling the bike out of
the van all the time?? Also where is a good place in brissie to get
some tie-down points which I can bolt into the floor and perhaps
somesort of wheel track for the front wheel to sit snugly in? Any
suggestions or advice is much appreciated!
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An alternative system is to attach the bike to the vehicle.
Dunno if it is still legal nowadays, but my system passed RTA scrutiny in
NSW 20 years back when I used it to transport my competition bikes to events
all over the state.
All that I did was to replace the tow ball with a ")" of channel attached
to the tow bar by welding a 7/8" bolt onto the bottom.
The front wheel sits in the channel & the bike is secured with tie-downs to
anchor points fitted to the evtreme ends of the rear bumper.
A tail/brake light is attached to the bike's number plate & powered via a
lead plugged into the trailer electrical socket.
I used to drop the chain off the rear sprocket & secure it with an Ocky
strap & found that wear on the free-wheeling rear tyre to be negligible.
However reversing can be a little tricky as the bike tends to lean
excessively if turned too sharply.
Grump.
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