Towing - Two Wheelers

[evoetr]

Weekend just been we were out Mungatuks way past Orange Hutt (Think the part we were in was called Slippery Valley) and my mates bike broke down! and the tow strop was no where to be seen in the bag!.... double

Anyways that track never seemed so long at like 5kph lol (This was after a mate had raced back to get a strop) (We made it back to car park like 7.30pm lol man when that sun goes down its freezing! Snowing some might say)

Question: Towing we are all on two wheelers but faced the problem of where to attach it on the towing bike and where on the bike being towed.

We had tied it around the handle bars of the bike being towed and around the frame that the air box mounts to on the KX250 which is like alloy or something doesn't look very strong it bolts to the main frame... but was all we could attach it to with out getting caught in the chain etc..

Anyone have any recommendations for towing (Not that this happens often) ?

(Get a quad , I do have a 4WD Surf and came across some 4WD's before it broke down, but not sure how they got in ? Maybe Karapoti side or something)

[B0000M]

round the footpeg works well on the towing bike, but is not great if youre doing lots of corners

[slofox]

We used to loop the tow rope round the steering head of the towed bike and hold on rather than TIE the rope to the towed bike. That way, if the shit hits the fan at all the rider of the towed bike can just let the tow rope go and be free of the tower. Felt safer that way.

[evoetr]

round the footpeg works well on the towing bike, but is not great if youre doing lots of corners

Now theres an idea! yea guessing corners it would get rather close to the rear wheel, the problem we also had up hill because the tow rope was attached right at the back it keepd poping wheelies, at least the footpegs are a bit further foward might help with this.

Cheers Man

[evoetr]

We used to loop the tow rope round the steering head of the towed bike and hold on rather than TIE the rope to the towed bike. That way, if the shit hits the fan at all the rider of the towed bike can just let the tow rope go and be free of the tower. Felt safer that way.

Yea good point, thats the bit i was iffy about not having any sort of quick release when shit hits the fan...

[duckonin]

We used to loop the tow rope round the steering head of the towed bike and hold on rather than TIE the rope to the towed bike. That way, if the shit hits the fan at all the rider of the towed bike can just let the tow rope go and be free of the tower. Felt safer that way.

But after a while if you have a ways to go slofox, u would need to be an Arnie swartzie, more so when there is a small hill or rise in front of u...

[duckonin]

Oh and any one doing this watch out for the rope burns..

[StoneY]

When I sat my license back in 84 it was PERECTLY LEGAL to tow a motorcycle with another motorcycle-
But the rope had to be UNFIXED (meaning wrapt and held NOT tied)

The old road code book (in 84) even had a diagram of how to wrap the steering head and hold the rope to allow control and release in emergency

I towed my brothers mates Triumph Thunderbird 650 up Gloaming Hill with an XR200 - freaked him out we could do 80kmh uphill lol (good bloody bikes the 80's XR series)

Im not sure its still legal or not- cant see that having changed tho

Point used to be- non fixed rope-strop-towline so it can be released and the point of pull was the steering head - central and balanced for sure (think a footpeg would be too off center and dodgey)

That was great back in the days of CB400's etc, unsure how it works with modern bikes and all the fairings etc

[slofox]

But after a while if you have a ways to go slofox, u would need to be an Arnie swartzie, more so when there is a small hill or rise in front of u...

Actually this was not that hard to do - there isn't that much strain involved. You can always loop the rope round twice...as long as it doesn't cross itself and bugger up your quick release option...

[duckonin]

Actually this was not that hard to do - there isn't that much strain involved. You can always loop the rope round twice...as long as it doesn't cross itself and bugger up your quick release option...

Yes you are right, but you still have to have one hand on the bars, have needed to use the system a few times over the years ...Darn bikes were not meant to be towed ha ha

[duckonin]

Hmmm, I am talking about the bush and farm land not roads

[Ride it till the red]

You did basically what we've always done. Around bars or headtube somewhere on bike being towed and from somewhere on the rear subframe on towing bike. Can become a bit of a mission as you obviously found out! Which side do you enter the forest from? Pram or The Hutt? The guys at the Quad Adventures place on the Kapiti side have been known to help out stuck riders with their quads.

Other option is ditch the bike, make sure you hide it way off the track and cover it over with branches and leaves. And obviously get back in ASAP! We had to ditch a CRF450 at the bottom of the Pram track becase the gearbox blew itself to pieces at about 5.30pm.

As far as 4wds go you can't just get in there. You need keys and permits which can only be attained by being part of a known 4wd club with a relationship with the council and then being a trained "trip leader". These trip leaders get hold of the keys when they are going in for an organised trip. Luckily for me my old man is heavily involved in the 4wd scene and as a past president and trip coordinator etc etc he has a set of keys for the whole forest with him permanantly. Helped alot when I bogged my bike to the point of needing to be winched out

Gimme a PM if you ever do end up ditching a bike in there and need a hand. Happy to try and help out where possible.

[evoetr]

.Darn bikes were not meant to be towed ha ha

LOL totally agree, almost thought about buying a shitter quad to keep back at the car just incase it happend again because man it was a pain in the arse.... Wonder if you could site the bike on the quad lol

[Ride it till the red]

LOL totally agree, almost thought about buying a shitter quad to keep back at the car just incase it happend again because man it was a pain in the arse.... Wonder if you could site the bike on the quad lol

At one of the Taupo rides (can't remember which one) I saw this done. Farm quad with a wooden piece on the back and the bike was lying on it's side on that. Rider was kind of sitting on the bike holding it but a couple of tie downs would no doubt be far better.

[B0000M]

ive seen on a few rides - i think epic events has one- a tow dolly, basicly a mini bike trailer, holds the front wheel, tie it down, then tow with a quad.


and to the road guys who joined in- its totally legal to do anything you like within reason on a dirt bike!