My Bike Tie Down

[jorawro]

I built this a year ago to tie down my bike on the Alaska Ferry and it worked like a charm (and a couple of times since) so I thought I would pass it on to the group. Excuse the shabby welding - it was a proto-type after all and scraps of metal I had laying around.
The only thing I would warn about is "cranking" the tie-down ratchets too much as you could bend something. I only had to put a small amount of pressure on and the bike didn't budge. Note that the clamping is done at the curve of the "frame rails" which stops forward and back movement.
Hope this is usefull to some-one.

[bigfoot.nolan]

Do you have all the number's for this???????????Look like a winner to me!!!!!!!!!

[RonKMiller]

NICE, very clever. Great lateral thinking!

The LT is one of the hardest bikes I've EVER had to secure on a trailer - it usually takes me at least a half hour, plus eight soft loops and high quality ratchet tie downs to get it to the point that I know it is not going anywhere.

Dress that puppy up with some powder coating, plastic end caps, include two heavy duty ratchet tie downs, a front tire "stop" (for trailering) and give it a name....

There are at least 18,000 LT's out there in the world.

[jsciullo]

Roy-
Very nice. Put me down for one.
Jim

[JeffB]

I like it. It looks perfect for the needs you describe. No getting down on hands and knees for the quick tie down. If you decide to sell these, I'm sure you will get several takers.

When I purchased my bike a couple months ago I brought it home on a standard utility trailer. I did a lot of reading on this site (actually the old one) so I would have the necessary things available to bring it home. I used the recommended BMW procedure using 4 ratchet straps, added a couple short 2x4s screwed to the deck to keep the front wheel from moving, and had no problems with the haul. Since it was my first time it took about 20 minutes before I felt secure, but I think I could do it again in about 5-10 minutes. Here are some links from the old site that discuss the BMW procedure.

http://www.bmwscruz.com/service/index.html then select "Tech Tips" in the last paragraph (couldn't find a direct link that worked).

BMWTieDown.pdf (http://www.bmwlt.net/ubbthreads/downloadattachments.php?attach_id=12779?Cat=)

-jeff

[jorawro]

Encouraging words guys but I don't have the time or facilities to go into production. If any-one out there wants to take a crack at it I would be happy to send them mine as a basic template. hhmmmm - fits right under the "Kontour Seat" would be a good start.

[eljeffe]

This type of tiedown is already produced. It's called the K1200LT Strongback.

http://home.new.rr.com/strongback/

[Patric]

Hi , I made a tie down out of wood something like that . I used a peace of 2x4 , with a couple of eye bolts on the end's to hook the straps in . I cut a peace of 1/2" to go between the frame rales so it won't slide side to side . Then put a couple of short 2x's on top of the frame to get the top 2x4 with the eye bolts in it above the side covers ,then screwed it all together . It work for me . I need some way to tie my bike down when I picked it up after buying it from BMW of Grand Rapids . I when to a friend of mines who rides a K1200LT , and we made it to fit his bike . So when I went to get my bike I was ready to tie it down . I would have liked to road it home , but they had 12" of snow so you got to do what you got to do . I gave the tie down to my friend , as I don't need it anymore . With the Hannigan 2+2 on my LT I only need to keep it from rolling around ...Patric ...

[jorawro]

And they obviously thought of some things that I didn't - guess my "idea" wasn't very original after all !!