I wanted to take the bike and the wife down to the Hill Country here in Texas.. The wife does not like to ride on the bake for 300 plus miles and I did not want to mess with a trailer.. I took a chance and loaded my Roadglide in the back with the tailgate down and put a sheet of 3/4 plywood down to help spread the weight. I used a "Steadymate" brand wheel chock and a Big Boy ramp to load unload. I tied the bike down in 5 places using the points in the lower part of the bed... The pic sure looks like I got all the bike this 5.5' bed can handle She rode nice all the way down and back... turned out to be a good call on towing because coming back last Sunday it rained the whole way home
https://www.f150online.com/forums/me...-ready-go.html

The truck is a 2011 150 SCREW w/ EB 2WD 3.15 open rear.. I go 20 MPG highway down and back and only a tad over the speed limit.. I was not taking it easy in either direction

 

Awesome idea on the plywood! Glad you didn't get caught in the rain on the way back haha

 

Props on the plywood! Good looking bike too!

 

Thanks for the compliments! Now I have one more baby that I seem to want to upgrade... That's all I need!

 

Ok... I feel really dumb asking this question but how does the plywood help spread the weight? I understand how it would even it out but would it really make that much of a difference? I mean the weight of the bike is going to be in the same place with or without the plywood right?

Disclaimer: For the record, I just woke up.

D

 

Ya sure about that?.....

 

Think of the bike as being two seperate weights.. some on the front wheel and some on the back wheel.. and at each wheel the weight is concentrated on the area the tire actually sits... now place plywood down and the weight is distributed by the load in all directions as long as the board is rigid enough to support some of the weight...
Another example....
Think of a see saw and put one behind "wheel" on one end... then put another behind "wheel" on the other end, now the weight of the load is spread over the length of the board.... I hope I did not just make and idiot of myself

 

Yeah, I've seen some pretty good size gals sitting on the tailgates at the drive in and they don't fold.

Back of that bike can't weigh much over 275-300 empty?

And your correct in the plywood helping to ditribute the weight over a larger area according to it's stiffness.
It siure didn't hurt. It spread two ways, one over the rear of the bed, and then between the TG hings. Your welds must be "OK". I see that it's in a 5.5! I have hauled a Gold Wing in my 8" '77 and at times, my older '74 Triumph and once two triumphs side by side, one a newre Super III. Never would have thought big old HD would fit so nice on a 5.5. I figured mine would set on the tailgate like that and it's a 6.5?



I always tie off the bike up higher somehow (maybe you aren't "done" here?), don't want one flopping over if I have to dodge something suddenly. I usually tie front down with 4 straps, two each side for redundenjcy, then tie the rear down also from up high. But I see it worked .... I'm just an "overdoer", if 2 16Ds are enough in a wall stud end at the plate, I use 4.

What area Texas y'all live?

 

tbear853 we are right near Jerry world in Arlington.

 

Not as much as I did haha. It makes sense to me. It just didnt when I posted the other post. I actually don't even remember posting it haha!

D

 

Hey Luca..... I was mostly curious. I got my start in life and first few years growing up in West Texas and one of my hobbies is History and a lot of that is Texas History. I saw your post about going down to the Hill Country, I knew you was going out in West Texas.

I'm in Virginia though, but still have a few trips left through Texas I hope! Was looking at Google Earth the other night, saw that the "Google Bug" had at sometime, photographed our old house at 210 West 7th Street, Del Rio! We was there all through the '50s, moving to Va in June '59. Garage out back is gone, high board fence next to Ave A is gone, Ave A is "paved" even. Better pics on Google than I could get in May 2005 when last in Del Rio as their's was when foliage was not full yet? White Pontiac that was there in 05 is still there though.

Call it the "Google Bug" as I stopped behind one one day on I-81 in Va. to check it, he was changing hard drives. 8 Tb Hard drives storing continuous pics taken by 360 degree camera up on the pole up top, all tied into GPS. It was a black VW Pissat, I call them "Google Bugs" since. He had them hard drives in boxes, when full, he changed them like we would a floppy or CD. Paid to drive all Summer and just keep the HDs full. As I recall, Google even paid his ticket via check!

D's984x4 ... you was thinking of thin luan plywood, not the thick 3/4 or 1" stuff ..... that's why.

 

tbear, You were probably in Virginia when I was then. I was there back in 82 doing Fire fighting and overseas homeported ship school. Actually I passed thru Norfolk a few times in my short 5 years while in Uncle Sam's canoe club! Came back to Texas when I got out because AI figured I could get and keep a job... I would rather be in Florida or on a Southern coast just about anywhere.. But this is where the checks are Made my First trip to Corpus Christi to see the Lexington after being off her for 25 years this past year.. That was pretty special but it's sad to see her in such rough shape now.

 

Why did you write the Google bug a ticket?

 

what roads did you ride? i rode out and did the twisted sisters a couple years ago from houston and enjoyed it. Was definitely ready to be off the bike though after the 800+ mile round trip.

 

Ticket was 46.2-830: "Fail to Obey Highway Signs (ie: Stopping on Interstate)".

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp...0+cod+46.2-830

Not to be mean, just the way we tried to discourage stopping on interstates unless it was an emergency.