I decided I wanted something like this to tow my bike to the shop. Trailers are out, renting trailers are out. So this is what I chose. You can buy this via ebay for $158 shipped.

First impression. very sturdy, seems well constructed and finished (possible powder coat). Included two "extra" tie downs that are required. Instructions are incomplete or non-existent. Which is over the top stupid.

First.. it really is best to have two people doing this... which kinda blows the whole idea of why to get one. The second person is just there to hold up the motorcycle during the operation.
Second, as shipped its not orientated right. Took 20 minutes to figure out which is bottom and the minor assembly... again way stupid on thier part.



Put the unit in the receiver and lock it up with the pin.



Crank the unit such that the cradle pivots down to its lowest point.



Honest.. just roll the bike up and secure it cradle using the afixed strap.



Ok.. really do you need to do that to the tire?? I dont know... no instructions!!



Bike at this point will rest on the kick stand.





OK heres the UNFUN part. Hold the bike upright and crank the handle to pivot the front tire to teh max elevation... oh yeah... gas will pour out of somewhere .. I assume the carb bowl. Instructions might have been nice. The bike will lean over and possibly fall if not supported.

Afix the straps. where.. I dunno.. just somewhere I guess. I could not find a decent plact anywhere on the bike... and after a few hours I can up with this... dont laugh .. it worked.






By strapping it up high, my hope was to limit sideways lean which is inherent in using this type of tow device. My 5 mile loop, showed ZERO issues. I could look out the rear veiw and see the headlight and tank in all but the most servere part of a 90 degree turn.


Tail lights can be seen by those behind you...



Height seems ok. I have a samll truck ( 2008 Tacoma) but it does sit a little high.






When lowering... begin cranking to lower the cradle on the pivot... after  just a bit the tension will increase .. this is the straps holding their position while the bike trys to lower... loosen the straps.. put down the kickstand... turn the crank some more. Do this several times towrds the end.. loose the strap on the kickstand much more that the other.. that way the bike lowers with the bike leaning to the kickstand. One person can do it all.. but its much quicker if you just have one person hold the bike..remove the straps and then lower it down in one continuous process.

I must be right... I just wrote the instructions!

RidgeRunner13 adds a very good comment about towing long distances without oil circulating in the transmission shaft bearings and gears.

Back in '79 I towed a XS650 from south Texas to Tennessee with a rig made from the ends of a barrel welded together for the front wheel to set in. Crude, UGLY, But it WORKED great. Two of us would just pick up the front & set it in. Later I made a short removable ramp. Do not try to back up, don't ask! Straps from the handlebars to the bumper ('64 GMC panel truck) to stabilize & REMOVED the chain. Without oil circulating to lube the trans bearings, I would be VERY concerned about damaging the output shaft bearings.


RidgeRunner13 brought up a good point about drag-alongs and the Savage belt drive.

We can't take the chain off, which is generally recommended when towing a bike.   The tranny output shaft is spinning at speed with no oil circulation.

A way to possibly beat this is to temporarily overfill the sump with oil so that the tilted up bike has the output shaft running under the oil pool surface.

Since the output shaft runs on ball bearings and they would have an oil bath through overfilling, I don't see where towing in that fashion would be a bad thing for the tranny.  The oil bath would both lube and cool the gearsets and the spinning bearings on the output shaft.

Of course when you were done towing you'd have to take some oil out of the sump, but that is less effort than putting a chain back on by quite a bit.   A quick way would be to pull the view plug on the left side and hold the bike straight upright until the gushing flood stopped.

Messy, yes, so do it on some grass somewhere the EPA won't see you doing it.



If you want to discuss the wisdom of this method of towing for long distances, please go to this thread in Rubber Side down.

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1349238055/0#0


This tech thread is locked at this time, but the above link is open for discussion.