MOTORCYCLE CARRIER PROJECT

by Steve Wishard

When I initialy purchased my BMW G310 GS I mentioned my concern about getting the small displacement bike to the places I would like to ride it. Frequently 2 or 3 states away from home. Marcello recommended the Black Widow Motorcycle Carrier. He said he’d used one, had always had a good experience and provided me with a link to their website. I didn’t do anything about it at the time, but kept the link just in case I wanted to pursue it later on.

Jump forward a year and and a half and I still hadn’t done anything. In fact, the first 7 months I owned the 310 it rarely left the garage. It wasn’t until last year’s winter rally that I really started to see what the 310 was capable of. The 10 months which followed were, to put it mildly, a bit of a different story. The BMW G310 GS Project article, in this rally program, will give you all the details. Suffice it to say that transporting the 310 long distance had finally become a problem which needed to be solved.

I have a step ramp and thought about renting a pickup whenever I wanted to take the little bike long distance. I even reasoned that I could put the 310 in the back of the truck and also pull our boat. However, it didn’t take long to learn that it is nearly impossible to rent a pickup for multiple days, and even if you can, they won’t allow you to tow with it.

I have access to several trailers. Some of which are setup specifically for hauling bikes. E-Track throughout, wheel chocks, straps, etc. Trailers from 14’ to 26’. But that just seemed like a lot of weight and wind resistance to be dragging around just to haul a 380lb motorcycle.

So, I was eventually forced to consider the solution Marcello had recommended 17 months earlier.

HD Black Widow Motorcycle Carrier

However, I had my concerns about the hitch carrier solution as well. Things like total weight on the hitch, clearance between the handlebars and the rear window of the car, having to step around the tiedown bar with the bike half way up the ramp, holding the bike up while attaching straps, and more.

After researching the car’s hitch capacity and checking some clearance measurements I decided to give the carrier a try.

I ordered the heavy duty carrier with the alumimum track. $300, capable of hauling a 600lb motorcycle and weighing 98lbs. The bike is just 386lbs fully fueled so no problem carrying it. Add the 98lbs for the carrier itself and you get a total weight of 484lbs. The car’s hitch is rated to 530lbs so there is a 46lb margin, plus any reduction due to fuel level. You know I will be running the fuel down before a trip just in case. Due to the 3 gallon fuel tank I could increase the margin by nearly 18lbs to 64lbs.

Once the carrier arrived and I had it assembled and mounted on the car. I had to try pushing the bike up on it myself. I had left the rear part of the wheel chock off so I could get the bike fully on the ramp as easy as possible. I was mainly concerned about getting it up the ramp and how much of an obstacle the rear tiedown bar would present. As it turned out, neither concern was valid. I could easily push the bike up and the tiedown bar was well out of the way. So I took the bike back down and proceeded.

Next I installed the rear part of the wheel chock and brought out the straps. I got Lori to help push the bike into the wheel chock and hold it while I attached a couple of straps. The wheel chock rocker was a bit stiff and it took a bit of a shove to get it over the top. Nothing terrible though. Lori said she barely pushed. I’m sure it will loosen with use and I will be able to load the bike myself.

With the bike loaded and strapped it gave me a chance to verify the clearance between the bike and the car. Once again my earlier concerns were unfounded and, as I had calculated before my purchase, there was no risk of breaking the rear glass of the car. Hauling the bike to a remote riding destination... $300. Rear window of a Mercedes SUV... Priceless $$$$$

Plenty of clearance between bike & car

However, this is where the first potential problem comes into play. I will likely always have someone around to help out but there is no guarantee. So I need to be able to do this by myself. With that back window in mind, I’m not confident the wheel chock on the carrier would secure the bike well enough alone. Maybe a bigger bike would be okay but the small front wheel on the 310, not so much. So I will need to be able to hold the bike with one hand and attach straps with the other. To solve this problem I will need to have straps that are the correct length and don’t have a long tail end on either side of the ratchet. So, with the bike strapped to the carrier, I removed one strap at a time, determined the correct length on the non-ratchet strap, cut the strap to length and hand sewed it to the ratchet.

Ratchet & Soft Strap Pre-Hung Before Load

With the ratchet straps being the correct length, I can pre-hang them on the bike before loading. Then, once I’ve pushed the bike up and into the chock, I can connect the front outside strap with one hand and give it a couple cranks just so the bike can’t fall into the car. Then I can push the bike toward the car and reach around and connect the inside strap and give it a couple cranks as well. At this point the bike is secure and I can stand in front of the bike and crank down both front straps at the same time. Once the bike is firmly strapped down in front I can move to the back and finish securing everything.

At this point I thought I had pretty well resolved all of the issues/concerns. But then an unexpected issue presented itself. When the bike is loaded it significantly blocks the view of the car’s tail lights. This was a safety issue I needed to resolve. Fortunately, it was an easy fix. I simply purchased and installed a trailer light kit on the carrier. The photo above is prior to the lights being installed. I simply mounted the lights just inside the tiedown bars by drilling through the carrier track support. Since there is no swiveling as with an acutal trailer, I was able to keep the harness wires short and tight.

The Black Widow is a great solution which gives me the luxury of taking my small bike to distant adventures.