Towing a bike with another bike

richie

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Stopped on the motorway this morning for a honda domibnator which was being pushed by the owner. Had petrol but the bike just cut out. He was only 750Meters from a slip road and he told me his Dad was coming to get him.

But, how safe is it to tow a bike with another one... It is legal (I think)
 
I've read reports over on Advrider about people towing with their bike...sems the trick is to have to tow-strap or rope or whatever so that it can easily be dropped by the towed bike.

I think they said they'd wrapped the rope once round part of the headstock (or as close as possible to the centre line of the bike so the torque of the pull didn't just drag them over to the deck) and then held the end under the left hand, so that lifting the hand would free off the rope and allow the towed bike to come to a rolling stop.

The other method I've seen described is for the 'live' bike to ride alongside the 'dead' one, with the rider's foot actually pushing on the right hand footrest.

(And just hope the riders don't wobble!)

Don't know the official legal status of either method but I can imagine it all going rather dangerously wrong very quickly :eek: :eek:
 
Got this from the Sussex Police web site:

Motor Cycle
A motorcycle can tow a broken down motorcycle, as long as the towed motorcycle is being ridden. (Like to know how it could be towed without being ridden though :D )

However when I need to, I tow a bike off-road by tying a rope to the lead bike on it's off side footpeg. The towed bike has the rope coiled round the nearside footpeg one turn and the rider stands on the rope. Remove foot and the rope slips away if necessary. Needless to say but the two bikes are offset with the tow rope parallel to the bikes.

Roy.
 
Fanum said:
I've read reports over on Advrider about people towing with their bike...sems the trick is to have to tow-strap or rope or whatever so that it can easily be dropped by the towed bike.

I think they said they'd wrapped the rope once round part of the headstock (or as close as possible to the centre line of the bike so the torque of the pull didn't just drag them over to the deck) and then held the end under the left hand, so that lifting the hand would free off the rope and allow the towed bike to come to a rolling stop.


This is correct, the other thing you have to know is that you have to tow like with like i.e. bike - bike, car - car , outfit - outfit. You cannot mix and match (unless you don't get caught :D :D )
 
Towing

Never use bungees!!!
Has know to be done and very intersting the towed bike overtaking the towing one.....
 
A few years ago my mate broke down on his Ducati (no, really) and asked me for a tow. I had a Skoda at the time so used that. Towed by a Skoda through Uckfield town centre did nothing for his street cred. An employee of his did a little cartoon which I hope is attatched.
It was hard to get a rope anywhere but loosely looped around both forks as far up as poss but was ok at no more than 15-20mph for 3 miles.
 

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I've done it a couple of times-- once i towed a harley with my R100RS on the roads around Gap -- interesting to say the least.

very scary thing to do - not to be recommended , especially around hairpin bends

:yikes :yikes
 
Way back when in my poverty stricken youth where we all rode beat up old thumpers with kick starts, we would be caught in the desert with seriously overheated bikes. Trying to kick start them in that condition was likely to have you spinning over the handlebars with a smashed shin, stripped kickstart splines and a great big gaping hole in the clutch house cover. XT500's were just like that! Being young and impatient we would often try to pull start them from a tow bike. Invariably when the back wheel locked on the towed bike, both would go down in a shower of dust and grazes. It took a long time for us to learn the virtues of patience, but looking back on those episodes I would rather walk than try towing a bike ever again.
 
Bike towing a bike.....

TTigerandKLXonTrailer.jpg


You just need to remember the trailer if you plan on breaking down. :(
 
My only experience of towing was 35 years ago when I offered to haul my mate's dead Road Rocket to the repair shop.

We lashed a rope round the headstock and set off. All went well until the first corner; when I leaned into the left hander, me mate's bike seemed to want to go straight on. He abandoned ship at this point, leaving me dragging half a ton of sparking Brit iron along the road. Due to the considerable centrifugal forces, the Beeza overtook my Norton on the apex of the corner and chucked everything into the hedge. :D

No desire to repeat the experience
 
Clocked a mate on a T150/T160 being towed over that gert big humpty back bridge near Le Havre ( Pont Du Normandie?) at 70 mph by a ZZR1100.

He reckoned that was a doddle after the ZZR pilot had put his index finger in the air, Trident boy thinks this means "are you ok?" and sticks his thumb up.

Apparently it means "Do you want to do a oner?".

He didn't like doing a ton on the end of a bit of rope............
 
Had a mate touring Oz on a F650GS, when it broke down a couple stopped in a car to help him in the outback, as they were towing him the couple started aurging and forgot about him, he lost control on the dirt road and ended up being dragged for 200 metres before they relized and stopped, so be careful who you let tow you.
 
....done that a coupla times.... not fun....definatley do NOT tie the rope to the towed bike...

another scary think i tried woz when i dropped my Khun Commando on deisal at Gants Hill r/bout...

...snapped off left footrest and left clip-on (remember them) plus a bloody hole in the primary case.... tried to ride off operating clutch with floating handlebar in me left hand ....

....unsuccessful:rolleyes: :D
 
towing

man u guys scare me, tie it to the bike. wanna go to hospital

Rule 1. Never tie the rope to the bike being towed.

I always carry a rope on the bike up the centre of the frame on me GSPD, fits in nicely.

how me and mates do it.

first of all take the spark leads off, this way just in case ya kick it into gear and the bike decides it has fixed its self it won't then start and project ya into the towing vehicle.

attach rope to towing vehicle.

hold rope in hand with rope going over top of first finger. the one by ya thumb and then wrap around hand ONCE.

close hand into fist and get towing vehicle to move off slowly.

then move ya right hand onto handlebar and support with rear of wrist

if it becomes to hard to hold., open hand and let rope go.

yes it works fine
 
Re: towing

steve in nz said:
man u guys scare me, tie it to the bike. wanna go to hospital

Rule 1. Never tie the rope to the bike being towed.

I always carry a rope on the bike up the centre of the frame on me GSPD, fits in nicely.

how me and mates do it.

first of all take the spark leads off, this way just in case ya kick it into gear and the bike decides it has fixed its self it won't then start and project ya into the towing vehicle.

attach rope to towing vehicle.

hold rope in hand with rope going over top of first finger. the one by ya thumb and then wrap around hand ONCE.

close hand into fist and get towing vehicle to move off slowly.

then move ya right hand onto handlebar and support with rear of wrist

if it becomes to hard to hold., open hand and let rope go.

yes it works fine

Wow. Still no coment from Ross and Ian though. Meeting Mr Underwood after he had arrived in Ronse (Easter 2002) was....well, it didnt sound as if he had followed the advice above. Or indeed any at all.
 
Blue Sweeper said:
Got this from the Sussex Police web site:

Motor Cycle
A motorcycle can tow a broken down motorcycle, as long as the towed motorcycle is being ridden. (Like to know how it could be towed without being ridden though :D )

However when I need to, I tow a bike off-road by tying a rope to the lead bike on it's off side footpeg. The towed bike has the rope coiled round the nearside footpeg one turn and the rider stands on the rope. Remove foot and the rope slips away if necessary. Needless to say but the two bikes are offset with the tow rope parallel to the bikes.

Roy.

This is pretty much how they teach it at the BMW Academy -
footpeg to footpeg... towing bike uses RHS footpeg, towed scoot LHS. Might sound of balanced but works a treat - the trick is that it keeps the centre of gravity low, does not obstruct steering head etc, and the loop around either footped can be easily released. Practice it and see how easy it is. It is also great for pull starting bikes (esp BIG mother GS's) with flatbatteries, poked starters etc...:cool:
 
I've towed plenty of bikes and the best thing was the invention of seat belts.

Once seat belts came along, there was an almost endless supply of cheap flat webbing material, that was also quite thin.

Using rope will give the towee a very sore hand and the tower will be forever stopping and waiting for the towee's hand to get feeling back.

Yeah, through the forks, up to the bars, then out to the L/H grip, once around the grip and hold with the hand.

One of the more difficult tows I've done, was about 100 Km's down a sandy track, towing a german tourist who had ripped the alternator off her kawasaki.

She was really very good, we went around 20 Km/h maximum for the whole time with a break for dinner under a tree. Saw her in Germany about 5 years later and she couldn't thank me enough.

Once towed a Mini Minor with an old late fifties R50 in the late sixties. When we stopped he had to get out and push the car to get things rolling and then we tootled along at a sedate 15 Mph or thereabouts in second gear.

One of the permanent things in my tank bag is a 25mm wide x 4 metres long piece of webbed material. It serves two main functions. It's main function is to allow one to tourniquet a tyre so that you can get it inflated on the side of the road. The secondary function is as a tow rope. It also goes well as a clothesline, tarpaulin holder, and, a strapper on, of anything that needs strapping.

Mick.
 
That's all very well mick, but Is there a touratech version that these tossers can buy for - maybe £ 100 ? - that will help the m out of the dealers carpark after a service ?

they need to know - how will they survive without it ?

start a web company - quick !!





:)
 


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