02-04-2017, 06:47 AM
Agree. Bite the bullet and do it right. Or, in my case, spend a little do-rei-mi and do it right......
I now own a Kendon trailer that securely locks the front wheel of any bike into a chock/cradle.
BUT for the previous 15 years I had used my homebuilt 4x8 ft flat trailer. Instead of spending the $$ and buying a metal chock, I had made my own U-shaped "chock" out of lengths of 6x6s. This served me well in transporting bikes long distance to and from New Jersey and Virginia, Indiana, Connecticut and New Hampshire, and many places in between.
One day I'm transporting a 350cc scooter home from about 150 miles away. I tie it down securely and I'm only about a mile and a half into my trip, I'm on a 4 lane, undivided 30 MPH county road within a town, a sleepy early Sunday morning, and no one else on the road. I'm in the left lane of my road because very soon I'm going to gently merge to my left onto another road, and no one's in my right lane, and all of a sudden, a sports car not only enters my road from the right, he cuts me off and brakes to make a left turn. I stand on my brakes to avoid rear ending him, and when I look in my rear view mirror, the scooter is pointing up, like it's doing a wheelie! It somehow had rolled right over my wood chock and was being held in that position by the tie downs.
So I pull into a parking lot and since it's still tightly tied, I can't roll it back because I can't roll it over the 6 inch high chock, and I am alone so I can't start to undo one tie down because it'll then fall over on it's bodywork which at this point, is completely undamaged. So I call roadside assistance. And wait. And wait. The tow truck arrives, and the driver tells me that by contract rules, he can't help me because I'm neither involved in a crash nor am I disabled!
BUT, he turns out to be a rider and even a racer himself and says he has no intention of leaving me there in that predicament. I loosen the tie-downs, and he man handles the bike back into position and he even ties it down again for me. A $20 tip goes to him, and off I go the rest of the way without further problems.
I now own a Kendon trailer that securely locks the front wheel of any bike into a chock/cradle.
BUT for the previous 15 years I had used my homebuilt 4x8 ft flat trailer. Instead of spending the $$ and buying a metal chock, I had made my own U-shaped "chock" out of lengths of 6x6s. This served me well in transporting bikes long distance to and from New Jersey and Virginia, Indiana, Connecticut and New Hampshire, and many places in between.
One day I'm transporting a 350cc scooter home from about 150 miles away. I tie it down securely and I'm only about a mile and a half into my trip, I'm on a 4 lane, undivided 30 MPH county road within a town, a sleepy early Sunday morning, and no one else on the road. I'm in the left lane of my road because very soon I'm going to gently merge to my left onto another road, and no one's in my right lane, and all of a sudden, a sports car not only enters my road from the right, he cuts me off and brakes to make a left turn. I stand on my brakes to avoid rear ending him, and when I look in my rear view mirror, the scooter is pointing up, like it's doing a wheelie! It somehow had rolled right over my wood chock and was being held in that position by the tie downs.
So I pull into a parking lot and since it's still tightly tied, I can't roll it back because I can't roll it over the 6 inch high chock, and I am alone so I can't start to undo one tie down because it'll then fall over on it's bodywork which at this point, is completely undamaged. So I call roadside assistance. And wait. And wait. The tow truck arrives, and the driver tells me that by contract rules, he can't help me because I'm neither involved in a crash nor am I disabled!
BUT, he turns out to be a rider and even a racer himself and says he has no intention of leaving me there in that predicament. I loosen the tie-downs, and he man handles the bike back into position and he even ties it down again for me. A $20 tip goes to him, and off I go the rest of the way without further problems.