Trucking and Motorcycling

By Lesley Casey (Daytona Beach, Fl, USA/Chinchilla, Qld, Australia)

NO BIKE IS TOO BIG TO LUG AROUND WHEN YOU'VE GOT A BIG PRIME MOVER

Jim and I are truckers in the USA for nine months of the year. Jim is from Buffalo, New York -- I am from Wandoan, Queensland. We have a home in Daytona Beach, Florida and one in Chinchilla, Queensland.

Jim and I have combined trucking with motorcycling. Following is a 'history' and details on the motorcycle rack we have on our truck.

This is the second motorcycle rack Jim has designed. The first one he made out of wood. It was on a previous truck for four years and we had a 650 Honda behind the cab. It worked well, but he made a few changes for this one. Jim designed this rack and had a welder friend put it together.

He bought a 1987 Moto Guzzi Le Mans 4 SE to be the 'truck bike', and this rack is specific in its measurements: the size and width of the front tyre and bike width, otherwise it would suit most motorcycles.

This rack is made of steel, one 240 cm length of channel is attached to the truck frame, and one end of that is connected to hydraulics from a cabover truck (a junk yard item), and above the front wheel 'cradle' is an electric winch. Another 240 cm piece of steel channel attaches to the other end for a ramp to the ground.

Secured

Ready to Ride

At the WNY Rally

Prior to loading the bike, Jim removes the passenger side cab extender (just four bolts) and uses an old cab jack to jack up the hydraulics. Then the channel is at about a thirty degree angle. The winch line hooks to a piece of cord around the front forks of the bike.

Jim steadies the bike while I operate the winch -- with the electric winch I just have to turn it (much better than the crank winch that was on the first rack!). The bike rolls easily up both ramps and fits snugly into the front wheel cradle. At this stage we can both let go of the bike.
Jim releases the cab jack hydraulics until the bike is horizontal.

Securing and covering the bike takes the most time. The mirrors are loosened and turned inwards. (If this step is forgotten the first left turn in the truck will take a mirror off, as experienced with abovementioned Honda.) All the painted surfaces and seat are covered with three thick towels joined to cover from headlight to tail light. This has minimized rubbing and scratching, we didn't do that for the Honda and just about all the paint was removed after four years of a tarp rubbing on it.

Over the towel goes a bike cover. Jim uses six tiedowns, three each side and the bike is still attached to the winch. This is more than enough, but allows for strap breakages, slippage and (hopefully) any other possibilities. (We couldn't afford the lawsuit if it fell off.)

A few bungie cords hold the cover tight around the bike to minimize flapping.
Reattach the cab extender and we are ready to go trucking.

Our trailer has a storage box exclusively for our helmets, jackets, tank bag, soft saddlebags, tools, etc. We travel through a wide variation of weather and temperatures, often the battery needs a charge and/or the tyres need air, both problems are easily rectified by the truck air compressor and six large truck batteries!

This motorcycle rack and the Le Mans have been on this truck for six years and it makes trucking a whole other experience. It sure beats sitting in a truckstop or motel for a weekend. It is usual for us to put on 8,000 km a year on this motorcycle.

We have tested the tyre side walls on the Angeles Crest Highway in California one weekend, then seven days later twisted around Deals Gap, North Carolina/Tennessee.
(Approximately 130,000 km on the truck in the nine months a year we work. We do work!!)

We have attended many moto guzzi rallies and motorcycle events in the USA. We use the truck cab as our 'tent' at rallies, and often park in campgrounds with tents and motorcycles around us. Whenever we have time off or a little extra time on a run, we look through our Moto Guzzi Club Newsletter and see if we can include a moto guzzi event in the trip.