Hi, I need to move a Honda moped from Rochester, NY to my home in Boston, MA. Can anyone recommend places that rent motorcycle trailors? Either round-trip or one-way rentals are fine. Thank you in advance for your suggestions!
A U-Haul trailer with some straps would work just fine. You can pick up straps at the local Walmart if you don’t have them. I once did this with an open air U-Haul trailer that had metal rings in the corners for fastening the straps.
Yeah, I moved my Nighthawk 250 in a “medium” sized U-Haul truck, using ratcheting straps on the internal rails of the cargo compartment.
My advice would be: don’t skimp on the tie-downs! A 200-ish# bike could do a lot of damage if it gets loose!
Thanks for the input. I contacted UHaul this AM and it turns out that they rent motorcycle trailers for $14.95 per day, which isn’t bad. Now I just need to get myself a lot of straps and a hitch on my CRV and I think I’ll be good to go!
$14.95/day is very reasonable. Tiedown straps are as inexpensive as $10 for a 4-pack at Harbor Freight and others.
Is very easy to tie a motorcycle/moped incorrectly. Unless you have a dirtbike with very strong handlebars do not tie from the handlebars. Best place to tie up front is around the forks immediately above the bottom steering clamp. Attach the straps to the trailer at the front so that they pull the front wheel into the wheel chock. These two straps by themselves should be able to do the whole job, but use two more in the rear for redundancy.
Motorcycles are designed to ride on their own suspension, do not tie with the sidestand or centerstand down.
Suggest you snug the front ties enough that you can stand on the foot peg of either side without the bike falling over. You can damage the bike snugging the straps too tight.
Once you have the front tied add two more straps in the rear pulling straight out to the left and right. If one of the front straps fail the rear are not going to perfectly carry the load but will keep the bike from falling completely off the trailer. Footpegs or swing arm are often a good places to affix the rear straps.
Put a deliberate twist in your ties. A flat ribbon in the wind will oscillate. Tie the loose ends, perhaps use duct tape.
This is held with 5 straps, rear are not straight out as the straps were too long from hook-to-ratchet-to-hook on this big motorcycle with small trailer. Also the front is tied to crash bars because I couldn’t reach the fork tubes at the angle necessary without pressing against fairing. The 5th strap was around the front wheel which would flap no matter the bike is held from 4 points.
If using a truck with the tailgate closed it is practical to use only 2 straps. If one fails the bike falls over, not out. The tailgate closes on my Sonoma so I don’t use rear straps:
Just curious: Why would anyone haul a touring motorcycle? Were you taking it in for service?
Thanks so much! Very helpful!!