Before I bring down the wrath of the purists, I ride anywhere I go. That being said there are times when you need to trailer like when some college girl rear ends you and you are 450 miles from home. Had to borrow a motorcycle trailer to get the bike home as she pushed the rear fender in against the tire and I had no brake or turn signals.

I have a 5x8 trailer I haul my quad in. I just bought a HF wheel chock to mount in the trailer and want to have it set up for an emergency or to help a club member who is broke down. My question is I need to build some ramps so that my feet can touch them while I duck walk the bike onto the trailer. My ultra will just fit on the trailer with 10 inches to spare so I can be doing 10 mph going up the ramp. The bed of the trailer is 18 inches off the ground and the ramp on the trailer is 4 feet long. I figure I need a couple of 2x8’s to lay on each side of the ramp so my feet will touch and I can steady the bike as it rolls up the ramp. I figure one end of the ramps will need to be 4-8 inches off the ground while the other end rests on the trailer bed at the top of the ramp in order to always be able to touch them with my feet as I go up the ramp of the trailer. Anyone have a setup like this or seen a set up like this and if so how did you rig the ramps for your feet?

 

A word to the wise, learn from my mistake whatever you come up with make sure the ramps for your feet are somehow attached to the bike ramp with a strap or bolts. I was backing down out of a pickup and the left foot ramp slipped off and I went over. Lucky for the bike the shifter got caught in the tailgate cable and I only bent the shifter and broke the rear turn signal but I busted a rib.

 

Buy a landscape trailer or a trailer that has a drop down door or tailgate or see if you can have one mounted on your current trailer.

Also, make sure the ramp and floor surface are safe for loading and unloading a bike when wet.

A good wheel chock and and secure tie down hooks are also a necessity.

I installed the Kuryakyn (H-D also makes these) tie-down hooks on my Ultra.
They look great and are very functional and safe.

Before I trailer another bike I'm going to buy a pair of the new tie down straps that have the safety clips on the hooks to keep them from coming out of the hooks on the trailer.

 

Maybe you can glean some tips from these videos.

 

After watching all of those videos I'm sure glad I have a wide ramp tilt bed golf cart trailer for my bike when needed....

 

The two things that you can not let happen when loading are bike are simple.

1. Don't make a run at it and make it so your front forks compress and rebound, IT WILL MAKE YOU FALL.
2. Don't forget about the fact that if your bike can hit the frame or case if the ramp is too short, making the trailer stick out and make contact with your bike. This also is a reason not to try and "make a run" at the ramp.

 

Wouldn't call them purists, just people that like to talk crap and bust other peoples *****.

 

Just ride the bike up the ramp with your feet on the pegs where they belong, or put the bike in gear and "throttle walk" it up the ramp - one ramp for you and one for the bike. To help maintain control when you're backing down the ramp, put the bike in gear and use the clutch as the "rear brake".

 

I used to load two touring bikes on a Kendon trailer by myself, using some ramps from Lowes for my feet. The ramps were several feet longer than the approx. 4 foot long Kendon bike ramp, so my feet were on the foot ramps by the time the front wheel went up the bike ramp. The ones I used were made of aluminum, and they were curved upward, so that the rise angle in the first few feet of the foot ramps matched the rise angle on the bike ramp fairly well. They had a plate on the end that I drilled some holes through, so I could drop a couple of bolts in and secure the ramp to the trailer bed. I also used a light ratchet strap at an angle, to further hold the ramps in place. Only took a minute or two to attach and remove. Strapped them onto the trailer bed while towing. I think each ramp was rated for about 750 lbs. The only problem was that I had to watch my feet pretty well to avoid stepping off the ramps, etc.

Touring bikes are too heavy to run up a ramp while standing on one side, in my opinion.

 

Just ride the bike up the ramp with your feet on the pegs where they belong, or put the bike in gear and "throttle walk" it up the ramp - one ramp for you and one for the bike.