No wonder those bars turned down, the grips should never be the tie down point for anything.

Here is the clamp you need, it has 3 allen screws to lock the bars in place once positioned and its a one piece billet, far better than the crap 2 piece clamp that allowed the bars to slip in the first place.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Paul-Yaffe-B...93cbf2&vxp=mtr

 

Now that is a Yaffe product I would buy and not feel like I was just paying for a name. Very well thought out and worth the 10 or so dollars more than Harley charges for the one piece clamp.

 

Hauled dirt bikes, three wheelers, quads to the desert for years. Never strapped to the handle bars; always the frame.

 

I have towed my bikes many times and unless you have the part attached to your frame that is intended for towing, some sort of chrome rings, there is little choice. I use nylon straps with a loop on each end about a foot long, then ratchet straps on the lowest point of my bars, not the ends of the bars. Not picking you out but you don't mention towing a Harley?

 

The only times I've had to trailer my Harleys was because of a break down. All three times the tow driver tied down to the frame. Seems it would be even more important on such a heavy hunk of metal. Did get a few scratches on my old Evo's frame from towing but was happy to get it to a shop or home. I have a buddy who tows his Soft Tail a lot and he uses the front wheel chock and then straps to the frame from four points.

 

Maybe he should have tied the bike down using the antennas.

 

Absolutely! Nothing at all wrong with this method. I do it all the time providing the straps aren't rubbing on something important. Unless your quite literally some retarded gorilla, this is a safe and effective way to tie a bike to a trailer. The frame or forks is always preferred, but is not required. But in case at hand, as I understand it, the driver didn't strap to the lowest point of the bars, but in fact strapped to the highest point by the grips. That's just an EPIC screw up. Of biblical proportions!!!!

 

On my last bike, which was towed a few times I tied to the bars at the lowest point at the neck, from both sides.

Then one on the swing arm both sides, and one over the top of the seat for good measure.

Probably strap to the frame on the SGS right where the engine guard meets it.

 

Those handlebar grip holder would have worked fine if he just would have cranked the straps until tight,then a couple times more. I knew he was cranking it too much (like 10 times) but he was bragging about what a great motorcycle tower he was so I didn't tell him to lighten up. Next time I will tell them how to do it. I would rather annoy the driver than watch my bike get damaged.

I am going to learn how to tighten the handlebars myself, so that is the silver lining.

 

To me, an acceptable resolve to this would be to have the Dealer fix it, and the bill covered by the asshat that turned down the bars.
I wonder if they tie down cars by the mirrors?
I was at my Dealer once, and saw a local wrecker service pull in with a Touring Bike secured on the back of a nice flatbed, tied down real nice. I watched the Guy unload it and all looked real smooth. I asked the Service Writer about the Guy, He said He hauls a lot of bikes in to the Dealer, no complaints. As the Guy was putting away His stuff, I stepped out and talked with Him, and He gave me His card. I have His name and number saved on my phone in case I ever need it. He is familiar with, and works with warranties, insurance, etc all the time so He is up on that.
Not a bad idea to consider being a little proactive about our bikes, I guess...
Good luck with the bar issues.