Well fellars I'm going home to Michigan this weekend to visit family and friends. I plan on towing the bike home so I can do some riding while there. Trailer is about 10' x 8', open quad trailer. I've already got a harbor freight wheel chock I plan on using. I'm looking for advice on how/where to tie the bike down. For the front; handlebars or forks? For the rear; swingarm? Shock mounts? The straps I plan on using are standard ratchet straps with metal hooks on the ends. The trailer has mounting points all down both sides and front and rear.

 

i tow alot, soft straps around the bars, close to the bar clamp, a strap across the seat, not real tight, just to to keep the back from moving around. i also use the HF wheel chock. no problems.

 

I'm glad you asked cause I'm leaving to go to Ohio Friday and I'm putting my Superglide in the back of the truck. Building myself a ramp rather than buying one. We'll see how that goes. I was going to put straps on the handlebars and hook to the front tie downs in the bed and hook two straps to the sissy bar and tie down to the rear tie downs to stabilize the back. This will be my first try at this. Hope it goes well.

 

I towed my bike in sig home from the seller in NY (1 state over) on a utility trailer. Wheel chock makes it so much more secure...helps a lot.
From there....w/wheel chock, I used 4x more tie downs.
*2 on bars..or top of your trees...whichever you prefer, pull down and forward..compress forks 1/2 way.
*2 across rear seat..I actually used the luggage rack. Pull down and back and out. Keeps her from shifting left/right, pulls down, and pulls back.

Last week, when the stator blew out on me and shredded itself up in the outer primary cover, I had to tow to an indy garage about 40 minutes away. Borrowed someones lawn equip trailer...no wheel chock. I used 5 tie downs this time, plus a rope on front wheel.
*Same 2 on top of front fork...pulling down and out....compressing front fork 1/2 way.
*Same 2 on the rear..pulling out and back a bit.
*1x big tie down....from back of trailer, up around front fork, returning to back of trailer. Like a "spring line" to keep her from shooting hard forward if under heavy braking. Since I had no wheel chock.
*Rope...tied around front wheel and tied down below..to keep wheel from lifting.

Tips...when securing bike on trailer...slowly tighten/wratchet the lines one by one...do a little on one, go to opposite site and do a little more...then back around to first. Eventually you want your bike upright...NOT on the jiffy stand (raise that when done)..once she's good and verticle start clamping things down tighter. You want her good and vertical when done.

I put large thick plywood sheets under both tires...on both utility trailers that I used. First had wooden deck, second had steel mesh floor. Probably would have held the bike fine, but I wanted to distribute the weight of my bike across a larger area, so I tossed a 3' x 3' piece of plywood under each. The tie-downs make the nearly 700 pound bike put a lot more downforce on the floor...I didn't want to see my bike crack the floor and sink down after going over a huge bump.

 

Make sure your forks are completly compressed.

 

No way.

Follow the advice of YOSC. I've trailered mine from CT to SC in the winter, same way as him, works like a f'n charm.

 

Do that and you'll be putting fork seals in no time. DON'T compress the suspension no more than you have to.

 

Kiss your seals goodbye then.

Just popped in to add...some people like putting the bike in first gear. I don't. Something having it constantly jostle back 'n forth over and over again while in gear just doesn't jive with me.

 

I always put 4 tie downs on the front compress forks 1/2 way and 2 on back I use 4 incase one breaks or comes loose.When I was at moco there was a guy that got a flat on a week old bike towed it in and had 2 tie downs on the front one broke and his bike fell over dented his tank and fender so I would rather be safe.