My Wife and I are wanting to take our Freewheeler down South for a little vacation. I have an enclosed Trailer and would appreciate any help on tying the bike down and securing it during travels. I am thinking about using a front wheel chock, something like HD sells that can be removed easily when not hauling the trike. What is the best way to tie the trike down, Handlebars or on the front tubes using the soft straps? I have heard there are tiedown brackets on the underside of the trike but seeing its in storage cannot see if there are any or not. It also has a security system and have been told by some that it needs to be disconnected for travelling.Do you X the rear tiedown straps or just go straight back on each side? Sorry for all the questions but don't really want the trike to come flying out the front or side of the trailer in transit!! Thanks in advance for any help on this.

 

I reckon everyone has a different way, but I use a chock on 2 wheelers, but not on a trike.

I NEVER use any suspended part (like the handlebars) to tie down. Recipe for problems.

I use soft ties around the fork lowers, right where the fender mounts are. (you can also use the engine guard instead of the forks if that is easier for you) The straps to those go toward the back of the trike, keeping it from moving forward.

On the rear, there are little metal loops, right near the lower shock mounts. I use those for straps front the rear of the trike. That keeps the trike from going forward. Also, these 4 straps, installed this way keep the trike for moving side to side.

I also put it in gear and use the parking brake. I also use a velcro strap on the front brake lever. All three of these are overkill, probably not needed, but I figure it is all easy, and why not do it.

I don't mess with disabling the security system, just use a velcro strap looped around the ride backrest post and thru the fob key ring. That way the fob is right there and automatically disables the security system.

Like I said, I'm sure others do it differently, but this has worked well for me.

Have a great vacation!

 

Depending on how wide your trailer is, watch your rear going up the ramp. My six foot wide trailer gets small real quick when the rear comes by the cables. Some of the guys on here use the pool noodles on the cables, I'm going to pick up a pair when the pool season gets here. Like Kevin said you can leave the fob on the trike and the security is not a issue. When I used a open trailer I just put the FOB in the TP and locked it. I like the idea of crossing the straps on the rear, one of the guys I ride with trailered his trike when he moved. The trailer hit a bad pothole and when the suspension flexed the rear come loose and cracked his fender. He said the hardest part was getting the trike straight in the trailer again. They put a patch on it that looks like a band aid.

 

I use a front wheel chock but without the clam part. I have e-trac going forward on both sides of the chock. I run 2 padded ratchet straps (one on top of the other) and run them through the wheel. This way the tire is pushed into the upright part of the chock with the straps pulling forward. It is not going anywhere. The 2nd strap is just in case the 1st one breaks.
I Have eye bolts on the outside of both rear wheels and e-trac on the inside of both wheels. I run padded ratchet straps from the eye bolt, through the wheel and into the far e-trac (cross tied this way). both of these straps pull to the rear. The rear wheels are now tight to the floor. Too hard for me to reach the trike axle loops, so I don't use them. But that is what they are there for. I have nothing tied to the trike suspension at all.
I also have beveled 2x3s screwed to the floor to act as tire guides. 2 down the middle and 1 on the out side of both rear tires. these run up the ramp part way and then on the trailer floor. On my 6' trailer there is only about 1.5" of clearance between the trike fenders and the ramp cable. AS long as I ride in & push back out and stay in the guides, I am golden. I use the pool noodle (split lengthwise to slip over the cables) just in case.
As to positioning the chock, you need to load your trike and what ever else you plan to haul in the trailer and get the tounge wt to about 12 - 13% of your loaded trailer wt. This gives you the best chance of pulling without any trailer sway. You also want your trailer to be slightly lower at the hitch than the rear end, again to avoid trailer sway. Hope this helps, and good luck on your trip!

 

Here's a thread I started regarding buying and setting up an enclosed trailer for a trike, see if it helps:

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/tri-g...our-trike.html

I did have the trike rear end slide about an inch or so to the drivers side without the rear tie-downs being crossed, I might cross them over from now on. You can brake a lot harder than you can accelerate, so keeping it from rolling forward is more important than keeping it from rolling backwards. But with the removable chock on the front it shouldn't be easy to roll forward, so crossing the straps on the rear is probably OK, they won't be nearly as straight in line with the trike.

You do have to lay down on the ramp to get strap hooks on the frame loops, but it's no big deal for me.

Hmmm, I guess I need to add the pics of the trike loaded, I didn't get that far. But hey, I was on vacation, so... I'll see if I can post some tonight on that thread.
There, I fixed it. Pics of the inside before filling it up with he trike and all the stuff we carried. More to be added soon; as soon as I can figure out where in the heck the pictures went!

 

leaving for Ocala, Florida Sat morning and wanted to Thank all that replied to my tying down my Trike in the new trailer, much appreciated!!

 

By the way, for future reference on this thread, these tie down rings are very strong, inexpensive, and easy to install. Make sure you leave clearance underneath for the ends of the ring so they can fully pivot. Much stronger than an eye bolt through the floor, unless those go through a frame member; but for box tubing, there's no way to get the nut on! Or use a really big fender washer or steel plate on the underside. However...

Make sure you know what's under the location you want to put them first. They can't be directly over a frame member or the bottom plate won't fit. But it's also good to have them close to a frame member for strength. Also, make sure you're floor is actually attached to the frame near where you are going to put them! When I went to put a couple on the floor in the front of a V-nose trailer, I saw that the front plywood triangle only had three small screws visibly holding it to the frame! So I added another half dozen self-tapping screws through the floor and into the frame near them.

 

Thanks for all the help in tying down my FW in my new trailer before heading down to Ocala Fl for a week. I used 6 heavy duty ratchet straps and soft loops to protect anything against rubbing wear. I installed a CONDOR front wheel holder and the trike never moved an inch the entire 3000 miles there and back.Crossed 2 rear straps, 2 straps to the frame midway in front of rear tires to keep trike from going side to side and 2 straps to the crashbars diagonally to tiedowns in floor.