Mo-Tow Motorbike Carrier

I picked up a motorbike carrier the other day from a mate who had one going spare—brand new in the box and too good a deal to pass up. Thanks, Tarik. Today was the day to put it together and bolt it onto the car, which all went smoothly enough. Feeling quietly confident, I moved on to loading the bike, encouraged by the manufacturer’s optimistic claim: “Just walk your bike up the ramp.” Yeah… not quite.

Attempt one involved pushing the bike up the ramp under my own steam. That quickly turned into several attempts, each ending the same way—halfway up, out of puff, and carefully backing it back down before things got awkward. So, plan B: use the engine. Simple, right? Not exactly.

First hurdle—the side stand. Of course, it was on the far side. I figured I’d hop on, flick it up, then dismount on the opposite side. Turns out, convincing your brain to casually dismount the “wrong” way is harder than it sounds. Add in feathering the clutch and throttle while stretched up like a chimp trying to reach the bars, and it all became a bit of a circus.

Eventually, I managed to get the bike up there, but securing it was another juggling act—trying to hold the bike upright while fiddling with straps isn’t exactly graceful. Lesson learned: a set of shackles on the footpegs (Thanks, Stu) is definitely on the shopping list to make this process a lot easier next time.

As for getting the bike back off the rack… that’s a problem for future me.

Oh—and I’ve still got to sort out a number plate mount and lights. Always something.