A bike has two contact patches and no parking brake
That is the entire problem. A car sits still on a deck because it has four wheels and a handbrake. A motorcycle does not. It stays upright because of how it is chocked and how it is compressed, and if either is wrong it goes down somewhere between here and where you are going.
Wimberley Towing carries the gear for this rather than improvising with what is on the truck.
How a bike should be secured
- A front wheel chock: the bike sits in it, so it cannot roll or pivot before it is strapped.
- Soft straps at the handlebars: they loop the bars, so the ratchet never touches the paint, the controls, or the lever perches.
- Compression of the front suspension: strapped down enough that the forks stay loaded and the bike cannot bounce, but not so far that the fork seals take the whole trip compressed solid.
- Rear tie-downs: to stop it stepping sideways, not to crush it into the deck.
What we do not do is run a ratchet strap over a fuel tank or a fairing, and we do not lift a bike by the frame with a hook.
What we move
Cruisers and touring bikes, sport bikes with fairings that cost more than the tow, dirt bikes and dual sports coming off a trail, and non-runners heading to a shop or a buyer. If it is a trike or a bike with a sidecar, tell dispatch, because the loading is different.
Where these calls come from
Ranch Road 12, the Devil’s Backbone, and the 290 run are some of the best riding in Texas, which is exactly why they generate breakdowns and drops. We cover the roads around Wimberley and out toward Canyon Lake. Call (512) 375-1215 and say it is a bike up front, because that changes the truck we send.
Cars with the same low clearance problem go under specialty car towing.