towing a bike with another bike?

[maxpoweryzdrz]

say i had to tow my mates crf450x with a drz4000e where would i tie the rope to on each bike?

[redhotz28]

Not to the handlebars! I can tell you that much. It would be hard to find something on the frame, maybe where the steering head mounts to the frame?

[Noble]

Tow etiquette is to wrap the tow rope to someplace where it will pull on center (steering head) then pass the end of the rope to the right or left grip where the towed rider grips the rope against the grip. This allows the towed rider to release the rope if he needs to. And he probably will.

[10guy]

Best to tow from the right footpeg of the towing bike to the left footpeg of the towed bike. At least that is what I've found.

You can tow from under the seat to the bars but the towed person (or is that toad????) really has to be on their toes (damn another pun) and never tie the strap to the bars, the toad needs to be able to release it immediately.

[3BeeJay3]

On the bike being towed- wrap the strap or rope once around one of the foot pegs and stand on it. If you need to separate your self from the tow bike quickly, just lift your foot. Plus you're towing from a solid part of the bike on a lower center of gravity- much easier to control.

On the tow bike just tie it to a lower point of the bike like the swing arm, foot peg etc.

If you tie it too high, the tow bike will want to wheelie too much.

BJ

[vash]

When i was on a trip in tasmania on my DR650 i got towed by a KTM 950.

I tied it incorrectly, having the rope pull to the left side of the forks which made the bike start to lean over, i tried with all my might to keep the bike up, and we were going about 30mph.

I had no horn because i had no ignition, all i could do was lay the bike down. Scary experience!

[Talenuf]

Foot peg to foot peg sounds good to me. I'd never thought about this before. I'll file this away for future reference!

[10guy]

Just make sure you are on the rear brake side of the towing bike, otherwise the strap could get wrapped up in the sprocket ?

[DRZ400SLloyd]

A friend of mine just tried to tow a kid on his xr100 from the handlebars of the towed bike to the rear bar of the tow bike.

Long story short, the kid went down and had some bad injuries to his leg. If I was there I wouldn't have let him do this. ?

Never tow a bike by the handlebars!!!

[obrianmcc]

Foot peg to foot peg sounds good to me. I'd never thought about this before. I'll file this away for future reference!

Diddo....

[drzrobbcanuck]

yeah, this is good stuff. I was talking to a couples guys a little while ago about this and they had towed using bars and found it very dangerous. I have only towed once and went from rear frame of towing bike to steeringhead of towed bike through forks. It was dangerous and there was blood on the ground before we got home; and that was only a kilometer!.

This footpeg to footpeg is a great idea. But doesnt towing off-centre cause a yaw and twisting force?

[Sundog]

Footpeg to footpeg seems good on a wide trail or road but what about singletrack??

Scenario: Tow bike on right footpeg, towed bike on left footpeg.

Left hand turn--the strap gets pulled across the tow bike's rear wheel and possibly the towed bike's front wheel. ?

[motoinmoab]

This is a really helpfull thread, thanks to everyone! And I kinda hate to say it, but: thanks especially to 10guy. (There'll be no living with him after this.)

I'd like to put about 5 stars on this one. ?

[rainman007]

tie one end of the rope around your waste and then the other around his, then take turns holding your breath

[drzrobbcanuck]

This is a really helpfull thread, thanks to everyone! And I kinda hate to say it, but: thanks especially to 10guy. (There'll be no living with him after this.)

I'd like to put about 5 stars on this one. ?

I agree

this might save your life someday.

[10guy]

I've done the peg to peg thing a few times and since I mostly ride singletrack you can guess where it was at. So I know it can be done there, is it easy? Not really but it is easier and safer then anyother option I've found or have heard of.

This footpeg to footpeg is a great idea. But doesnt towing off-centre cause a yaw and twisting force?

Actually no it usually doesn't because you ride the bikes off-center as well so the strap runs straight. By running off-center you give the bikes a little more room between the rear tire of the towing bike and the front tire of the towed one.

Scenario: Tow bike on right footpeg, towed bike on left footpeg.

Left hand turn--the strap gets pulled across the tow bike's rear wheel and possibly the towed bike's front wheel.

While in theory is seems like it would be an issue in practice it really doens't seem to be one. The peg seems far enough out to miss the tires most of the time and when/if they do make contact it just rubs a bit. Never had one try to wrap the strap around the axle or anything like that.

It does take some coordination to do but a couple of decent riders can make pretty good time this way. A lot faster and easier then pushing that is for sure.