Motorcycle or not on a MB 1120

[Grenadiers]

The older you get, balancing on a motorcycle in the dirt for example, with a wife on board, well, that image didn’t sit well for us! Our bikes have a advertised range of 50 miles. But, setting the pedal assist lower, say on tailwind flat areas, you can extend that range.

 

[JED THE SPREAD]

I have a small one with fold down handle bars that I winch up into the 'garage' under our bed. I didn't want it on the outside where people can see it and it would get full of dust. It takes 2 people and I swapped the original 50cc engine to a 140cc to make it more usable.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Looks to be a nice setup. Like the compactness of that bike and being able to store it inside. Given the taste in America for large displacement engines it is a bit hard to find a small displacement steet legal bike that can handle some mild offroad stuff. I ended up finding a 2009 Kawasaki Super Sherpa (250cc). It will need to go on the back of the truck but I will get a cover for it to try and protect it from the worst of the dirt. When I was a teen we had a Kawasaki 100cc on/off street legal bike. Would have been perfect but this was as close as I could get.

 

[pairospam]

Hi:

Just to add another humble opinion for an interesting open question.

If you really like bikes and enjoy riding them, well... carry one and use it everytime you want or need. If you are not a liker... then don't.

Which bike? Whatever you like. Be sure to build/buy a nice and tough rack to hold it.

I have not made a single mile on my expedition truck yet (damn!) but I ride bikes on a daily basis. Love it. I cannot think of going anywhere without one hanging on the back of the truck, no matter if it takes one hour extra to go through customs.

Every overlander has his own opinion and experiences. Each one is valid. You should try your own hunch.

Greetings.




An early design of the bike/tire rack.

 

[Sitec]

Hi:

Just to add another humble opinion for an interesting open question.

If you really like bikes and enjoy riding them, well... carry one and use it everytime you want or need. If you are not a liker... then don't.

Which bike? Whatever you like. Be sure to build/buy a nice and tough rack to hold it.

I have not made a single mile on my expedition truck yet (damn!) but I ride bikes on a daily basis. Love it. I cannot think of going anywhere without one hanging on the back of the truck, no matter if it takes one hour extra to go through customs.

Every overlander has his own opinion and experiences. Each one is valid. You should try your own hunch.

Greetings.


View attachment 505966

An early design of the bike/tire rack.

Hoping/waiting on a build update too!!!

 

[biggoolies]

From a full time expedition adventurist I would never leave without my Klr 650 on the back of my expedition truck. And being in Mexico for 4 months I have used her probably 6 or more times even though it takes 30-45 minutes to take her off or put her back on. I do limit taking the motorcycle off if I am on an area only for a day. Two or more days is fine. Getting insurance etc was not a hassle at all.

 

[Sitec]

I'm planning a rear wheel lift based on one of the tuck under tail lifts. In place of the fold out loading plate I would fabricate a fixed rear bumper that has the tail lights and two spare wheel support posts built into it... In this bumper I plan to build in two standard square receivers, which would accept a motorcycle platform should I want to carry a bike in the future.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

That looks very interesting, any chance you can have it done by the time we get back from the Bahamas? See, then I could ask really nicely for your design ?.

 

[Sitec]

That looks very interesting, any chance you can have it done by the time we get back from the Bahamas? See, then I could ask really nicely for your design ?.

Ha, sadly not... Gutting our body at the moment, and then plan on taking the crane and tray off the truck. The wheel carrier and rear bumper shape/design/fabrication would happen then, along with water tank fitment, (as I'm utilising a 500lt stainless tank I have,) which sits nicely between the rear chassis rails, so the lift rams for the wheel lift will have to be on the outside of the rear chassis rails. It all has to work in with the rear of the body too, as there will be a central pivot point in there somewhere (1 of the 4 point mounts). I can picture it all, but will have a better idea of room when I have a bare truck chassis to look at. My head hurts already! Pic of the tail lift type that I plan to source second hand and 'modify' to my needs. I'm starting to think I'll need all of the 12 tonners carrying capacity!!

 

[VerMonsterRV]

One of my favorite designs which I am sure I can not afford. From the Action Mobil site, they sure build nice trucks.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Hey guys, well we are now anchored as far south as we are planning to go. We are in Georgetown in the Bahamas with crystal clear water. Here is the more exotic boat picture I mentioned before. The local family island sailing regatta is just starting and you can see a traditional wood Bahamian sloop sailing just behind our boat. A few years ago I participated in this race on a local boat that was short a crew member. Had splinters and bruises for a couple a weeks after that, but was good fun.


Been doing a bit more thinking about the spare tire/motorbike rack and saw this picture of one that looks interesting (and within my budget). Looks like it slides down on a track using small cable winch. Would make getting the bike off pretty easy and a one man job. It also does not look too fancy or difficult to fabricate. Anyone know who owns this truck (random picture from a sighting off the web).

 

[Ozrockrat]

I don’t know who owns the truck. But looking at it as closely as possible on a phone it appears as though the rack must be attached to the subframe and not the truck chassis.

The previous photo shows a design that mounts directly to the truck chassis. This would be my preferred option.

Sometime later this year I will be doing a redesign and build of my motorcycle rack to get it to have a bit more drop and also pull in closer to the box. If you would like I could do some photos and dimensions of the current rack if you would like to look at replicating it.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

I would think that since it is a mog (likely a 3/4 point subframe) and it looks like the top of the rack is attached to the roof it would be attached to the subframe. Ours might be a bit different as it is a rail on subframe hard mounted at the end of the chassis. This was the way the original fire box was mounted on the truck, I sort of replicated my own version of it using what Neil (Cloud 9) did and what is in the "Build your own overland RV" Haynes manual as a guide. Given that the subframe is hardmounted to the end of the chassis rails I thought that the tire/bike rack would be all part of the plates that connect the chassis to the subframe. For the upper part that is attached to the roof in the picture I was thinking of using small rubber engine mounts like these (probably not these exact ones as I will try to find something a bit more corrosion resistant)

between the rack and the rear wall where I have 4 vertical steel straps in the composite panel. The rear panel is a 4 part panel with FRP, plywood, foam, FRP with 4 vertical steel bands from top to bottom. The idea is these would just dampen the vibration with the bottom of the rack (on the subframe/chassis) carrying the weight.

 

[Neil]

One mistake we made was not incorporating a cover for the bike. Whenever we go to use it it us covered in dirt. We are looking at making a cover at the moment

Neil

 

[VerMonsterRV]

One mistake we made was not incorporating a cover for the bike. Whenever we go to use it it us covered in dirt. We are looking at making a cover at the moment

Neil

Hey Neil, current plan is to make a cover for the bike out of Sunbrella (same stuff we use on the boat). Wanted to wait until it is mounted so I can account for the mounts/straps. Also trying to take your advice about a lifting rack to make things a bit easier to get the bike on/off. So given you have a similar subframe what do you think about having the rack attached at the same point that the subframe bolts to the chassis? I am not an engineer but it seems like it would work well.