Preparing a Motorcycle

Bikes are straightforward to transport and easy to damage if handled by someone who does not ride. Here is what to do, and what to check your carrier does.

Ask how they strap it

The common method is to run straps over the handlebars and compress the front forks hard. It feels secure and over a long interstate run it is how fork seals die: two thousand kilometres of fully compressed suspension with road vibration through it finds any weakness in a seal.

The right method is a front wheel chock holding the bike upright, with rated straps over the frame and lower triple clamp so the suspension keeps working normally. Ask. A carrier who cannot answer this question does not move many bikes.

Before collection

Preparation

Fuel low but not empty: enough to move it on and off the truck
Remove all luggage: tank bag, panniers, top box, roll bag
Remove electronics: GPS, action cameras, phone mounts, radar detectors
Fold or remove mirrors where they stick out past the bars
Disconnect any battery tender and disable an alarm, or give us the code
Secure or remove a loose screen if it is aftermarket and not solidly mounted
Photograph it from all sides, plus close-ups of the tank, fairings and pipes

Tell us these

Does it start and ride? A non-runner is fine, it just changes how we load it.
Bar width, and whether hard panniers are fitted. Wide bars and luggage need more deck than the bike alone suggests.
Screen or fairing height, particularly on a tourer.
Anything fragile or already damaged.
Any starting quirk: a hot-start issue, a kill-switch sequence, a temperamental sidestand cut-out.

What to check at delivery

Walk the bike against the collection photographs before signing. Pay particular attention to:

Fork seals: any weeping oil on the stanchions
Pipes and headers, which sit low and take knocks
Fairing edges and mirror stalks
Levers and bar ends
Tank, especially where a strap may have run near it

Multiple bikes

Bikes share deck space efficiently, so two or three on the same run cost substantially less per bike than one alone. Clubs travelling to a rally, dealers rebalancing stock and riders shipping a collection all book this way.