04ctd

gotta tote a car & bike up to Chasn monday, gonna lob the car (eclipse) on a tow dolly, hand it off to dude in NC, and then take the bike on to Chasn.

could you have the gate down & use a tow dolly?

i've never desired to use one, but it'$ how thi$ deal is working out to get rid of my Eclip$e...

Shovelhead

Specs from www.h-d.com
DIMENSIONS U.S. UNITS
Length 93.6 in.

Wheelbase 67.5 in.

It might be easier to completely remove the tailgate to allow for clearance on bumps and in turns.
Will the rear tire still sit in the bed without the tailgate?
If not, how about if the bike is sitting diagonally?

04ctd

nah, the rear tire sets on the tailgate, and dents it in....but that's another discussion...

yeah, that was my question, if anyone has hoss'ed one around in there diagonally, and got the gate to close.

that's pretty much my problem, i don't know enough folks at the distant end to hoss it out, or a place to back it out, i've got a special ditch & ramp here.

after i mentioned taking it.....everyone complained...
biketoberfest is next weekend. Daytona 2 hours at high velocity. v-rod only turns ~5k at 90mph, getting 35mpg though

may as well leave it here.

FastZilla

Loaded my `00 FXDX in the back of my SB Z-71 all the time. Bed was 6'5" vs a 6'3" in the QC SB. I just put the front tire behind the driver's headrest (left side 1/3) - Strapped down the front end then grabbed the rear fender struts and horsed the tail end to the passenger's side. Rear tire was almost dead center between the wheel wells and the tail gate would close just fine. May have to go a little farther to the right on the SB QC. Bike geometry is kind of wierd, especially the more raked your bike is (ala HD). The more you move the bike to the right the more it will look like the bike is leaning to the left. Bon't worry! It won't fall! The only way it will fall is if a strap breaks (but you should be dbl'd up for a 600+ lb. bike), your bike breaks where you have the straps connected (not likely). You should only strap the front down anyway but with the rear kicked over to the right I put 1 strap on the tail on the right side just in case I hit a big bump that flexed the rear suspension enough to let the rear hop a little (it will swing back to the left if this happens) - I found that out the hard way and the bike was wedger so hard against the tail gate I could hardly open it. The 1 rear strap is just to keep the rear to the right, not to hold the bike up-right. Besure you take all the suspension up in the front you can. I use 2" wide pinch straps. You can almost dottom out your forks with them but there's still about one inch left - keeps from damaging springs and tubes. Be careful if using ratchet straps, you can bottom out the forks real fast and damage your forks. Leave 1-2 inchs of travel and you'll be just fine.

Hope this helps. I've toted bikes all over the country racing and just riding - haven't dropped one yet, even with ratty straps.