Few things are more aggravating than opening the door to your trailer and finding your bike on its side. I had a race bike come loose once, and was mightily upset when I discovered my custom-painted Bultaco now looked like it had been dragged behind a truck. I can only imagine how I'd have felt if it were a show bike. A better tie-down system would have prevented the carnage, but I'd never installed one-mostly because I needed the trailer to carry gear other than race bikes, and everything I'd looked at required bolting hardware to the trailer floor, which would have interfered with lugging things like lawnmowers and sheets of plywood. By the same token, I hauled a lot of bikes in those days, and often there'd be three or more stuffed in there so I had to be able to configure my tie-downs to suit.
The Bolt It On Rack System would have solved all my problems. The system consists of a stout rail constructed of #11 cold-rolled steel supported by two 10" high by 13" wide stanchions. Holes along the rail allow the supports to be adjusted to fit your trailer and provide lock points for the adjustable wheel chocks and tie-down hooks, both secured with self-locking pins, and for the J bolts that attach the system to the factory-installed D rings commonly found in trailer floors. All components are powder coated, and the workmanship is first class. The rail is comes in various widths from 67" to 95" inches and can be easily cut down with a hack saw (though my buddy Jerry worked up quite a sweat cutting an inch off each side to accommodate his 65" wide trailer). Installing the rack took maybe 15 minutes start to finish the first time, and I'd expect it to take five minutes or less to remove or install from here on. A variety of chocks are available, so you can configure your rack to carry just about any type of motorcycle that'll fit in your trailer (up to eight, if the bikes are small enough).
We tested the rack using an Ultra Glide and a Honda CR450, and the bikes remained secure, stable and upright despite the best efforts of the Connecticut DOT to do otherwise, which is a very good thing 'cause I think Jerry would have murdered me if they'd tipped over.
Prices start at $279.00 for a rack and all the hardware needed to carry one dirt bike or sport bike. Additional chocks start at $40.00, ($55.00 for the extended dirt bike chock), and the Harley-Davidson-specific chock is priced at $85.00. Tie-down loops go for $20.00 a whack and yeah, two are recommended.
My only gripe with the Bolt It On Rack is that it won't fit my Dodge pickup or anything else without bed-mounted D rings to secure it, and I'm not crazy about boring holes in my truck bed to install the rings. Other than that, this thing is the hot tip as far as hauling goes, and the price is a lot lower than I paid to repaint my Bultaco, so I'm giving it the full five star monty. -MZ