The Yamaha Road Star Warrior Forum

This coming weekend, I am going to Minnesota from Illinois to visit a friend, who also bought a warrior.  I am taking it up in an enclosed trailer.  My question is about the front fork's or suspension.  Usually when I trailer it, I like to compress the fork's pretty good to make sure the bike doesn't move.  I have never trailerd it that far and was wondering if it's bad for the fork seal's or anything else to be compressed for 10+ hour's?  Thank's 

You never want to compress the forks more than about an inch max.  All you need to do is keep the front wheel straight with a wheel chock, then tie the bike to the floor with tie-downs.  It should bounce a little but not so much the tie-downs come loose.  If you do a search for 'trailering' or 'tie downs' you might find a few of us have discussed this over the years.

The side-bars inside most enclosed trailers are NOT designed to handle the weight so before attaching tie-downs to walls be sure they will handle the impact.

Most of us use soft-ties at the center of the handlebars near the risers, then attach tie-downs to the floor just forward of the front axle and about a foot or more to the side of the tire.  Some of us use tie-downs to keep the back wheel from going left or right when trailering side-by-side bikes, which is rare but its good to ease the mind on long trips.  I've gone 1200 miles each way several times, no troubles.

Hope this helps.

See also: http://rswarrior.com/forums/t/14540.aspx

beach:

This coming weekend, I am going to Minnesota from Illinois to visit a friend, who also bought a warrior.  I am taking it up in an enclosed trailer.  My question is about the front fork's or suspension.  Usually when I trailer it, I like to compress the fork's pretty good to make sure the bike doesn't move.  I have never trailerd it that far and was wondering if it's bad for the fork seal's or anything else to be compressed for 10+ hour's?  Thank's 

I've compressed mine for 9 hours from Denver to Jackson Hole. I think the consensus is to not compress them all the way.

+1 on Arizona Warrior's post. I never have had mine at more than an inch / inch and a half. Plenty tight. Just make sure the tie downs are wrapped good with duct tape if they are open hooked. A good bump could pull one of the hooks out. Better safe than sorry. Personally, because my trailer is open, I even add more tie downs. I'm a bit overzealous though

Have a great trip.

Greg

Thank's guy's, that's what I needed.  My buddy said he found some twisty road's in the area of his new house, so I guess I can practice dragging my peg's on this trip!  I can't wait!  Thank's again!

So how did it go last weekend?

beach:

Thank's guy's, that's what I needed.  My buddy said he found some twisty road's in the area of his new house, so I guess I can practice dragging my peg's on this trip!  I can't wait!  Thank's again!

 trailered mine from Montana to North Carolina, forks were compressed a couple inches, i went from the front down tubes on the frame to the front corners of the trailer, from both sides of the swingarm to the back corners of the trailer and one right over the seat from one side to the other (used the stock seat in case the tie down wore into the seat at all) everything is working perfectly in the new state

Trip was great!  Had no problem's trailering, which was a relief.  We rode up to Itasca State Park which is where the Mississippi river start's.  The park had some really good curvy road's, but the speed limit was like 20mph..we did about 30-40.  There was alot of pine needles and stick's on the road so it was a little slick in some corner's  Very fun laid back ride though.  I actually got into wakeboarding on this trip which didn't leave much time on the bike's!  I keep finding hobbie's, and too little time for them.  I had two week's off work which was a bummer when I had to come back to reality.  Oh well.  I found out my buddies warrior had a power commander, BAK, and Vand H pipes, which sounded really good and faster than mine obviously.  We never did switch bike's the whole time, which was probably good for me.  I don't need a taste of that.  I did'nt take any pic.s either which I'm kicking myself for now.  Maybe next trip!  Thank's again guy's!

I"m going to have to try Itasca out. I was thinking about riding out towards the Mississippi for Labor Day Weekend. 

 As for trailering, I just read Biker's Handbook by Jay Barbieri and there's a section on trailering.  He suggested putting a block of wood under the frame and strapping at the lower triple tree.  The block and frame support the bike so the fork seals don't blow out.  Having the straps down low prevents handlebar damage, as well as, avoiding cables, hoses, and wiring.

If anyone is ever coming to Itasca in the future, give me a shout.  It's only about 1.5 hours from me.  It's just okay up there in my opinion, but maybe thats because I have been there so many times.  I prefer riding to the u.p. of michigan, that  is my 2 or 3 times a year trip.

Yea but in real life the shock from a pothole transmits thru the block of wood into your bike and jars crud loose.  Your bike's suspension isn't worked anywhere near as hard when trailering as it is when you are riding.  Plus you need a front wheel chock (or chocking method) to keep the front wheel straight in either case.  IMHO the block of wood under the frame works when a moving company is crating/moving you bike.  Its not so great for a trailer behind your pickup truck unless the roads are fairly smooth and/or if the trailer has a really really nice sprung suspension system to soak up the jars.

GNO:

I"m going to have to try Itasca out. I was thinking about riding out towards the Mississippi for Labor Day Weekend. 

 As for trailering, I just read Biker's Handbook by Jay Barbieri and there's a section on trailering.  He suggested putting a block of wood under the frame and strapping at the lower triple tree.  The block and frame support the bike so the fork seals don't blow out.  Having the straps down low prevents handlebar damage, as well as, avoiding cables, hoses, and wiring.