Motorcycle truck bed ramps

Chain · 05-10-2003, 8:00 AM

I've searched and searched and searched some more for affordable ramps. *Nada.

Resigned to spending the better part of $300 with shipping for a good aluminum ramp, I took one last shot at the mecca of cheap motorcycle stuff, JC Whitney. *And you'd not believe the deal I've landed.

JC Whitney LINK

Ohio Steel Industries ramps!

http://www.ohiosteel.com/rampbox.gif

Ohio Steel LINK

Only $147 bucks (plus an exceedingly affordable $15.59 S/H) for a pair in aluminum with a 750 lb. ea. capacity. *They fold, weigh less than 30 pounds apiece, come with anchor straps, are arched like I wanted, and look to be exactly what the doctor ordered, but are costing me less than half what I was figuring on spending. *While I was online, I ordered up a set of soft straps and hooked, ratcheting tie-downs to complete the package. *I'll try to get the bike lashed into the bed with these JCW straps; if I can't make it work without rubbing plastic, Bigkid said he'll loan me his Canyon Dancers.

Man, I'm stoked! *A decent looking set of ramps that I can use for my bike and riding mower for less than a hundred-fifty bucks! How fricking cool!

PS- What do you guys think about putting these two ramps side by side and using heavy nylon ties or a couple tie-downs to keep them tight up next to one another? *That gives me over two feet to ride the bike up. *Otherwise, I can space them apart just a few inches and walk up the left while motoring the bike up on the right. *Thoughts?

TIA.

ConqSoft · 05-10-2003, 8:08 AM

I created a Towing / Transport category, and moved this there.

Baketech · 05-10-2003, 8:48 AM

I just sold my tri-fold aluminum ramp for $100...

They are perfect for walking up a bike....never had trouble with lowers....

Chain · 05-10-2003, 8:50 AM

Thanks for getting ahold of me before you sold that, Baketech. *I think I only posted something like two or three 'ramp' threads on the other board last week.

J/K dude. *I'm plenty happy with these units I just bought through JC Whitney.

Chain · 05-10-2003, 9:03 AM

Quote:

ConqSoft : I created a Towing / Transport category, and moved this there.

Would the smiley/thumbs-up thingy indicate tacit approval of the ramps I bought?

Hey Conq, can you change my born-on date to the original? Thanks.

ConqSoft · 05-10-2003, 9:04 AM

Quote:

Chainstretcher : Quote (ConqSoft @ May 10 2003, 8:08am)I created a Towing / Transport category, and moved this there.

Would the smiley/thumbs-up thingy indicate tacit approval of the ramps I bought? *

Hey Conq, can you change my born-on date to the original? *Thanks.
I need to add an interface to edit the Join Dates. Working on it now, and I'll be correcting everyone's.

Critz · 05-10-2003, 10:27 AM

gosh, it warms my heart to see the chainster happy!! now maybe he'll do some ridin stead of posin??

Chain · 05-10-2003, 10:54 AM

Critzy...

fivestar · 05-10-2003, 11:23 AM

Chain, that's exactely the set of ramps I have. They work pretty good. I've never anchored them together though. I just keep them a bit apart and walk her up under power. No probs yet.

Chain · 05-10-2003, 11:27 AM

GREAT news! Thanks fivestar. That's got me feeling even better about these babies. Sure beats the hell out of paying close to or over three bills for a set!

fivestar · 05-10-2003, 11:47 AM

No prob brother. I too looked for awhile at all the expensive ramps. As a last ditch effort I picked up an old copy of J C Whitney and found those. When I got em I first thought the jagged edges might cut a little into the tires, but so far no probs in over a year. I have a 4wd Dakota, so it sits pretty high. The angle of the ramps make it fairly easy to load though.

Enjoy.

Chain · 05-10-2003, 11:51 AM

I believe the raised holes will make what would be an otherwise dangerously slippery ramp perfectly safe to walk up (and motor the bike up as well). I question if even rain would make these babies overly slippery.

fivestar · 05-10-2003, 11:56 AM

Yep. It rained pretty much all Sat. last year at Mid-Ohio. No trouble walking up when packing up for the day.

bubba · 05-10-2003, 6:43 PM

that sure was a GREAT find. I wish I could get lucky like that?

SomeStrangeGuy · 05-10-2003, 11:48 PM

I know this isn't necessarily relevant to the standard readers of this forum per se, but let me get in my $.02 about riding bikes up ramps...unless your bed is Ti and your back window is metal - I dont advise it

I havent seen it happen with streetbikes, only dirtbikes and quads - but someone gets the idea of just powering it up there and either tosses the ramp off deck about half way (aka mid fairing) and the rear wheel is left hanging with YOU on the bike, or you get it up there no prob but then realize that your bed, bedliner, bedwhatever is slick and the front end folds when you overbrake, or you slap into the bed which coaxes the back of the cab wall to flex and your rear window breaks.

I know there are 234234 opinions about the 'right way' to do it, and im just stating what i have SEEN not heard, or read about, or any of that bs...just trying to help out. Id hate for you to get these ramps that you have been in much lust after (well, lusting after the loading solution I should say) only to have you damage either one of your toys.

Not that I condone it but Ive been known to line one ramp up the middle and one on the right side, and with ~3ft before the ramps, get a bit of a rolling start and feather the clutch whilst using momentum to get er up there. Bear in mind that once the front wheel enters the bed you are 110% commited unless you tied down the middle ramp to your bumper really well, but even then walking backwards from that high sucks...my point was going to be that you want to be under momentum only at that point or very light clutch engagement once its just the back tire on the ramp. With no rider weight the torque of a litrebike will roast rubber on any ramp with throttle/clutch negligence

I have since bought a 2wd truck and now just use the wooden ramp (1 in the middle) and throttle up and jump onto the tailgate, but then again thats only after about loading/unloading my dirtbikes about 300 times - so it builds confidence

..hope this is of some use

pdccd · 05-11-2003, 10:12 PM

hey chain,
congrats on finding a happy solution. I'm with ssg on the ramp usage , seems like sound advise.But if you do decide to join the two ramps, maybe you could use a couple of c-clamps on the bottom side to hold them together. Neater and maybe safer than strapping them together. Good luck.

Diesel954 · 05-12-2003, 9:06 AM

Owww Chain! I could have hooked you up with some of the aluminum ramps I have for like $60 shipping to Omaha included. Got them from Harbor Freight, a discount tool place here in OKC. Not bad for the pair. They dont fold or anything fancy but they work great.

Chain · 05-12-2003, 11:48 AM

SSG, thanks for the advice. I won't have the problem with a slippery bed since my truck's got a Rhino Liner in it.

http://www.rhinolinings.com/

As for securing the ramps, believe me, they'll be properly strapped to the truck to make sure they can't zoom out from underneath me.

pdccd, nice idea on the C-clamps. That probably would work well to make sure you don't 'split' the two ramps with the front tire or have the strapped together ramps 'scissor' up on either side of the front wheel. In the end, I'll likely do exactly what fivestar does; set the ramps a little bit apart, make sure they're secured to the truck, then carefully motor it on up and in while walking alongside on the other ramp.

Diesel, guess I missed out on your good buy, didn't I?. I posted some thoughts on ramps on the other board. Maybe you missed it. Oh well, no biggie. I'm happy with what I found.

RRWANTR · 05-12-2003, 12:41 PM

I have this same ramp. Friend and I split it so it was half the cost. I like it alot. Takes alot less room then the one piece and the camber of the ramp works well with my full size 4x4 Sierra.