Bike Hauler

 

I ride my electric mountain bike (eMTB) and my Husqvarna 701 Enduro motorcycle primarily off-road. I have now explored most places within reasonable riding distance from my house, especially in the case of the eMTB (about a 20 mile radius). I want to explore much farther, including taking the motorcycle to the Colorado San Juan mountains. I have a receiver rack for the bikes that I can use on my Cayenne but that is my wife's car and I don't want to leave her without a car. I also have a Porsche Cayman S but that is a manual transmission which she can no longer drive. I have friends with trailers and that is great but does not work out consistently. So, I bought a 2019 Ranger FX4 so I could haul my bikes. 

I have had incidents where a bike was disabled or someone was injured so I also wanted an off-road hauler that could go as close as possible to the injured rider and/or disabled bike to rescue them (or me). Last year we were up near Caliente, many miles up a rocky hill climb when a person in our group was injured and could not ride back out. Luckily he had a Jeep Rubicon with a receiver rack which we were able to use to retrieve him and the bike. I realized I needed this capability.

Trailers are great, and MUCH easier to load a motorcycle into for sure. However, there are downsides. You can't drag a trailer up an off-road trail. The receiver rack is functional, but not very robust. They make me nervous on a nice paved road. Hauling in the bed of a pickup with the right points to retain the wheels and bike firmly works better off-road. The bad part about this is the truck (especially a 4x4) sits high and it is precarious to load a heavy bike in there. 

I concluded that the Ranger with 2 ramps, E-track with wheel chocks and additional points to secure the bikes, and a winch to help load heavy bikes, would solve the problem. I started by adding E-track to the front of the bed, along with additional E-track sections for better points to strap the front of the bike down. I added additional E-track single mounts in the bed itself. I also added strap loops to the tailgate to strap the back wheels of the bike in place so they cannot move side-to-side. 

 I added mounts and straps to secure the ramps in each side of the box. I have cables to lock the ramps in with the tailgate, which locks with the truck door locks. I keep the ramps in the truck all the time. 

I setup an electric ATV winch, mounting all the components together on a mount that connects to the E-track. It has a wireless remote control so I can even load bike alone with ease. I ran 6AWG cables to the battery with a 120A fuse. It has 120A connectors so I can easily connect and disconnect the winch, stowing it in the cab of the truck. While the winch can pull up to 3,000lbs, pulling even large motorcycles into a truck is far less force than that. 

I also have a class IV receiver hitch on the truck. I have a shackle. I carry tow straps and other pulling equipment as well. My winch bracket supports a sling strap that can be used to connect to this receiver shackle for pulling bikes our of precarious areas. The winch wiring is long enough to reach for this.

I can easily add another electrical connector in the front of the truck for this too.

I keep all the traps and accessories in the cab of the truck so everything needed to rescue a bike in the boonies is there. If I am riding and need a rescue, my family can simply go to my location with the Ranger and pick me up. I always carry a Garmin InReach as well so I can easily message them with my GPS coordinates.

This all works well. I was injured recently while riding the motorcycle. I was able to ride back to the truck. Having the 2 ramps and winch for loading really helped.

After setting this up to haul motorcycles, it is a bit overkill for the eMTB but works really well for them. My eMTB weights 90lbs so most traditional bike racks are inadequate. Loading is not as easy either. Having the ramps make this a breeze. Often I can park on a hill where I can easily load/unload the eMTB without ramps but there are also times it comes in handy if I am alone.

If I had to rescue a bike that requires traversing a rugged off-road trail, and can secure the bike like this with 4 straps and both wheels restrained. In this configuration the bike barely moves even while off-roading.

Securing the ramps with a cable to the tailgate latch. The tailgate locks with the truck.

Crashed Again

 

We had a group ride at at Gold Butte National Monument. We had planned a large loop there. We ended up riding the loop below.

Starting at Whitney Pocket (top of map), we rode to Little Finland and then proceeded down Gold Butte Wash Road to the old townsite of Gold Butte. All was going great. As we headed down Scanlon Ferry Road we were about 9.3 miles from Gold Butte when we had a mild but rocky climb. With all the loose rocks, I was knocked off-course and headed to the uphill side of the road. I could not get the bike back on course so I stuck my leg out to catch the bike from falling. Unfortunately my foot got caught between the bike and ground in a way that jammed my toes towards my shin, overextending my calf. It was bad enough at that point but I then fell off the bike overextending it much more. Here is the video (below) where the left foot get caught.

We had planned a loop back to Gold Butte. None of us had ridden this area before. After I rested a bit I got back on the bike to continue. We discussed going back the way we came or continuing forward. Unfortunately I chose continuing forward (very bad choice) so we did. At this point I was tired and of course my leg was in pain. It was hard to shift the bike with my damaged leg too.  Scanlon Ferry Road was in a sandy wash at this point forward. This is hard riding on a motorcycle. Our planned loop then turns into Twin Springs Wash. It was a less travelled sandy wash that got more primitive as we proceeded. It finally got so primitive it was deemed impassible by me, and some others on bigger bikes so we turned around and headed back. 

By now it was after 1pm. As I was quite tired at this point, I crashed another time on the way back, breaking a rib. It was about 35 miles from where we turned around back to the truck. That was a long ride and it was getting dark when we finally got to the truck. 

After the foot issue, my torn calf muscle kept spasming periodically, which was quite painful. I took 3 electrolyte pills to try to help it but the issue persisted. I also drank all 3 liters of water I had so I borrowed some from another rider. The cramping persisted intermittently for the whole rest of the ride. 

I always ride with full protective gear, including motocross (MX) boots. MX boots are very thick and rigid, giving very little foot movement. Many riders complain they are so stiff they are hard to ride in. It makes shifting and operating the rear brake challenging for sure. However, they are thick and rigid for a reason: to save your feet and ankles. This could have been much worse. I also only ride with others, never alone. 

My last crash with injury was much worse: https://jimroal.blogspot.com/2024/02/oops.html 

Here is the GPX file of our actual ride: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bXsZSPlaBLX_1Mh3zX0Jv5bAT865_GAN/view?usp=sharing 

More information on Gold Butte National Monument: https://www.blm.gov/programs/national-conservation-lands/nevada/gold-butte 

Video playlist from this ride: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2fZV0UhmtEKwNnKysXBBxuaI

Stopping for a break on Gold Butte Wash Road at the intersection of Lime Canyon Road.

Little Finland

Whitney Pocket, where we met and parked

A few days after the incident, my leg still very swollen and now turning very bruised.

The whole leg actually. Bruised behind the knee as well.

Biktrix Juggernaut Ultra FS Pro 3 2000 mile review

 

Note: the screen protector is just a cheapy I bought on Amazon. Does the job though.

The Biktrix Juggernaut Ultra FS Pro 3 hit 2000 miles today. We were on a ride near Corn Creek. This has been a great bike and I have put many very hard miles on it since I got it in 2023. Since my last review at 1000 miles I have made a few changes.

• Upgraded the rear tire to a ULTRAVERSE 26x4 E-Bike Fat Tire
• Replaced the chain and greased the motor at 1000 miles. (due again)
• Repaired the negative main power lead to the motor.
• Installed Tannus inserts in both tires. 

Here is my short video review.

I bought a Ranger pickup so I can haul to more places now.

This bike has served me very well. I never have range anxiety at all. Even when I use higher power levels and throttle often, I can ride it longer that my body is capable. I am the limiting factor. I often don't even bother to charge it between rides, When I do, I generally don't let it charge to 100%. I do use chain wax before most rides. My gears don't show any visible wear. 

This playlist is from a recent ride on this bike: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2fbwWTh7qDxa_PW7G71lEXlU