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.

Loaded with a Tenere and a KLR 650.

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 

Biktrix died

 I was riding Lucky Strike with a friend, climbing up toward Angel Peak when the bike lost all power, display, everything. I had been running it hard with loads of throttle when it happened. I thought it might have overheated so I let it sit for several minutes, still dead. I removed the batteries, reinstalled, no change. Luckily the route from where it stopped to I11 (I95) was all downhill. 

It was an easy coast down. The guy I was riding with picked me up at the bottom. Great to always ride with someone!

When I got the bike home I removed the motor and found the negative power lead to the controller melted and open circuit.

I replaced the bad connection with a simple set of ring terminals bolted together for a firm connection. Problem solved. Quick easy fix.

The bike just passed 1,800 miles at the point it died. Of course I rode another 7.7 miles from there to I11.  

Make zippers smooth in dusty environments

 I ride off-road in very dusty environments. One problem I have is with all the zippers on my riding gear, backpack, and storage bags on the motorcycle and bike. When they get dusty they are very hard to zip and unzip. They get jammed up with the layer of dust. I blow them out with compressed air and that temporarily makes them less bad but it does not take long riding for them to jam up again.

My storage bags on the bike are not waterproof. When I get done riding I rinse the dust off the bike before putting it away. When I do that some moisture gets into the storage bags. I decided it may help to Scotchgard the bags. 

It is a simple spray coating that helps repel water. It also happens to be a great non-oil based zipper lubricant which works great in dusty environments. Since I sprayed the outside of the bags, the Scotchgard got into the zippers too. I immediately noticed my zippers were smooth and easy. It was a stark difference. Even better, they stayed that way even after several dusty rides. Many of my zippers I have issues with are plastic. The plastic zippers are much worse for the dust jamming them up. However, this Scotchgard trick seems to nearly eliminate the problem and it even lasts. 

After I discovered this, I applied Scotchgard to all the zippers on my gear (riding pants, jacket, etc.), my backpack, and the bags on my bike. What a difference!

Husqvarna 701 Enduro 2,000 mile update

 

I have now gone past 2,000 miles on the Husky and still loving it.  I bought this bike new last fall from a local dealer, Carter Powersports.  I made a few upgrades and rode it over 1,000 miles before having an accident on it in January which preventing me riding it for several months.  I started riding it again in June and now have 2,076 miles on it, mostly off-road.  

Here are some upgrades I have made so far:

• Rear luggage rack.
• Rear bag that I bolted to the luggage rack. I also have Velcro straps bolted in to keep any luggage from moving around.
• Front bag that I custom mounted between the seat and key switch area.
• Doubletake mirrors.
• Cycra hand guards and mounts.
• I tried 2 different windshields.  First a small Puig. Later I installed a large Madstad (22" size). I would get the 18" instead.  I also drilled a second set of hose so I can drop it way down out of the way when off-road.
• NiceCNC gas cap.
• Upgraded the headlight bulb to LASFIT high power LED.
• LED marker lights and driving lights to improve visibility.
• Upgraded the turn signal bulbs to brighter LED.
• K&N air filter.
• Rear brake master cylinder guard.
• Custom made a kickstand sensor guard and also bought a Vanasche side stand dongle I keep with me just in case. 
• T-Rex skid plate and crash bars. 
• USB charger.
• I bought a cheap 1.3G gas can with center mount.  I had to modify the mount that came with it since it broke off quickly. I cover this at the end of my 1,000 mile review. 
• I also added a cheap dash camera mostly for insurance reasons.  It records all the time. I may upgrade to a proper dual camera motorcycle recording system later.  With so many poor inattentive drivers out there I think it is important to record everything.  

I keep a small 12V air compressor and a pump-in tire slime kit, zip ties, extra tie down straps, basic tools, etc., in the rear bag. I also added a 12V connector under the seat to connect the compressor.

The license plate holder and part of the rear fender broke off on my last ride (a rough rocky gravel road).  It appears that the metal frame holding the side reflectors caught the knobby tire over a bump, breaking it off.  I always thought that looked a bit flimsy.  I cut the rear fender off square and just mounted the license place to the rear of my bag.  

Taken just after my license plate mount and chunk of rear fender broke off

This bike has no problem cruising down the highway.  The issues is the wind is noisy and fatiguing after a while. I tried 2 different windshields on the bike. The first was the small Puig.

It just mounts to the plastic around the headlight.  It had some effect in reducing the wind pressure on your check but almost no improvement at the helmet.  After a ride that included many miles of freeway, and into a headwind, I decided I wanted more wind protection so I ordered the Madstad windshield in the 22" model.  Here is what that looks like installed.

Enormous, right.  It is adjustable and it does cut the wind from the helmet area as advertised.  I did a long highway segment with this and found myself cruising along at high speed in more comfort. However, off-road it is bulky and you can hit your helmet on it over the rough stuff. To address this, I drilled another set of mounting holes in it and use thumb screws so I can switch it easily with no tools.  Here is what it looks like in the off-road position.

  The Madstad mounting system also has a significant amount of adjustment.  In hindsight, I should have ordered the 18" windshield instead of this 22" one.  I may trim several inches off the top later.  I can also just remove it completely with the 4 thumbscrews depending on the type of riding I am doing. It takes about 2 minutes to switch the mounting position. I also added a Ram camera mount for my Insta360 action camera (photo above that last one).  

Here is a video playlist from one of my more recent rides (before the Madstad windshield): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2fbh594JYO5ftFDV-qHEImyT  

After 2,000 miles and all kinds of dual sport riding, I continue to love this bike.  I still have the original tires on it but the rear is getting fairly worn at this point. Here are a few thoughts on pros and cons from my perspective:

Pros:

• Excellent flexibility.  Does both on and off road very well.
• Good fuel range.  Can go about 165 miles on a tank with mixed riding, more if on-road.
• Excellent electronics.  The traction control and ABS work well and can both be switched off for more aggressive off-road riding.  I do turn OFF the ABS off-road.
• Rear fuel tank leaves the front seat area wide open.  The more flat seat make it easy to move around as needed.
• Love the motor power! No need for any power upgrades in my opinion.   
• Great having 6 speeds in the transmission.
• Love the clutch.  Easy and smooth hydraulic operation and a very long engagement range.
• Love throttle by wire too.  Easy and smooth.
• EFI is fantastic.  Even after you drop the bike (which I have done plenty) it starts up immediately every time.  I average about 50mpg with mostly off-road riding. The rev limit is also great especially since there is no tachometer.
• Great maintenance schedule for a bike like this.  Oil changes are 10x longer than many dual sports.

Cons:

• Weight. Although for what it is it is very light actually.  Off-road we just always want lighter.  This bike weighs about 350lbs full of fuel and gear.
• Engine noise.  As many articles also mention the LC4 engine sounds like a rock tumbler.  I have a friend with an earlier version of this bike but with an aftermarket exhaust which is loud.  That really helps because the exhaust sound is great and covers over the engine noise.  
• Seat height.  It is a bit high but this is of course a trade-off.  There are lowering kits but I don't want the downsides of that either.  
• Seat firmness.  It is to the firm side and the padding is very thin.  Again, a bunch of trade-offs here because thicker padding would make the seat even higher. You can get aftermarket seats.  I just added a cushion on top and that worked pretty well.
• Key and gas cap.  The chipped key is great for anti-theft.  However, I broke mine very easily and had to get it replaced, which is expensive.  To make this worse, the key is needed for the factory gas cap and in that cap the key turns very hard.  This is why I installed an aftermarket non-locking gas cap.
• There is no fuel level indicator and you cannot see into the tank.  There is a low fuel light at least. I had it come on only 1 time after 154 miles of riding.  I put 2.6 gallons in it to fill it after 154 miles.    
• Very basic display with no actual gear indicator (only a neutral indicator) and no fuel level indicator (only a low fuel light).

Many summarize this bike like this.  If you want to have just one motorcycle for all your on-road and off-road riding, this is it. There are lighter more off-road capable dual sports, but they are not as good on the road.  There are more comfortable dual sport motorcycles for longer adventures, but they weight much more and/or don't have nearly as good of off-road suspension.  Motorcycles are all trade-offs, especially dual sport and adventure bikes.  The Husqvarna 701 Enduro (and KTM 690 Enduro or GasGas 700) is an excellent choice for the 70% off-road, 30% on-road crowd (those percentages based on time, not miles). You can ride from your house without hauling a bike, and having to have something to haul it with. Just hop on and go right from your house.  I love that about this bike.  You can also use it as an adventure bike.      

Here is a video playlist with many other reviews of this bike: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2fZjtowskb2w3vPZASbti7Hn

Biktrix Juggernaut Ultra FS Pro 3 - 1000 mile update

 

I have now ridden over 1,000 miles on this bike, the vast majority off-road.  Since my last update, I replaced the chain at about 900 miles.  It was worn out already.  Not surprising given the forces it has to take on this bike. I am not easy on it. The places I ride have large elevation changes, steep rocky hills, and loamy sand and gravel. I often gain 2,000ft or more in elevation.  Long uphill climbs and then basically coasting back powered by gravity.  The fat tires and full suspension are both hard requirements. I use the full suspension travel very often. 

I often go multiple rides between battery charges. I keep both batteries on the bike and both used at all times to help extend the battery life.  This way the discharge rates are easier on both batteries. I never worry about range at all.  My longest hardest ride uses less than 50% of my total battery capacity. The range extender battery weights about 10lbs but on a bike this heavy I don't really notice it. With the motor power the weight is not a big deal.  I get about 70 hard off-road miles at about 50% battery consumption. A typical 20 mile off-road ride takes about 2 hours.  The batteries will last much longer than I will.

Here is a video of some of the terrain I ride in.

It shows crossing several loamy washes and some of the rocky segments and ends with a fun downhill segment. I have many more videos on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JimRoal 

Here is a video playlist from my last ride: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ4ONVypz2fbyh-qyXL8ksrHx6UrYPwEz . This segment shows the loam we have here: https://youtu.be/6StrrBjZD8A?si=j2K_ctuqBQ1i9uV0 

I am becoming a better rider.  Some of that is actually due to me getting back into motorcycles.  I bought a Husqvarna 701 Enduro last fall. This is the first motorcycle I have owned in over 25 years, and it is the heaviest and most powerful too.  Riding this in loamy areas and other off-road challenges has made me a much better and more confident rider on the mountain bike. The ways you control the heavy motorcycle also work on the much lighter mountain bike. My mountain bike weighs 90lbs which is very heavy by mountain bike standards, but a feather compared to the motorcycle which weighs over 350lbs.    

2023 Husqvarna 701 Enduro T-Rex skid plate and crash bars install

After searching the internet for the options on skid plate and crash bars for my 2023 Husqvarna 701 Enduro I decided to go with the T-Rex kit (Part Number: N167-16EG + N167-16SP). This kit did not claim to fit my bike exactly but rather KTM 690 Enduro/Supermoto and Husqvarna 701 Supermoto of years prior to mine.  I contacted the company and asked about it fitting my bike.  I worked out a deal to try it out.  

Before installing it I weighed the components so I could later compare to what I removed.

• Skid plate - 53.5oz
• Left crash bar - 32.5oz
• Right crash bar - 34.7oz
• Attaching hardware - 22.2oz

142.9oz or 8.93lbs.  I also weighed the factory plastic skid plate assembly and it came in at 25.4oz and 8.7oz of removed mounting hardware for a net weight gain of 6.8lbs.  The added weight is fairly low on the bike, the skid plate being the heaviest single component and also the lowest. 

The install was very easy and straightforward.  It took less than 20 minutes I would guess.  Here is a video of the install.

It fit the bike well and offers the protection I was looking for. The crash bars are simple and don't go as high as others but will likely take most of the hit if I drop the bike on either side, protecting the radiators. 

The skid plate has extensions on both sides that help protect the side cases from objects from the front.  They even offer some protection from dropping the bike on the side depending on the surface.

While it would have been convenient to use the original sockets to catch the back of the skid plate, the T-Rex design is much more robust.

Between the skip plate and crash bars, the water pump looks well protected now.

I like the lower position of the crash bars, both to keep the weight down low, and since this is a much stronger design than other bars.

I like the design of these crash bars compared to many others I have seen.  The cross bar is positioned well to prevent branches and other things from getting captured by the bars when riding.  It will tend to deflect them away.  

Off-road Trails in Southern Nevada

 

I ride electric mountain bikes and a dual sport motorcycle in southern Nevada. Luckily, over 85% of Nevada is public lands, and there is lots of off road riding available for both motorized and non-motorized machines. I wanted to create this blog post to make others aware of some great resources to find all these available trails.  While many of these resources claim to have maps for both, coverage of motorized versus non motorized varies quite a bit within each of the apps/websites. Some have free access levels and others support both subscriptions free access levels.  I will say that none of these mapping tools has complete coverage.  Most are less than half the actual trails in most areas.  

I also use an old smartphone for navigation for both mountain biking and motorcycling. It is very important to keep your eyes on the trails to avoid an accident, like this one: https://jimroal.blogspot.com/2024/02/oops.html . Stop to view the navigation. 

Update 1-2025: I now have a Garmin Zumo XT2 which is much better for navigation. Much brighter, larger, and clearer screen as well as some great navigation features.

Apps & Websites

Trailforks - This is my go to app for Electric Mountain biking, and any mountain biking. While it also supports motorized off road trails, it is not particularly good at that. For mountain biking, it is great because crowdsourced trails are available. I have found the coverage in my area to be better than any other apps I have found for mountain biking. It supports offline maps for navigation when out of cellular range.  Part of Outside+. Here is my Trailforks profile.

GAIA - This is a pretty decent app in general for finding trails. I have used it for both motorcycling and electric mountain biking, but I tend to find other apps a bit better and so it is not my go to app.  GAIA is more of a mapping utility and navigation tool than a way to find existing trails. It supports offline maps for navigation when out of cellular range. It is one of the few that support off-road turn-by-turn navigation.  Part of Outside+. Here is my Gaia profile.

OnX - There are several variants of OnX. I use the off road version. It seems to be the best in my area for motorcycling. It is a subscription only app and website and has no access without a subscription. It supports offline maps for navigation when out of cellular range.  

AllTrails - The AllTrails app and website claim to support all kinds of off road trails and activities. It does but I have found the coverage to be not as good as trail forks for biking or for onX for motorcycling, at least in my area. It supports offline maps for navigation when out of cellular range.  

Kamoot - Supports hiking and biking.

Strava - This is more of a social networking app for bicyclers, but you can look up other people's ride segments and find some routes this way.

Garmin Explore - Garmin explore is an application used with many Garmin products. Garmin has other similar apps to Garmin Explore as well, depending on the product that you are using. It supports offline maps, navigation, and integration with several Garmin products such as InReach satellite messenger.  

Google Maps - Google Maps actually has features for navigating off-road too.  Well, somewhat anyway.  It has biking and walking modes that include trails.  While it is not a main feature it can work surprisingly well at times.  Often you will need to put it in biking or walking mode and also add some stops along the way to enforce your desired route.  Here is an example taking a Jeep trail over Wheeler Pass.

Google Earth - Google Earth has some great tools for searching the Earth for all kinds of detail. It also includes some great measurement tools that will show you the elevation profile. Another great feature is tilting the map to see a perspective from ground level or anywhere in between.  You can also import GPS data from Garmin Connect and other trip trackers. The satellite imagery is good enough to spot many trails that may not yet be mapped.  

RideWithGPS - created as a bicycle route planner it is generally a pretty good route planner.  

Local and national government sites

Each local area likely has its own resources for specific parks and places where there are trails. things like the U. S Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management cover many parks across the United States. Below are just a few that I use around Southern Nevada.

US Forest Service mapping 

Bureau of Land Management and BLM maps landing page

USGS mapping store

Off-Road Nevada

Nevada Trail Finder

Related Resources

Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR). Back country discovery routes are specific routes that have been created by the BDR community. They connect multiple trails together to make a long route, generally through part of or an entire state.

Once you find places to ride on the map, the next thing you wonder is how challenging and fun will it be. I generally search the trail name in YouTube where many people have posted some great videos of their rides/drives so you can actually ride the trail before you get there.  I contribute many ride segments on my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@jimroal .