Shipping an ST

My wife and I are planning to buy a home in AZ (maybe in May)
Along with moving everything we have from MA to AZ, including 2 cars, I,d like to have my 1300 shipped.

Is that very expensive, practical, and are there reliable shipping companies ?

Also wondering if I rented a big Ryder or U-haul truck with a hydraulic lift gate, could it lift the 700 lb. ST into the truck,
then I could sock it down & transport it inside with a bunch of our furniture, etc. ?

Any recommendations would be appreciated. I don't think our KIA Soul is made to tow much, if anything. I'll check into that.

Big undertaking @ 73

Hi Ken,

I have hired this outfit twice with satisfactory results: http://www.1aamotorcycles.com

Both times it was ~$580. That was for interstate shipment in the western region; cross-country may be more. The bikes arrived safely without any issues. Just don't expect them to be timely with pickup and delivery. They do claim and honor pickup within X days, and a courtesy call ~4 hours before pickup. One bike was picked up in Red Bluff, CA, with a destination of Redmond, WA. It traveled all the way to San Diego before making the trek north. I recall that it took about 2 weeks. One ST1300 arrived with the left mirror cowl dangling. The men delivering the bike apologized profusely about any damage. I looked at the cowl and saw no damage or scratches, so I simply popped it back in place and asked "what damage?"

Good luck with your upcoming adventure.

Hello Ken:

I purchased a 2012 ST 1300 in Nova Scotia last year, and due to weather, had to truck it to Toronto, Canada. Rather than renting a large Ryder-type truck with a liftgate, I rented the smallest (and lowest) U-Haul I could find that had an aluminum loading ramp incorporated at the back of the truck. This was a very small truck with a 'van' type front end on it, not a full-size truck.

Together with three other guys, we rolled the bike up the ramp and into the truck such that the front wheel was up against the front wall of the truck. I put the side-stand down and let the bike rest naturally on the side-stand. I then nailed some short pieces of two-by-four on either side of each wheel (to stop the bike from moving laterally), and another piece of two-by-four behind the rear wheel (to stop the bike from moving aft). The bike was left in gear to further restrict fore and aft movement. Finally, I drilled a small hole in the floor of the truck either side of the bike, installed eye-hooks with large diameter washers on the underside of the floor, and attached a large cargo strap over the top of the bike. I put an old blanket over the seat to prevent the cargo strap from scuffing the seat.

This worked perfectly. The trip was over 1,000 miles, and the bike did not budge an inch.

I got the idea from my past experience shipping my ST1100 by air in ULD (uniform load device) air freight containers.

The only part of the process that requires caution is rolling the bike up and down the ramp. I did not attempt to drive it in under its own power - I've seen too many YouTube videos of failures when people try to ride bikes up ramps into pickup trucks. Instead, I used 4 adults for the loading-unloading process - one astride the bike, one on each side, and two at the back to either push it up, or control the speed of the bike coming down the ramp. The engine was off at all times during the loading process.

Below are some pictures you might find helpful.

Michael







Below is a photo of the same concept, using an air freight shipping container

I bought a 6 X 10 covered trailer with a ramp door for $2,000. I bought a motorcycle chock for about $50. I rode my ST up the ramp on onto the chock. I moved the ST1300 and all of my stuff except the furniture from Winter Haven, Florida to Waynesville, NC over the past summer with three trips. When I got the bike to NC I parked the trailer on a slight up-slope and slowly walked the bike down the ramp. I sold the trailer for $2,000. I had no help loading and unloading the trailer to include moving the ST1300 in and out of the trailer. I will be 80-years old next month. I am heading out now for a ride around Waynesville on the ST1300. Note: I just finished riding the Rattler which goes from Fines Creek to Hot Springs here in North Carolina.

Be careful hauling a bike strapped down on the side stand. On a older Honda 750 I did this on a long road trip and over a rough roads. Bent the side stand really bad at the point where it attached to the bike. Had to replace the side stand. The side stand would not go up easily after being bent. Straight up is the beat way. When you strap your bike down do not compress the forks to much. On older fork sills you will spring a leak. Make sure the wheels can not move or slide. Then you should be ok.

I don't think U-Haul or Ryder rents trucks with lift gates. Have you considered the cost of gas for the truck?

Thunderchief said:

I bought a 6 X 10 covered trailer with a ramp door for $2,000. I bought a motorcycle chock for about $50. I rode my ST up the ramp on onto the chock. I moved the ST1300 and all of my stuff except the furniture from Winter Haven, Florida to Waynesville, NC over the past summer with three trips. When I got the bike to NC I parked the trailer on a slight up-slope and slowly walked the bike down the ramp. I sold the trailer for $2,000. I had no help loading and unloading the trailer to include moving the ST1300 in and out of the trailer. I will be 80-years old next month. I am heading out now for a ride around Waynesville on the ST1300. Note: I just finished riding the Rattler which goes from Fines Creek to Hot Springs here in North Carolina.

Click to expand...

I am impressed. Heck of a good job for anyone - all the moreso for someone as young as you are.

When you tie down 1300's, if you remove the plastic tipover guard covers you have a superb place to attach straps on the bike. I used ratchet tie downs, set one up loosely, and tightened the other until the bike was upright. Two each side, anchored fore and aft, plus I tied the front wheel to the front of the trailer (tow behind).

This is how I trailer my ST1300s when I need to!

ST1300 Trailering

The truck is now gone, but my new Highlander is ready to haul it anywhere I want to go.

One other thing, I will loop the strap over the hooks and back to the tiedowns. I've had a few hooks come loose on me because the trailer flexes so much.

SupraSabre said:

This is how I trailer my ST1300s when I need to!

ST1300 Trailering

The truck is now gone, but my new Highlander is ready to haul it anywhere I want to go.

One other thing, I will loop the strap over the hooks and back to the tiedowns. I've had a few hooks come loose on me because the trailer flexes so much.

Click to expand...

Your link didn't work.

Linky worky fine using Firefox.

Working fine in Chrome and Win10

Works now but didn't before on the same browser; I'm guessing it had to be shared / opened up to public view from the actual host site, and had nothing to do with what browser one was using.

Paul st1300 said:

Be careful hauling a bike strapped down on the side stand. On a older Honda 750 I did this on a long road trip and over a rough roads. Bent the side stand really bad at the point where it attached to the bike.

Click to expand...

I guess Honda must have changed their manufacturing methods for side-stands since the 1970s (the time when the older 750 was built) - all of the side-stands on the ST 1100 and 1300 motorcycles are cast parts, which will not bend (the nature of a cast part is that it will snap before it bends).

The '3 point with side-stand' vs. '2 point with center stand' debate has come up before, and I think it is a bit like oil discussions, it tends to elicit pretty passionate opinions. Without wanting to start that discussion up again, I personally prefer using the side-stand as a support when I tie the bike down for shipping, simply because it produces a triangle (with the two wheels) that is wider than the triangle produced by the two legs of the center stand and either one of the wheels. A wider triangle = greater stability.

I've shipped my bikes all over the world, by truck, aircraft, & ship (including one 6 day ship transit from New York to Southampton through some very violent storms), always on the side-stand with one strap over the seat as shown in the photos above, and never encountered any problems. The trick, I think, is to tighten the strap enough that the bike is secure, but not enough to substantially compress the shock absorbers. That allows the shock absorbers to continue to absorb shocks resulting from potholes, storms at sea, turbulence or hard landings by air, etc.

Michael

ibike2havefun said:

Works now but didn't before on the same browser; I'm guessing it had to be shared / opened up to public view from the actual host site, and had nothing to do with what browser one was using.

Click to expand...

Thank you. Good pics.

ibike2havefun said:

Works now but didn't before on the same browser; I'm guessing it had to be shared / opened up to public view from the actual host site, and had nothing to do with what browser one was using.

Click to expand...

Oh good, I was afraid that maybe I had included Speedo in it someplace and the Browser PC watchers were at it again!

SupraSabre said:

I was afraid that maybe I had included Speedo in it someplace

Click to expand...

NOT a picture I want to see...

ibike2havefun said:

NOT a picture I want to see...

Click to expand...

You asked for it!