Best Practices for Trailering an ST1300

Paul W.

Paul W.

Joined
Oct 27, 2025
Messages
26
Age
61
Location
West Virginia
Bike
ST1300 ABS
I know this is a well worn subject on this forum. But apparently many older threads have been removed recently, so I’m unable to find any good information on this subject.

I just bought new-to-me ST1300, and now I have go retrieve it this weekend and trailer it 4 hours back home (mostly interstate).

My specific question concerns the best tie-down points on the bike…..

Obviously, I’ll chock/strap the front wheel against the front rail of the trailer. Beyond that, I plan to strap the bike down (with strapping loops and ratcheting straps) at (1) the front crash/tip over bars, and (2) the rear tip over bars/pannier guards (which the previous owner added).

Will this be sufficient?

To me, it seems the 4 front/rear bars are all fairly low points on the bike, and maybe I also need a higher-up tie-down point. But I don’t really like the idea of using the triple-tee as a tie-down point due to suspension stress.

So I’m looking for some good ideas…..

I’m also a visual learner. Wink wink.

One other concern: the bike has the blade-style highway pegs which are mounted to the front tip over bars. Will the blades prevent me from using the front tip over bars as a tie-down point?
 
What you said works fine. I like to immobilize the rear wheel by running a rope from one trailer rail to the wheel, through the wheel and around the tire, through the wheel again and over to the other trailer rail. This prevents the rear wheel from moving side to side.

Whatever you do, check the bike for movement and straps for loosening after 10 minutes, then again at half an hour from starting. I usually check every hour thereafter.

Some guys will suggest putting the bike on the side stand, putting a towel on the seat and throwing a ratchet strap over the seat (towel). I've used front tip over guards and my Bygdawg bars (aft) several times. I've towed with the bike upright (not on center stand, and also on the side stand with 4 point tie downs, the front wheel strapped to the trailer front rail and my above noted rope around the rear wheel. No problems at all. Ratchet straps do have a tendency to loosen after a short while.
 
SMSW said:
What you said works fine. I like to immobilize the rear wheel by running a rope from one trailer rail to the wheel, through the wheel and around the tire, through the wheel again and over to the other trailer rail. This prevents the rear wheel from moving side to side.

Whatever you do, check the bike for movement and straps for loosening after 10 minutes, then again at half an hour from starting. I usually check every hour thereafter.

Some guys will suggest putting the bike on the side stand, putting a towel on the seat and throwing a ratchet strap over the seat (towel). I've used front tip over guards and my Bygdawg bars (aft) several times. I've towed with the bike upright (not on center stand, and also on the side stand with 4 point tie downs, the front wheel strapped to the trailer front rail and my above noted rope around the rear wheel. No problems at all. Ratchet straps do have a tendency to loosen after a short while.
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Thanks for the guidance, SMSW.
 
I've had to trailer my ST1300s a number of times. The end of last May, I trailered my :bl13: up to Kalispell Montana, only to trailer it back home. Some 1,750+ miles total.

Chock on the front tire, as you stated, use the front crashbars to hold down the front. Watch that you don't tie it down too much, you could mess up the front forks!

0616090928.jpg

As for the rear, (this is without having rear crashbars) I remove the saddlebags, and use a double loop tiedown strap, and thread it just in front of where the saddlebags sit. Then use a regular strap to hold each side. Then put your saddlebags back on. They should clear.

LeftRear.jpg

These pictures were taken a very long time ago, but should give you the idea.

Also, if you can, get a ramp wide enough where you can ride the bike up. These things are HEAVY to push!

0616090929b.jpg

STnTrailer.jpg

I've since gone to using my box trailer, but I still have my 5x8 flat utility trailer.

Two weeks ago I trailer my 04 to Santa Barbara, some 1,000 miles plus!

20251022_trailer-full-s.jpg

Hope this helps!

Good luck!
 
motornut said:
Trailer, I thought that was for taking Harley to Sturgis
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It also saves marriages! :cautious:

Since 1984, I've probably have trailered motorcycles more miles than most have ever put on a motorcycle and I still have over 670,000 miles ridden!
 
With the aft tipover bars, the front tipover bars, and the front wheel chocked and secured, you shouldn't have any problems.
Add that strap around the rear wheel as suggested, and you're golden.
I think it's a good idea to avoid using the sidestand.
Some folks fear breaking the stand when used for transport, but I haven't heard of that actually happening. Still, I wouldn't - there's just no need.
 
We went to the east coast, the wife would not ride that far and I am too cheap to buy trailer. She took the car and had air conditioning with windshield wipers! I did not.
 
motornut said:
We went to the east coast, the wife would not ride that far and I am too cheap to buy trailer. She took the car and had air conditioning with windshield wipers! I did not.
Click to expand...

I did that ONCE! Back in 1983. That was NEVER REPEATED! o_O

:rofl1:
 
Paul W. said:
... and (2) the rear tip over bars/pannier guards (which the previous owner added).
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FYI, I installed Goldwing crash bars on my ST1300 and used them to tie it down. I did two 2000 miles tows and 300 miles into the second one, one of the crash bars broke. The bike is stored in a garage, so the bars weren't rusted or anything. Probably the constant bouncing wore it down. And the fact that they weren't designed for the ST.
 
Nexus said:
FYI, I installed Goldwing crash bars on my ST1300 and used them to tie it down. I did two 2000 miles tows and 300 miles into the second one, one of the crash bars broke. The bike is stored in a garage, so the bars weren't rusted or anything. Probably the constant bouncing wore it down. And the fact that they weren't designed for the ST.
Click to expand...

I have the GW bars on my 2012 with the "DirtCowboy" (no longer here? or do I have his name wrong?) mounts. Haven't had a problem yet.

20251105_GW-RearCrashBars.jpg

The 04 has the rear bars I took off my AZ05. A little more solid than the GW bars.

20251105_RearCrashBars.jpg
 
I bought his adapters, sourced the bars from someone he suggested, who does GW trike conversions.
RDC was starting to get out of that business.
 
SupraSabre said:
I have the GW bars on my 2012 with the "DirtCowboy" (no longer here? or do I have his name wrong?) mounts. Haven't had a problem yet.
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Yeah, I couldn't find the ones with the adapter, so I mounted them directly. This may have had and impact on the results. Had I not used them as tie downs they would probably still be good. I have @red dirt cowboy -style ones, that came with the GW bars already attached, mounted on my '09. No problems with those but I've only tied-down with them once, in a moving van, going from Chicago to Baltimore. Probably a lot less bouncing around than my small trailer.

Also, the fact that one was, literally, tied down where as the other was "tied across", may also have made a difference:

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And now for an update…..

New-to-me ST1300 bought in North Carolina and trailered some 320 miles home to West Virginia—successful!!

As described in my original post (and concurred with by other posters), I strapped the front wheel to the front trailer rail and then tied the bike down at the front and rear tip over bars—for a total of 5 tie-down points. Easy-peasy. The bike did not budge an inch during the 5-hour drive. I didn’t strap down the back wheel down to prevent lateral slippage (only because I’m lazy), but it turned out to be unnecessary. That bike was one with the trailer! I probably could’ve driven upside down.

And a shout-out to my venerable 2010 Honda Odyssey for doing a wonderful job pulling the trailer and its 730+ pound load up and down the Appalachian mountain interstates (although we did take advantage of a few truck lanes).

And of course many thanks to everyone who posted here providing advice!!! And giving me piece of mind.

BTW for anyone interested, the bike I bought was a 24k-mile 2009 ST1300 ABS with brand new Bridgestone Road 6 tires and a few nice farkles—including Heli bar risers, Healtech gear position indicator, MCL highway pegs, Sargent seat, rear tip over guards, color-matched Givi top box and LED fog lights. (If anyone’s interested in the knowing the purchase price, feel free to message me.)

But the one thing it’s missing that I really, really wanted: a Honda OEM top case!

So if anyone has an extra Honda factory top case floating around—or knows someone who has one—please message me. Any color will do.
 

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Paul W. said:
But the one thing it’s missing that I really, really wanted: a Honda OEM top case!
Click to expand...

That colour-matched Givi looks really nice, though. I wanted the OEM top box as well, but couldn't find one. So I went with the Shad. I'm really happy with it and don't miss not having the oem.

For the 2012, I got the Shad 58X which looks great as well and is expandable to boot!


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Which seats are those?
 
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