[mole2]

Originally Posted by riningr

My first time unloading a bike out of the back of my truck was my biggest failure... it was my Kawasaki KZ750 and I didn't have ramps yet so I backed my truck into a ditch to be able to push the bike straight into the back, and put it in backwards, so then I got it where I was going and I backed my truck up and had a 2x6 plank that I used to unload it and was afraid the 2x6 would slide out so I took the tailgate off and put the 2x6 on the back bumper then put the other end up against a curb and thought I would just ride the bike down the plank... which was OK until the front tire of the bike hit the curb and stopped and I couldn't put a foot down on either side so dumped the bike over on top of myself... luckily the back tire stayed up on the rear bumper of my truck so not all of the weight came down on me, but I was still sore for a while... then get out from under the bike and have to gather the strength to pick the bike up and get it back on the board to finish taking it down out of the truck...

I load my XS1100 by running it and clutch/brake/gasing on the way up because it is HEAVY, but I have a nice set of ramps now and always put the bike on my right ramp which feels natural grip to me since I always get on the bike with it on my right and I can walk up the left ramp, my ramps are nice aluminum ramps that have bars going across about every 4" or so and are arched in the middle so the 4" spacing and the arch helps support the bike from rolling backwards a little. My GZ250 is a LOT lighter though, so I don't need to power load it, I can push it up the ramps into the back of my truck by myself without power loading. My ramps also have straps that wrap around the tailgate to keep them from sliding off which makes a big difference too =)

[youtube:25x9gcfv]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrzpKCAtTDY[/youtube:25x9gcfv]