Towing Dirt Bikes

[dub]

I typed up this response in the Henness Pass ride II thread, then realized it was too off topic, so I made a new thread for it.

Anyone going have a tow rope? Probably would be a good idea to bring along at least one to drag someone to a nearby road if we had to pick someone up by truck.

I got some good use out of my tow strap a few weeks ago. We were riding off Johnson Lane and a rider in the group of 5 had a mechanical failure. After messing around with the bike for at least 30 minutes, we faced reality that it wasn't going to start.
Luckily the trail we were on was a long climb, so he coasted/we pushed back down the single track to the last intersection. At the intersection all 5 of us had to push the bike up a long, sandy, steep hill. It sucked. Somehow I was voted as the tugboat "because my bike has the most power" was the BS reason they used to pin it on me. I was able to tow him down some two-track, then down a jeep trail, passed Horsepower Hill on Bunker Hill Mine Rd, and eventually to Brunswick Canyon Rd to Sunrise Pass Rd and all the way back to the trucks at J.Lane. It was 17+ miles of towing.

I've also used my tow strap to tow a bike with a broken chain out of some single track back to Pine Nut Rd where a truck could get him, and to tow a bike that ran out of gas out of Wilson Canyon back to the highway.

I'm not like a super-disaster-prepper on the dirtbike, I carry a pretty basic tool kit. But a tow strap is most definitely a must. It's also useful for recovering the bike when someone crashes off the trail and bike ends up down in a ravine.

The most effective way to tow is to attach the line from the tower's right foot peg to the towee's left foot peg. Forget all the handlebar/triple clamp nonsense. Foot peg to foot peg is the way to go. As the tower, you should try to stay as far to the left on the trail as possible to give the towee enough room to work with. The responsibility of the person being towed is to maintain the angle and tension of the line so it doesn't get wrapped around the towing bike's brake rotor.

Also, don't overestimate your ability to tow up a hill; it's very limited. Even on a pretty gentle slope your bike will start to struggle and eventually lose traction. You basically have no hope of towing up a gnarly single track hill; better to just push the bike up and get it over with.

The tow strap I use is 12' of 3/4" Nylon Webbing. Obviously too short a strap is going to be trouble, but you also don't want it to be too long because you can't avoid contact with the wheel on a left hand turn. If you buy a commercially available tow strap from MSR or Tusk, it will be 12' - 15' long. I got mine here for $7.79 shipped. http://www.strapworks.com/Flat_Nylon_Webbing_p/fnw34.htm

[RichVee4]

One of those items I havent had the need for but can see the benefits for having the ability to pull/tow a bike.   I like the idea of a web rope, takes up less room when rolled up.   Good suggestion 

[slmoto]

We had to pull someone to a road recently, luckily two of the riders with us had tow ropes because the first one ended up breaking. It was a KTM690 that fried his clutch, luckily it was quick coast to a two track and towed from there. No bike is fun to push but one of that size would have been a little extra painful.

I've got some climbers type rope that I sometimes carry but after seeing that one tow strap break I have some doubts it would be of much use. I think I'm going to pick up some nylon strap as well, as Rich mentioned good for packing flat. Or maybe steel some nylon strap from a tie down I have that the buckle is wore and no longer grips.

[slmoto]

This post jinxed me! 

Broke my chain on the trail this afternoon and had to push the bike up two small hills to get back. So tiring and I'm so out of shape. 

I did bring a tow strap but luckily it happened only a mile or two up Peavine so it was mostly downhill back to the truck with only a couple mild up hills that we pushed instead of messing with the strap but still so incredibly tiring.

Chain wrapped around the sprocket pretty good and damaged the housing the clutch cable goes into as it instantly dumped all the hydraulic fluid from my clutch. Haven't dug into it too much yet but hoping damage and costs don't extend too much further than the housing and new sprockets and chain.

[RichVee4]

Yikes, I can see how that could end your ride.  Hopefully its an easy fix.  Nice you weren't too far from the truck when it happened.  Thats one way to get a workout!   

[GreenMachine]

It's like a chain link orgy.   

Dirt bikes are tough, so it should be repairable.

[dub]

Where did it break? At the master link?

[slmoto]

Possibly at the master link. It's the chain that was on the bike when I got it and I don't recall if it had a master link with a clip or the type that is pressed on but what's left of the chain does not have a master link with clip so that could very well be where it broke.

My chain slider was missing a bolt on top too so that could have contributed. The chain also had a lot of side to side play, I had noticed when I would lube it and would tell myself I need to replace the chain/sprockets but then would go riding and forget to order one when I got home.

It's all back together now, cost me about an extra $200 on top of the chain and sprockets. The chain dug a hole in the clutch slave so that had to be replaced and I replaced all the plastic sliders as well. The up side is my hydraulic clutch fluid needed replacing and I didn't know it but now with the new slave cylinder and fresh fluid my clutch pull feels better than before.

Learned my lesson and checked the KLR, needs a chain too, already ordered and should be here tomorrow and installed before my next ride on it.