Bringing a motorcycle?

Not to mention the weather making a mess of the bike.

I bought a motorcycle from Orlando last year and put it up on the board for shipping. Had 3 companies wanting to haul it for me on open decks. No thanks. Not cross country during the rainny season. And they wanted more money then the van company that hauled it to me. About $400 more.

 

You ever seen a bike tarped? And you'll never get it fully covered.

 

I've seen about nine or ten bikes on the back of trucks,none of them were wraped. Ever see a pickup going down the road with crap piled high that is trapped? That is what your tarp will look like after 100 miles.

 

Bikes (especially dirt) are made to be ridden in the elements. Just hit a spray wash every once in a while. You can buy a really good cover for under $100 that should be able to take 70mph if you must cover it. Unless you mount it on the front it's pretty well protected anyway.

 

You can't stop the splash from underneath. How long before that part gets rusted?

 

Depends on the quality of materials used to make the bike. Think about it. Bikes are made from the same basic materials as a truck. Metals, plastics, fiberglass, and whatnot. As long as you give a decently-made bike the same sort of cleaning and maintenance attention that the truck gets, there's no reason to expect the bike won't last as long as the truck, or longer.

 

The bike would get covered in it more driving down the road then it would on the back of a truck.

 

How often would that bike be getting cleaned and taken care of? Cuz let's be realistic. Most of us aren't riding our bikes 600 miles a day. How convenient is a wash every night? How many rain storms will that bike be rolling though every day?

It doesn't matter that they're made out of the same material as pickups. They also have aluminum and chrome parts. They're not ridden every day. They certainly aren't washed every day.

And most trucks don't have chrome to worry about.

 

Personally, I wouldn't put any nice bike on a truck. Way too many ways for it to get destroyed. If you do want a nice bike on the truck, then I agree that the maintenance and upkeep are likely going to be excessive. If you put a street legal dirt bike on the truck, maintenance would be near zero. Most people would probably choose something inbetween.