Motorcycles, Vans, and Traveling

It has been a while since my last post. Since then, I have been acquiring more items needed for life on the road. I have my van to tow my trailer. What I did not have was a suitable way to load a motorcycle into the van without help. I have a 7 foot ramp that will let me load the motorcycle into the van as long has I have someone to help. I can ride the bike up the ramp into the van, but there is a point of no return where my feet will not reach the ramp to steady the motorcycle, if needed, so that means I must have enough momentum (i.e.; speed) to get past that point of no return. 600 LBS of bike moving at a few MPH into a tight space is worrisome and potentially dangerous. I needed a better way…

The better way presented itself when I found Mannix Ramps. I contacted Mark Rogers, the US distributor for the ramps. He was super helpful. I purchased one of his “Ultimate Ramps” and received it on 2/19/2021. Mark had already done most of the assembly so there were only a few tasks left for me. The hardest part was wrestling the 190LB ramp into the van alone. Installation was simple and did not require any changes to the van such as drilling holes, bolting hardware, etc.). Part of the purchase was a bolt-less mounting kit which secures the ramp to the existing D-rings in my cargo van. This means when I get a new tow vehicle (truck, van, etc.), the ramp will mount to it as well. Here is a quick video of my motorcycle being loaded into the van…