How does compressing the suspension when trailering cause damage?

[Ductard]

I was cranking down on the tie-downs on the front of my bike today, keeping in mind not putting "too much" tension on the front forks..

It's the first time I've used tie-downs in a while (I now have pit-bull restraints in my "normal" trailer), and I know a lot more about how suspension works than I did the last time I used tie-downs.

More curious than anything...

I'm wondering if anybody knows what the mechanism is of causing wear/damage, provided that you're not bottoming the suspension or getting it so close to bottoming that it does when you hit bumps going down the road.

As a corollary, I've heard similar things about unloading the suspension when winterizing a bike, although I'm more sold on the benefits of getting the tires off the ground.

Any chance this if that is just propaganda that companies that make restraint systems have spread? Heck, I'd still use my pit-bulls for convenience even without the added "benefit" of allowing the suspension to ride free.

[Paul_E_D]

causes no damage or wear as long as your not bottomed out.

[01xj]

My observation from trailering quite a bit is just that there is no need to slam them down. The bike is going to stay put weather you move the forks an inch or bottom them out. I ratchet so the strap is good and tight and I've seen a little movement along the fork tube.

[tls25rs]

The most likely thing that could be damaged by tying down a bike relatively far would be the fork seals, that damage wouldn't be caused by the fact that the bike was tied down tightly, but by the action of tying it down tightly causing the seal to travel over something on the fork leg, that it in normal use, it would not have traveled over.

Say there is a dead bug or a piece of dried on dirt on the fork leg and you then tie your bike down tight enough to move the fork seal over that dried on material, theoretically it could damage the seal and lead to a leak.

People will talk about air pressure in the fork "blowing out" their fork seals and the "excessive compression" damaging the springs but how different is tying the bike down from hitting a large bump with regards to either of these things?

As far as tying it down lightly vs. tightly goes, unless you have a tie down that securely fastens to the bike and the tie down spot on the vehicle, i.e. carabiner or some other type of clip, you will need enough tension to keep the bike from leaning to one side or the other enough that the tie down falls off of the bike or tie down point. When using tie downs with hooks it is possible when traveling through corner at a high enough rate of speed for the bike to lean far enough for the hook of the tie down to fall off one of its two ends and when the corner ends the bike is now only tied down on one side causing it to then fall over.

[SRTie4k]

In my experience, the handlebars/clip-ons will fail long before the fork. The forks are at least made to be compressed, whereas handlebars are not made to have 200lbs of compression exerted on them for extended periods of time.

[nhbubba]

Leaving the spring compressed for a very long time may cause it distort and loose some of its sprinyness.

Other than that, no harm at all.

Pit bull retraints are a dream to use for other reasons. They make loading and unloading stupid simple and very quick. No fumbling with tie downs. No second guessing if you have the straps tight enough but not too tight. No challenge routing straps over/through/around body work. No risk of the bike bouncing itself loose over a rough road.

[TTD]

If you don't have a Pit Bull, just use 4 straps... 2 forward and 2 rearward... which allows for minimal compression of the front end and still arrive safely.

[tls25rs]

Leaving the spring compressed for a very long time may cause it distort and loose some of its sprinyness.

One would have define "very long time" before this became a remote possibility.

[nhbubba]

One would have define "very long time" before this became a remote possibility.

Exactly. Be like me and don't worry about it worry about something else.

[Chippertheripper]

My observation from trailering quite a bit is just that there is no need to slam them down. The bike is going to stay put weather you move the forks an inch or bottom them out. I ratchet so the strap is good and tight and I've seen a little movement along the fork tube.

Fuck an inch. Cinch them things down. Alls fine and dandy till your machined triples chafe through the web strap.
I still have bad dreams about that.

[R7]

I got to thinking the same thing with fork damage (steering head/neck/frame?)...only it was after watching dyno vids rather than ratcheting a bike down in a truck/trailer.

For what it's worth, springs wear from movement, not from being static in any position. You can compress it all the way and leave it that way for 10 years, it'll perform better than the same spring that's been working for 10 years

[Ductard]

In my experience, the handlebars/clip-ons will fail long before the fork. The forks are at least made to be compressed, whereas handlebars are not made to have 200lbs of compression exerted on them for extended periods of time.

I was tying down a mortard and a Ducati monster (i.e. No bodywork) so I went around the fork tubes just above the lower triples.

I don't mess with tying down to the bars or grips after finding out the hard way that the $300 throttle tube assembly on an 1199 is held in place by a 1/4" plastic nipple.

Broke that trying to twist a grip into place that a canyon dancer had dislodged.