Transporting your scooter

This is one of several Vespa Club of Chicago guides, you can find them all under the “Guides” tab in the header).

The best way to get your scooter from point A to point B is to ride it. Plenty of scooterists have crossed continents — even circled the world — on their scooters. But you can’t cross an ocean on two wheels, and not all of us have months of vacation time, so eventually you’ll want to tow or ship a scooter. You’ll find infinite opinions, but here are our thoughts, based on our research and years of experience. Hopefully you’ll find this information useful, but remember that every situation is different, and we’re offering no warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, validity, or reliability of these suggestions.

Towing

Towing is a practical and affordable way of bringing a bike (or two) along to a rally or vacation, or to get an inoperable scooter to a shop for repairs.

For emergencies and breakdowns, most towns have at least one motorcycle towing company, check the internet or phone book, or call a local shop for recommendations. Roadside assistance (such as the program offered with your VCOA membership) will often pay for it, so be sure to keep your member number and other necessary info handy.

If you have a pickup truck or van, you’re halfway there. Most trucks or full-size vans will accommodate two small-to-medium scooters, or at least one larger scooter. Even some minivans will fit two bikes. (If you’re using a van, remember that gasoline fumes are dangerous to breathe, and may ignite! Drain the fluids if practical, and even if there’s no noticeable leaking, open your windows frequently to keep fresh air moving through.)

If you’re considering a carrier or a trailer, you’ll need a hitch installed on your car. Hitch classes and their specific ratings are listed here. Generally, you’d want to install the largest-class hitch your vehicle can handle, for more flexibility. Just about any car with a Class I hitch can tow a light trailer with a couple scooters.

For most vehicles, you can have an OEM hitch installed by your dealer. That’ll be the most expensive option, often well over $1000, but it’s nice to know it’s designed specifically for your vehicle. A third-party hitch installer will be cheaper. Your local U-Haul, or mom-and-pop hitch depot can install an aftermarket hitch for $400-$800. The cheapest option is to order a hitch online and install it yourself. On some cars, it’s just a matter of a few bolts, but on others it can get pretty complicated. If you plan on attending a lot of scooter rallies, or have a kid going to college soon, or are also into cycling or camping, a hitch is a good investment.

Along with a hitch, you’ll need the proper receiver and ball, and a wiring harness to connect to the trailer. There are various designs and sizes designed for different classes and different trailers, make sure it’s all the right fit for your car and trailer. You’ll also want a locking hitch pin, and a lock for the coupling latch, to prevent theft of the trailer, whether or not it’s connected to the vehicle.

One-scooter carriers

Vespa on a Versahaul-type carrier, photo courtesy of Jennifer Dow Lehman

Versahaul and many other brands make single-motorcycle carriers that attach to your hitch. If you go this route, make sure you understand the difference between towing capacity and tongue weight. For example, most Class I vehicles can tow 2000 lbs., but the tongue weight limit is only 200lbs, which is less than the weight of a scooter and carrier (don’t forget the weight of a full tank of gas, oil, and accessories!) Be absolutely sure your car’s tongue weight and carrier class are rated to hold your scooter.

Different carrier brands vary quite a bit in quality, ease of use (many have a ramp attachment), and suitability of tie-down points. Some of the cheaper ones seem sketchy to us, but brand-name carriers are pretty affordable, and don’t take up much garage space.

Trailers

If you only need a trailer occasionally, U-Haul offers a great single-motorcycle trailer with a chock and ramp, as well as a wide variety of utility trailers. They’re very reasonably priced, but consider the time and hassle of picking up and returning, and remember that even with a reservation made months in advance, you might show up on a busy weekend and find no trailers available.

Aside from behemoth maxiscooters, you can generally fit two scooters in a 5×7 utility trailer. If it’s your own trailer, you’ll want to install chocks and tie-down points (more below). If it’s a rental, you’ll have to improvise the chocks, but be sure there are suitable tie-down points.

If you’re only towing two-wheelers and don’t want to help people move furniture, Kendon trailers are wonderful. They’re expensive, but easy, well-made, and durable. Roll-in chocks and tie-down points are right where you want them. One person can quickly load/unload it, or fold it and roll it up against a wall for storage. They have models that carry one, two, or three bikes (though ensure your specific bikes would fit, the center space is kinda tight).

Enclosed trailers are more expensive than open trailers, and in most cases are kind of overkill for a scooter. They’re heavier to tow, and sometimes it’s difficult to access the front tie-down points when it’s loaded. On the other hand, your scooter and gear will be a bit more secure (and dry), and in a pinch, you can sleep in it.

If you’re using a truck or trailer without a built-in ramp, you’ll probably want a folding motorcycle ramp. Harbor Freight, Northern Tool, etc, sell ramps for under $100, often in a two-pack for about the same price as a single… find a friend to split the set!  Ensure it’s a suitable length, has a grippy surface, and an appropriate weight limit.

Chocks and Tiedown Points

Next, you’ll need a chock to hold the front wheel in place. There are many designs and options ranging from the mighty $170 roll-in Condor SCC-4000 (a) down to homemade (c and d). There are many options in between, but not all fit scooters properly. It’s best if it has sides to prevent the wheel from turning or slipping, but even a block of wood or cinder block against the cab of your truck (c) will work in a pinch.

Be sure the front of the chock is at least half the height of the tire (red dotted line), and that there’s no danger of your front fender – especially on vintage Vespas (c)– and brakes or forks (b) rubbing against the chock. Also be sure chocks and tiedowns are mounted securely, preferably with 3/8” bolts, fender washers, and Nylock nuts (or regular nuts with Loctite).

It’s very important to get the chocks and tie-down points in the right place. Once they are, everything else falls into place. To determine the best placement, you’ll need to position the scooter so its weight is mostly centered over the axle of the trailer, with a bit more weight towards the front of the trailer. If the load is too far forward, you’ll have too much weight on your tongue. If it’s too far back, the trailer will start to sway at higher speeds, and may go out of control. Having the scooters balanced over the axle also makes it easy for a couple people to roll the trailer around (on a flat surface!) while loaded, if it’s for some reason necessary to un-hitch it — maybe you’ll want to roll it into a garage overnight.

Once you determine the position of the scooters, that’ll determine the position of the chocks. Optimally that will end up being at least 18” behind the front edge of the trailer. If you have two similar scooters and are worried about handlebars, mirrors, and tiedowns clashing, stagger the chocks: one a few inches forward, the other a few inches back, from the point you determined.

If it’s a rental, you’re going to have to work with what you have. Many rental trailers have integrated tiedown points, often right where you need them. Other times you might have to strap to a grabrail or fender mount, but be sure the strap will not slide around or get cut on anything sharp or rusty. You can’t mount a chock on a rental trailer or truck, so you’ll probably have to use loose blocks of wood to hold the front wheel (as in “c” above). This is not optimal, because the wheel can rotate to the side, so in this case, you’d probably want to tie down from the bars to prevent the headset/fork from turning.

Tiedowns

Choosing tiedowns might be the hardest decision you ever make. They all look the same at a glance, but there’s a huge range of quality and features. A cheap-o tiedown can ruin your bike, but so can an over-engineered one. Look for quality: meaty webbing, substantial stitching, good hardware. The two common types of hardware are ratchets and cams, and that’s another huge debate among scooterists.

Ratchets (center and right) have their merits, but tend to encourage over-tightening. We’ve seen more damage caused by over-tightening than slipping or breaking (though, to be fair, breaking is usually more catastrophic). They also get tangled easily. If you do go with ratchets, look for basic quality hardware. The extra-heavy-duty ones (right) are total overkill.

Simple cams (left) are a little less expensive, less of a pain to untangle and set up, and don’t have giant heavy metal mechanisms bouncing around.. Opponents argue that they slip when wet, but we’ve never had issues, other than with super-cheap or very worn-out ones.

Tiedowns with sprung clips on the hooks (as seen on the left and right) or heavy-duty carabiners will prevent hooks coming loose on huge bumps.

Loading up

Once you have the chocks placed properly, the rest gets easier. Get the bike into the trailer and line it up in the chock. If it’s fancy, it’ll hold the bike up for you, if not, you’ll need a friend to hold it. Take it off the stand. Do not tow with the stand down. You want the tires and suspension to absorb any shock.

Tie down the front first. There are many ways to do it, here’s what works best for us:

a variety of ways to tie down a scooter

On the left is our favorite method, especially for vintage scooters, using SRT tiedowns with a built-in soft loop, around the neck of the scooter, protected with a soft towel. Those particular tiedowns are hard to find, though, so the next photo shows the same general idea, using regular tiedowns. Make a loop by pulling the strap through the eylet in the hook (see inset), then lower the loop around the whole headset (you’ll need a lot of slack to get around mirrors or a windscreen!). In both cases, be sure the towel is extended above and doubled up, but not so wadded up that it may slip around. Ensure the towel is wrapped all the way around the neck, and that the straps are flat against the towel, and not pinching into the gap between the legshield and headset.

The next image shows the older type of Canyon Dancers (the newer type work the same way, but with plastic cups over the grips). They are a breeze to use, and keep the straps far away from your paint, but we don’t like how they sit so so far from the centerline of the bike. They work great if you have a ton of space to the sides, but if you’re working in limited space, they’re creating a ‘box,’ not a ‘pyramid’ (see illustration below) which is inherently unstable. Even Canyon Dancer’s instructions read “The straps should be angled out and away from the vertical position as much as possible to better triangulate the support of the motorcycle.” The final photo is another way to wrap the strap around the bars (alternately you could use “soft ties,”), be sure it’s wrapped at a point where the straps won’t won’t slip outwards.

With or without Canyon Dancers, using the bars to tie down makes us nervous, scooter headsets are generally plastic or soft cast metal without a steel tube extending all the way across (like motorcycle handlebars). Too much pressure (overtightening or a collision) can bend or crack the headset. For this reason, and in the interest of creating a sturdy “triangle,” we really prefer going around the neck.

Our strategy is to use the straps to pull the scooter DOWN and FORWARD against the chock, forming a sturdy “pyramid”. To this end, you want to make sure that the tiedown points in the trailer/truck are diagonally FORWARD and TO THE OUTSIDE of of the tiedown points of the scooter. If that’s done properly, and the straps are tightened enough to take up at least half (but NOT ALL) of the front suspension travel, the front of your bike isn’t going anywhere. This requires only two straps, one for each side. the more triangle/pyramid-shaped the straps are (in all dimensions), the better.

Once the front is secure, you must prevent the rear of the bike from bouncing and sliding from side to side. The best thing you can do is strap your back wheel snugly to the bed (as in the Versahaul photo above), but that may not be possible depending on the design of your wheel or trailer. Second best is to run a strap down from the frame (or a shock mount, or any convenient point) to the back of the trailer, and, again, sit on the seat and pull it tight enough to take up a bit more than half of the suspension travel. If you can’t run it straight back, make a V, but ensure the apex of the V is looped around something secure, where it wont slide around. and nothing touches any sharp edges that could cut a strap.

Mounting blocks of wood to the bed of the trailer (on each side of the rear wheel) is also a good idea, if there’s any chance of lateral movement.

Check that all straps do not rub against any paint (If they must, pad it with a t-shirt, soft towel, or a strap cover), and don’t allow straps to come in contact with anything even marginally sharp or abrasive. Pretty much every strap we’ve ever seen break was wrapped around a squared-off or rusty bracket on a scooter rack or trailer.

Three or four straps per bike, and you’re good to go. Again, and we can’t stress this enough, do not overtighten the straps, and do not leave the stand down. You want some “give” in the shocks/tires to absorb bumps. If the tires and shocks aren’t absorbing bumps, your frame, body, or headset is taking the abuse.

This video seems to undermine the conventional wisdom that a twist in the strap makes them weaker. A half-turn in each strap will reduce wind noise and flutter, but it’s still a good idea to avoid twisting them more than necessary, and ensure that they’re properly fed into the ratchet or cam. Definitely don’t use a knotted or damaged strap.

Secure all loose ends so straps don’t fray, whip your scooter, or (worse) get wrapped around the trailer axle. Here’s one of a million nifty ways to do it.

Some people double up straps for safety, or put other random straps all over the place, but we honestly believe if you’ve put three or four straps in the right place, you’re checking your work at every stop, and you’re using good quality straps, that’s all you need.

More tips:

  • As you depart, note the position of the bikes in your rearview mirror, and if they move, check them ASAP. Inspect all straps for slippage, stretch, and damage at every stop, be sure the front column hasn’t turned off center, and adjust anything necessary. 
  • The first stretch of your drive is always unsettling, it gets easier once you get on the highway. But also don’t get complacent at the end of the trip, check the bikes one more time as you exit the highway, the rougher surface streets on that last stretch are often where things go wrong.
  • If you’re new to trailers, don’t drive anywhere where you might need to back out! If you do get stuck, and the trailer’s loaded properly (weight over the axle), it might be easier to disconnect the trailer, turn it around, and reconnect it to the car.
  • If you have a vintage scooter with a fuel cut-off valve, turn it off and run the gas out of the engine before loading. Air flowing through your carburetor at highway speed for hours can drain gas into your engine. When you arrive, your engine might be flooded. Worse, you may have an exhaust full of gas and/or gas all over the trailer.
  • Always check all electrical connections and make sure your turn signals, taillights, and brake lights all work properly.
  • Chain the trailer to the hooks on the hitch. It’s best to twist the chains across each other under the tongue, if the ball fails, the tongue will fall onto the chains.
  • Be absolutely sure there’s enough slack in the chains and the wiring harness to accommodate turns, but not enough to let them brush the ground. Sparks from dragging trailer chains are a major cause of forest fires.
  • Your scooter is waterproof. It’ll be fine on an open trailer. A tarp or cover whipping around at 70mph will do far more damage than rain or bugs will. (If you’re really worried about bugs, wrap plastic wrap around your headset, legshield, and mirrors.)
  • Avoid mirrors, grips, and levers touching. If they must touch, wrap each handlebar in bubblewrap or washcloths, then strap the whole wad together. Better yet, stagger your chocks a bit, and adjust the mirror stems to point backwards (Always carry a wrench to adjust your mirrors, you never know when they’ll get bumped out of alignment, remember that many modern Vespas require a hex key as well).
  • Don’t leave your keys in the bike while towing!
  • Keep an eye on your trailer tires (note the load/speed ratings!) and bearings. Most trailer tires are kinda garbage, carry a complete spare wheel and tools when possible, and check the tire pressure (including the spare) often. Feel the hubs at each stop, if they’re extraordinarily hot, the bearings might be failing.
  • Drive more slowly than you usually would, most trailer tires are not rated for high speeds.
  • Remember your stopping distance is greatly increased with a trailer, and even more so in the rain, Allow plenty of space in front of you and more space for merging lanes, and take it easy on tight turns.

Shipping

The cost of shipping varies wildly. “Fast and easy” is expensive. Shippers like HaulBikes.com and Motorcycle Express can pick up your bike, secure it, deal with paperwork and border crossings, and have it ready for you at your destination. If you can afford that, it’s great.

If you’re willing to do some legwork yourself, assume more risk, and patiently wait for lower bids, it will bring the cost down. Services like UShip or Shiply connect you with the lowest bidder from a pool of random freelancers.

In any case, use a shipper that’s experienced with scooters or at least motorcycles, and ensure they’re licensed and bonded. Read the paperwork carefully. Ask questions. Take comprehensive “before” photos of your scooter for reference.

Our suggestion is to call our buddy Denver James. He’s a scooterist (from, Texas, obviously) who makes his living delivering scooters around the country. He’s licensed and bonded, reliable, and while he’s not the cheapest or fastest option, his prices are absolutely reasonable for the level of service and security he offers. “Denver” is a one-man operation and almost always on the road, so booking early will get you a spot in his schedule — remember that he’s super-busy around big rallies like Amerivespa or Lambretta Jamboree.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this article, in many cases unwittingly. : )