Local fab shop

[troy]

For several years I've been hauling 2 motorcycles in my truck without a good way to tie the inside forks down. My truck has nice tie-down points in the 4 corners. I've ended up running each bike's inside fork through the front wheel spokes of the other bike to get to the corner tie-down. Of course you have to be really careful to get everything lined up just right so you don't put pressure on a spoke. It's generally a pain. I kept telling myself, you need to fabricate a tie-down hook in the front middle of the bed.

On my way home from work Tue, I stopped by Atomic Fabworks and talked to Kelly.
http://shop.atomicfabworks.com/

In about 10 minutes, he had a plan and we agreed on a price. I dropped the truck off the next morning, and after work on Wed, I picked it up ready to go. The tie-down hook is PERFECT! Kelly did an excellent job.

I'll post a pic of my new tie-down point later, but for now, check out this fabrication job Kelly created for local motorcycle stunt rider Dan Jackson!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj5_iCrPNmg[/youtube]

Takes some guts to hit 3rd gear and just lock up the front brake! Kelly told me that they plan to tweak the design--there is another stunt rider who gets 5 rolls out of his, and Dan wants to do 6!

[ajayhawkfan]

I had a large I bolt put into the of my truck bed. It works great for two bikes.

[Rusty Jug]

Ok my question is this, who sets around and wonders how many times I can roll my bike! Lol! .

If you can make a life long job out of it Great!!!

Heck I have battered fried smoked baby back ribs at my joint was was I thinking! Lol! But it works!

[troy]

Here it is. This is bolted into the front-center of my truck bed. There is metal on the backside so the bolts won't pull through the tin-can truck bed. It's over-engineered a bit, but I get the feeling Kelly doesn't make anything wimpy.



Depending on what I haul in my truck, this hook has the potential to be in the way, but I can't think of many times this would have been even a minor nuisance in all the years I've had the truck.

[kendall_smith]

Nice! I was just thinking about this exact dilemma the other day for my F150.

If you don't mind me asking, what did that set you back?

[troy]

Nice! I was just thinking about this exact dilemma the other day for my F150.

If you don't mind me asking, what did that set you back?

About $150. I say about because he said, "shouldn't be more than $150". I asked him to also remove my old, rusted nerf bars by breaking the rusted-solid 3/4" bolts and dispose of them. My total was $190.

He charges just over $80/hour. He figured one hour of design and fab then 30 minutes to install. I think he spent more time installing because it was a huge pain to get the nuts on the back side of the bolts. He created a long arm to fit down between the cab and bed to hold the nut in place. Tedious!

Kelly was friendly, creative, and easy to work with from start to finish. You can tell he really enjoys the problem solving that comes with his kind of fabrication design. We talked briefly about fancier designs that included a collapsible hook so as not to interfere with certain kinds of things a guy might haul in his truck bed. We decided this design was simple and cost-effective with little downside.

My F150 is a 2002, but the design he came up with is generic. He had an even more simple design in mind, but created the L shape because of the tiny amount of room and options he had to access under my truck bed. I don't know what you have, but if Kelly can do the same design for you, you would save a few pennies I'd think.

[troy]

Worth mentioning in this thread that on a previous truck I owned, a friend helped me fab up a design identical to the Bed Buddy.

http://www.discountramps.com/bed-buddy.htm


This thing works great! It not only provides additional tie-down points, it has 3 slots to hold tires from turning side-to-side. (3 dirt bikes fit by putting the middle bike in backwards so the bars don't interfere.) It also stiffens up your bulkhead as some truck beds are so weak that if you strap a bike hard into it, the front of the bed will bow.

The Bed Buddy has apparently come down in price. Back when I made mine, it was over $200. I would have put my bed buddy in my F150, but there is not enough room between the cab and bed to get the nuts on the bolts. Hindsight 20/20 and all that, I could have rigged up something like Kelly did to hold the nuts---tedious but probably could have got the job done.

I sold my old bed buddy, and this time around I decided all I really need is that 3rd tie-down point in the middle.

[Bob Morgan]

Nice! I was just thinking about this exact dilemma the other day for my F150.

If you don't mind me asking, what did that set you back?

Go to the hardware store and buy an eye bolt for 5 bucks and drill one hole......... done.

[kendall_smith]

Nice! I was just thinking about this exact dilemma the other day for my F150.

If you don't mind me asking, what did that set you back?

Go to the hardware store and buy an eye bolt for 5 bucks and drill one hole......... done.

That's what I did in my last truck. I was just curious as to what Troy's sweet fabbed bracket would go for. Now that I know it's that pricey, I think I'll go with something in between. I've definitely considered the bed buddy- I might give that some more consideration.

[stimmer6253472]

Every bike I have usually ever hauled had bark busters and most are basically the same size. So what I do is just attach the two bikes at the inside bark busters. I take a tie down and wrap it around the bark busters and then rachet strap just the two outside sides. No need to strap down the two inside sides. Works perfect on dirt bikes or big bikes. It will ride as solid as a rock.
Jim

[safiri]

Every bike I have usually ever hauled had bark busters and most are basically the same size. So what I do is just attach the two bikes at the inside bark busters. I take a tie down and wrap it around the bark busters and then rachet strap just the two outside sides. No need to strap down the two inside sides. Works perfect on dirt bikes or big bikes. It will ride as solid as a rock.
Jim

The concern I would have with attaching the two bikes' bark busters is if one of them came loose. Particularly the expander that fits into the bar end.

[stimmer6253472]

Every bike I have usually ever hauled had bark busters and most are basically the same size. So what I do is just attach the two bikes at the inside bark busters. I take a tie down and wrap it around the bark busters and then rachet strap just the two outside sides. No need to strap down the two inside sides. Works perfect on dirt bikes or big bikes. It will ride as solid as a rock.
Jim

The concern I would have with attaching the two bikes' bark busters is if one of them came loose. Particularly the expander that fits into the bar end.

I have done it for years and that has never been a problem. Even do it with my 990. In fact we took my 990 and my dad's KLR out to Colorado this summer. 1500 or so miles including some rough miles heading back to our campsite.
Jim

[allkidd]

For $109 at Rocky Mountain (link at bottom of page) we purchased a Samson Bed Rack...works great. Easy to load two bikes in forwards and then we load a third bike in backwards using the eye bolt on the rack to stabilize the rear tire.