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Tyre DownJust a quick review of this tie down gizmo for attaching you bike to a trailer.

The unit itself doesn’t look much, basically it has 2 areas that clamp around the top of the rear tyre and then connect to a ratchet straps on each side to hold it to the trailer, or back of the van. The advantage of this design over simply ratchet straps or bar tie downs is that it doesn’t compress the suspension and loading up is a one man job. With it not compressing the suspension it means I can pop the Honda onto the trailer the night before and just set off first thing in the morning (normally really horribly, horribly early). It also makes towing easier by takes some of the load off the trailer as is has the bikes own suspensions working.

Simply put it’s brilliant. Before I got this, loading a bike up on to my trailer was a right faff, trying to keep the bike upright and strap it down at the same time. Now it a simple run it up the ramp throw over the Tyre Down and ratchet the straps up and the bike is secure, at the back anyhow. Run around to the front and ratchet strap the front wheel, to stop the front wheel jumping around.

The only problem that I have with the Tyre Down itself is that every so often the connection to the ratchet straps, which are on bolts to the connecting arms, sometimes spin off at an angle and then get stuck. This can be a bit of a pain as it happens when the bike is on the trailer and I have to unjam it while balancing the CBR against myself to stop it falling over. This is not the easiest of operations to achieve.

The only other thing is that I had to add to my trailer, a collapse-able one, was a rear cross piece, as it came with a front crossing  strut but none at the back. I made do with a bit of scaffolding for a while but a more suitable bit of angle steel bolted into place with 2 loops to hook the straps too and the whole thing is much more secure. This obviously isn’t something wrong with the Tyre Down itself but it is worth thinking about it if you decide to get one.

See the video here Tyre Down Video

Photos from Anglesey
Photos by Hairy Beast Pix
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