Motorcycle Towing in Buffalo, NY — Soft Straps, a Chock and a Deck, Never a Hook and Chain

Short answer: A motorcycle hauled wrong arrives with a scratched tank and a bent lever. Here is how a bike should be loaded in Buffalo, what it costs, and the questions to ask before you let anyone touch it.

What Goes Wrong When a Bike Is Hauled Like a Car

A bike has no frame rails to hook, no bumper to catch, and it falls over. A truck set up for cars will try to improvise, and the result is a tank scratched by a ratchet strap, a lever bent against the deck or, worst, a bike on its side on the road. Motorcycle towing in Buffalo is a different job that happens to use a flatbed.

How It Should Be Done

The bike rides up the deck on its wheels, front wheel into a chock that holds it upright, and is tied down with soft loops around the triple tree or the frame, never around the bars, the tank or the fairing. Four straps, compressed suspension, the bike standing straight. Nothing touches paint. That takes a few minutes longer than hooking a car, and it is the difference between a bike that arrives and a bike that arrives damaged.

What It Costs

The same as any tow with us. $50 to book, $110 to hook, $7 a loaded mile, so $160 before mileage and $230 on a ten-mile run to the shop. There is no motorcycle surcharge. If the bike is down and will not roll, or is in a ditch after a spill, recovery is quoted separately on the call. The pricing page has the formula.

Questions to Ask Before You Let Anyone Load It

Do you have a chock. Do you use soft loops. Where do the straps attach. If the answers are no, no, and the handlebars, hang up. Give us the make and model when you call, because a cruiser, a sportbike and an adventure bike each strap differently, and tell us whether it rolls.

The Numbers This Guide Uses

• Tow: $50 booking fee + $110 hook-up fee + $7 per loaded mile. $160 before mileage; $195 on five miles; $300 on twenty. Flatbed and wheel-lift cost the same.
• Jump start $129, car lockout $129, flat tire change $169, fuel delivery $129 plus the fuel, battery replacement $199 plus the battery. Flat, booking fee included, no mileage.
• Winch-out and recovery: $199 to book plus $150 an hour from when the driver arrives. How far off the pavement, what the truck can anchor to and whether the car rolls decide how long it takes.
• No after-hours, weekend or holiday rate. Quoted before the truck is sent; paid when the job is done.

Every number is on the pricing page with a calculator, and the questions page has the short answers.

Where This Comes Up Most

The question this guide answers gets asked from every part of Buffalo and Erie County, and each area has its own page with the streets, the places and the prices from there: towing and roadside assistance in Holland, towing and roadside assistance in Marilla, towing and roadside assistance in Wales and towing and roadside assistance in Colden. The same service, motorcycle towing, has its own page in each of them too: motorcycle towing in Holland, motorcycle towing in Marilla, motorcycle towing in Wales and motorcycle towing in Colden. The areas page has all 72.

Read Next

How Much Does a Tow Cost in Buffalo NY? The Full Math, Cheapest Tow Truck in Buffalo NY — What Cheap Really Means, Flatbed vs Wheel-Lift Towing in Buffalo — Which You Need and Stuck in Snow in Buffalo? How a Winch-Out Works and Costs. The service page is motorcycle towing in Buffalo, and the blog write-up covers the part most people get wrong.