Motorcycle Towing in Buffalo, NY — What It Costs and When You Need It

What Motorcycle Towing in Buffalo Actually Involves

A bike has nothing to hook, so it is loaded differently: ridden up the deck into a chock, tied down with soft loops round the triple tree or the frame, never the bars, the tank or the fairing, suspension compressed, standing straight. That takes longer than a car and it is the whole difference between a bike that arrives and one that arrives scratched. There is no motorcycle surcharge; a downed bike that will not roll is lifted on instead, and that recovery is $199 to book plus $150 an hour from when the driver arrives, separate from the tow. The questions to ask before anyone straps your bike down.

For the longer version, read motorcycle towing in buffalo — how a bike should be hauled, and the blog post on motorcycle towing goes through the part most people get wrong. Prices are itemised on the pricing page.

Why a Motorcycle Cannot Be Towed Like a Car

A bike has no frame rails to hook, no bumper for a yoke to catch, no four wheels to strap through, and it falls over if it is not held upright. A truck set up for cars that is handed a motorcycle has to improvise, and the improvising is where the damage comes from: a ratchet strap over the tank, a hook through the frame near a brake line, a bike laid on its side on a deck because nobody had a chock. We do not improvise. Motorcycle towing with us is a different job that happens to use the same flatbed.

How a Bike Should Be Loaded, Step by Step

The bike is ridden or pushed up the deck on its own wheels, front wheel into a wheel chock that holds it upright without anyone leaning on it. Soft loops go round the lower triple tree or the frame, never round the handlebars, the tank, the fairing or the forks. Four ratchet straps, two forward and two back, are tightened until the suspension is compressed by about a third, so the bike cannot bounce and the straps cannot slacken. The bike ends up standing straight, loaded, with nothing touching paint. The straps are checked at the first stop on any run longer than a few miles.

A cruiser, a sportbike and an adventure bike each strap differently, because the triple trees, the frame rails and the bodywork are in different places. A bike with a hard fairing needs the loops routed around it. A bike with bags needs them off or strapped shut. Tell us the make and model when you call so the right straps and the right chock come out.

A Bike That Is Down, Damaged or Will Not Roll

A bike that has been dropped and will not roll, has a bent wheel, a seized brake or a snapped chain, is not ridden up the deck. It is lifted on with a second person or a winch and a sling, upright, with the chock set first. If it has been in a crash it is loaded the same way and the loose parts, mirrors, levers, bodywork, are bagged and go with it. That recovery is $199 to book plus $150 an hour from when the driver arrives, on top of the published tow. A bike in a ditch or down a bank after a slide is a winch-out first, on a town road or a lot, never on an expressway.

What Motorcycle Towing Costs in Buffalo

The same as a car: $50 to book, $110 to hook, $7 for every loaded mile. $160 before mileage and $230 on a ten-mile run to the shop. There is no motorcycle surcharge, no after-hours rate and no weekend rate. Recovery of a downed bike is the one separate line, quoted on the call. The pricing page has the calculator, and the motorcycle towing guide has the questions to ask before anyone straps your bike.

The Three Questions to Ask Before Anyone Touches Your Bike

Do you have a wheel chock. Do you use soft loops. Where do the straps attach. If the answers are no, no and the handlebars, hang up and call someone else. A bike on a deck with no chock is held upright by strap tension alone and comes down at the first hard brake. A ratchet hook on bare metal scratches. A strap on the bars loads the steering head and can bend the forks. None of those are exotic failures; they are the ordinary result of a car truck doing a bike job.

When Bikes Get Towed in Western New York

Spring, when a bike that sat all winter will not start and the shop is across the county. Summer, after a drop in a lot or a slide on a wet town road in East Aurora or Hamburg. Autumn, when a bike is going into storage or to a buyer in Rochester, which is a long distance run on the same formula. And any time a bike is bought that does not run and needs to come home. For a bike that only needs a jump, we will say so rather than load it.

Signs Your Bike Needs a Truck, and Signs It Does Not

• It will not start and the battery is flat: a jump first, not a truck.
• It will not start and the battery is fine: a truck to a shop.
• It has been dropped and a lever, a peg or the bars are bent: a truck, with the bike lifted on.
• A chain has snapped or a wheel is bent: a truck, the bike will not roll safely.
• It is going into or out of storage, or to a buyer across the county: a truck, booked ahead.
• A flat tire: a truck, because a bike cannot be changed at the roadside the way a car can.

The Cost of Towing a Bike Against the Alternatives

A ten-mile run to a shop is $230, with no motorcycle surcharge. The alternatives are a friend's pickup and a ramp, which drops bikes; a trailer, which needs a chock and straps you probably do not own; or riding a bike that should not be ridden. For a bike worth anything, the published number on a deck with a chock is the cheap option once a scratched tank or a dropped bike is counted. The motorcycle guide has the questions to ask anyone else.

What Is on the Truck for a Bike

A wheel chock, adjustable for a sportbike's front tire or a cruiser's. Soft loops, which are fabric slings that go round the triple tree or the frame so no hook touches metal. Four ratchet straps, two forward and two back. A handlebar harness for bikes where the triple tree is buried under bodywork. A ramp wide enough to walk the bike up. Bags and tape for loose parts off a dropped bike. A flatbed deck that tilts low enough that a bike with a low fairing does not scrape going up. That is the difference between a motorcycle truck and a car truck handed a motorcycle.

Three Bike Tows, With the Numbers

A cruiser that will not start after a winter in a West Seneca garage, six miles to a shop in Cheektowaga: $202. A sportbike dropped in an Amherst lot with a bent lever, lifted on, four miles to the dealer: $188. An adventure bike down on a wet town road in Colden, righted and pulled up the bank, then twenty miles home: the recovery at $199 plus the hour, then twenty miles at $7 with no second hook-up, $489 all in. No surcharge on any of them for being a bike.

Receipts and Insurance for a Bike Tow

The receipt shows pickup, destination, loaded miles and rate. Many motorcycle policies include a roadside or towing benefit that reimburses a published charge; keep the receipt and claim it. A bike going to a dealer under warranty is often reimbursable by the manufacturer. A bike towed after a crash goes under the claim, and the photos we take before and after loading are yours if the insurer asks what state it was in. The motorcycle guide has the rest.

A Motorcycle Tow, Step by Step

You call or text with where the bike is, the make and model, whether it rolls, and where it is going. We quote $160 plus the loaded miles and say how the timing looks. The flatbed arrives with a chock and soft loops. The bike goes up the deck on its wheels into the chock, the loops go on the triple tree or the frame, four straps compress the suspension by a third, and the bike stands straight. Straps are checked at the first stop. At the drop the bike comes down the same way and you pay the quoted number.

The Mistakes That Scratch Bikes

Letting a car truck without a chock take the bike. Straps on the bars, the tank or the fairing. Laying the bike on its side because it would not stand. Leaving bags on and open. Not mentioning a hard fairing or a windscreen that changes where the loops go. Not saying the bike is down and will not roll, so the truck arrives without a second pair of hands. All of it is avoided by three questions on the phone.

Bike Tows Across Western New York

A cruiser that will not start after a winter in a West Seneca garage, going to a shop in Cheektowaga. A sportbike dropped in a lot in Amherst with a bent lever and a scratched fairing. An adventure bike down on a wet town road in Colden, a short recovery and then the deck. A bike bought in Rochester and brought home to Hamburg on a long run. A scooter from a Elmwood Village side street to a dealer on the East Side.

What to Have Ready for the Bike

The key. Bags off or strapped shut. Anything loose, a phone mount, a GPS, a tank bag, removed. The destination and a contact. If the bike is down, a description of what is bent or leaking so the right equipment comes. If it is going into storage, the fuel either full with stabilizer or run low, your choice, but decided before it is loaded.