towing an 83

[glasshead]

Just curious. Does it really harm the bike to use one of those hitches that raises the front tire and tows the bike with the back tire on the road?

[WingAdmin]

Just curious. Does it really harm the bike to use one of those hitches that raises the front tire and tows the bike with the back tire on the road?

Yes, unless you first remove the driveshaft.

When the rear wheel turns, it turns the final drive, which turns the driveshaft, which turns the output portion of the transmission. The transmission depends on engine oil for lubrication. When the bike isn't running normally, the oil pumps aren't running, so no lubrication is happening. Dragging the bike along spinning the output portion of the transmission like this means the transmission is spinning away in there with no lubrication at all.

You can remove the driveshaft first, which means the wheel won't be turning the transmission.

That said, I don't know that I would want to depend on my hitch receiver to handle the torsional forces of a 800 pound bike trying to wrench it off, particularly in bends and corners. It was never designed to handle those kinds of forces. I wouldn't bet my bike on it.

[glasshead]

Thanx. I appreciate the info from a source I can trust.