Small trucks that will hold a bike | Page 5 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Small trucks that will hold a bike

these babies solve all that.....


now thats cool , any idea of approximate cost ??
 
Since I started this thread I'll chime in. I found the perfect truck. It was my 86 Ford Ranger all over again but newer. 2010 or 2011 last year of the "small" Ranger. Same as my old one, it was the base model with a 4 banger and a 5 speed stick.
Meticulously maintained by an ex mechanic turned farmer who had been barn storing it for a number of winters. Took it for a test drive and both the Squeeze and I were smittened.
THEN I wondered if the box would fit the bike with the tailgate up. So the seller says "I'll hold it. Go home and measure"
I was awake most of the night thinking that loading a sled or a bike will be way easier with a trailer, how all summer long the truck would be in the way when were keeping the Roadtrek in the driveway and finally that with both of us retired we didn't really need a second vehicle.
I called and bailed the next morning.
 
now thats cool , any idea of approximate cost ??
not in canada yet, but coming, and they have a 1600w version as well

other brands make a similar product, from my experience, Champion makes pretty good stuff and great bang for the buck.
 
not in canada yet, but coming, and they have a 1600w version as well

other brands make a similar product, from my experience, Champion makes pretty good stuff and great bang for the buck.
That would be a good backup for power failures in order to connect the furnace to. Keep the heat on while the power company gets power back on.
 
That would be a good backup for power failures in order to connect the furnace to. Keep the heat on while the power company gets power back on.
Maybe? I can't see where it says pure sine wave or modified sine wave. Modified is no bueno. As for run time, at full output my furnace is ~1500 watts (so about 2 hours). As I have it set right now, less than 1000 watts so about three hours. Better than nothing but not good enough for the money imo (for that use case, I am sure there will be use cases where it makes sense).

I suspect they are very disingenuous in their marketing (as is everybody else) when they talk about a fridge for 132 hours or charge a cell phone 270 times. They all conveniently leave out the phantom draw of the inverter. With nothing hooked up, they normally kill themselves in less than a week (and that's providing no useful energy, anything you use collapses that timeframe). I haven't tested one of these so maybe it is better. Time will tell.
 
Maybe? I can't see where it says pure sine wave or modified sine wave. Modified is no bueno. As for run time, at full output my furnace is ~1500 watts (so about 2 hours). As I have it set right now, less than 1000 watts so about three hours. Better than nothing but not good enough for the money imo (for that use case, I am sure there will be use cases where it makes sense).
But your furnace typically doesn't run the entire time...so should extend that right? Especially if it only powers up for a short period of time
 
But your furnace typically doesn't run the entire time...so should extend that right? Especially if it only powers up for a short period of time
If I'm on emergency power with limited stored energy, I would run furnace on high speed. Run furnace for an hour or two. Shut off inverter (or generator), rinse and repeat until spent. As I went down 30K btu on new furnace (bleeping ahole mechanical contractors severely undersized ducts in initial house build), furnace adds a couple degrees per hour.

I used to do the same thing with my little generator. Run Fridge/furnace for a while (normally until fridge kicks off) and then shut down generator. In six or eight hours, do it again. At that rate, I am well under 1 gallon/day. Last house had an old-school hot water tank that needed no electricity so just filling tub and sinks with hot water kept the house over 60F (xmas ice storm with multi-day outage afterwards a few years ago and before I bought generator).
 
Maybe? I can't see where it says pure sine wave or modified sine wave. Modified is no bueno

page 23..... To protect sensitive electronics, as the Power Station’s battery level drops below 30%, THD Shield is designed to shut off AC power output when the AC running watts are too high and it can no longer maintain a pure sine wave (<5% THD). The letters “THD” will appear in red. When THD Shield is disabled, AC power output is not shut off when THD rises above 5%. The THD Shield disabled icon will flash blue and the letters “THD” will flash red, indicating THD is above 5%. This is comparable to the THD and power output of a standard portable generator and is safe for most electronic devices while still emitting zero emission

 
page 23..... To protect sensitive electronics, as the Power Station’s battery level drops below 30%, THD Shield is designed to shut off AC power output when the AC running watts are too high and it can no longer maintain a pure sine wave (<5% THD). The letters “THD” will appear in red. When THD Shield is disabled, AC power output is not shut off when THD rises above 5%. The THD Shield disabled icon will flash blue and the letters “THD” will flash red, indicating THD is above 5%. This is comparable to the THD and power output of a standard portable generator and is safe for most electronic devices while still emitting zero emission

Thanks. I just looked quickly at the website. I didn't open the manual. I saw they had THD shield but the overview didn't explain what that was. Normally generators/UPS with pure sine wave out have that front and centre. If they have modified sine wave, they bury it and make you look.
 
Thanks. I just looked quickly at the website. I didn't open the manual. I saw they had THD shield but the overview didn't explain what that was. Normally generators/UPS with pure sine wave out have that front and centre. If they have modified sine wave, they bury it and make you look.

no worries, I'm a dealer for Champion home standbys, and try to stay knowledegable. I've been installing their stuff for 8 years now, and can say they make a decent product with great support.

I can also tell you they are heavily investing in the battery side of things and taking it seriously like everyone else, they will be introducing something similar to the Tesla Power Wall in the near future. They gave us dealers a heads up, and can't wait to see it.
 
no worries, I'm a dealer for Champion home standbys, and try to stay knowledegable. I've been installing their stuff for 8 years now, and can say they make a decent product.

I can also tell you they are heavily investing in the battery side of things and taking it seriously like everyone else, they will be introducing something similar to the Tesla Power Wall in the near future. They gave us dealers a heads up, and can't wait to see it.
Excellent. I look forward to the day where we have nice quiet backup power. These air-cooled turds are annoying (not bashing champion, they are all similar). I wouldn't mind so much if there was some smarts/restraint but most people have them hammering away while they live life exactly how they did before including all house lights and xmas lights on at 03:00. Honestly, you could shut the thing off 12-7 and not much would happen. House temp drops a bit but quickly catches up in the morning.
 
Excellent. I look forward to the day where we have nice quiet backup power. These air-cooled turds are annoying (not bashing champion, they are all similar). I wouldn't mind so much if there was some smarts/restraint but most people have them hammering away while they live life exactly how they did before including all house lights and xmas lights on at 03:00. Honestly, you could shut the thing off 12-7 and not much would happen. House temp drops a bit but quickly catches up in the morning.

the Champion HSBs are the "quietest" on the market!
 
2001 Honda Odyssey. After it got written off and replaced by the MDX, I had to buy a trailer and I really miss the convenience of the van.

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I really like the Taco. Hauling a track bike in a van means dealing with some fumes from maybe fuel. Hauling a trials bike in a van means dealing with fumes from fuel and a bunch of swamp goo. No thanks.
Tacos are pretty far out (6 months plus) unless you can live with an access cab (jumpseats in the back) which we have coming.
 
Love that bike!

Did you remove the belly pan because you didn't want to high-center the bike while loading?

Not initially. I was actually worried about the windshield clearing, so I removed the side panels to get the upper fairing off. But then as the front wheel rolled past the sill and dropped in, the header slightly bottomed on the end of the ramp. So I got lucky. Adding that 2x8 solved the problem by extending the drop until the rear wheel was higher on the ramp.
 
@Relax that's awesome! What did you strap it to? The hooks in the floor that hold the seats down?

I thought about doing that, but shockingly my wife won't let me.
 
Tacos are pretty far out (6 months plus) unless you can live with an access cab (jumpseats in the back) which we have coming.

Real question is, why aren't you bringing the FJ back 😞
 
2001 Honda Odyssey. After it got written off and replaced by the MDX, I had to buy a trailer and I really miss the convenience of the van.

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A good friend had a Honda Odyssey, about the same year, and that's how he transported his bikes. I have a Honda Element that I have transported a number of bikes (one at a time) in the back without problem. However, most of the bikes I have may be a bit smaller than what's currently out there but I've seen pics of Elements with 600cc sports bikes in them.
 
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Does anyone have a Ford Maverick yet? I’ve got an appointment on Thursday at the local Ford dealer to have a closer look and test one out. I spec’d one out and you can’t get AWD with the hybrid, but even with the normal gas motor it still gets decent fuel mileage.
 

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