Motorcycle Trailering Tips

Colorado Surprise

 

 

 

It was a cold and rainy afternoon in Keystone as we pulled up to start our summer stay in beautiful Colorado. Our jeep is filled with our luggage and our trailer is loaded with our two 2015 RoadGlide CVO’s. After a long days ride, my wife and I are more than ready to unload and settle into our summer digs. As the daylight starts to fade the rain lets up we start to unload our bikes. After we rolled them out we were met with a lousy surprise. Both bikes batteries were stone cold dead. Luckily, the garage was downhill and we were able to roll them in.

 

That night we tried to figure out how our bike’s batteries could have discharged. They were both locked, turned off and the keyfobs inside each bike. We’ve trailered motorcycles before,  and on longer trips than we had just completed. We just could not understand how those batteries could have been dead. For several days I researched our problem on the internet and through Harley service departments. I finally found out what really happened to our bikes during the trip to Colorado.

 

Transport Mode, something I never heard of until I started researching it. Now, it is all over the internet and it seems that everyone knew about this except me ! Transport Mode is a way to turn off the Motion Sensor on your alarm system. This will allow the other alarm functions to work, but it turns off the part of the alarm that senses any movement of the bike. If the fob is not present and the bike is moved the alarm will sound. So you could say, “Well why not just put the fob with the bike and then the motion sensor will not key the alarm”. The problem is that even with the fob present the alarm system goes through a series of searches for the fob each time the bike shifts and over a period of time these searches will drain your battery. Check this link for instructions on how to put your bike into, and out of, Transport Mode the next time you trailer your Harley.

Luckily we were able to charge our batteries back to life !  We are really excited about in the spending the summer here in Keystone and hope you will continue to follow us on our adventures here in the high country.

Later,

RoadGliding

 

 

Trailering Tips

★      If you intend to trailer your bike for more than a few hours, Make sure that bike is turned off !

★     If you own a Harley with an alarm system make sure you put it into Transport Mode !

★     Make sure you pack a charger and long extension cord !

★     Make sure you check your bike’s battery and tires before you unload