Motorbike Transport
A bike is not a small car. It does not stand up on its own, it has very few places a strap can safely go, and bad strapping costs fork seals and suspension rather than a scuffed bumper. TowManVan moves motorbikes on a flat deck with a front-wheel chock and soft straps at the right points, for a price fixed before the truck is sent. From £70.
Why a motorbike is the hardest easy thing to transport
Weight is the least of it. A 200kg bike is easier to shift than a 1,400kg car in almost every way except the one that matters: it does not stand up by itself. Every other vehicle a recovery truck carries sits on the deck under its own weight and stays there. A bike either leans on a stand or it falls over, and once it starts going there is no catching it with one hand. That single difference dictates the loading order, the equipment and how long a job takes, which is why "we'll just chuck it on the back" is the sentence you least want to hear from whoever is collecting it.
The second difference is where the load goes. Strap a car down and its suspension carries on working normally for the whole journey. Strap a bike down and you are deliberately compressing the front forks, because that compression is what keeps tension in the straps every time the deck moves over a bump. So the fork springs, the seals and any preload adjusters spend the entire trip under a load nobody designed them to sit under for hours. Get the amount wrong in one direction and you lose tension, the bike shifts, and every mile makes the straps slacker. Get it wrong in the other and the forks are bottomed out from Bristol to Leeds.
The third is contact points. A car has recovery eyes and solid subframes designed to be pulled and lifted. A bike is covered in things that look strong and are not: brake lines routed neatly down the fork legs, hollow handlebars that bend, bar-end weights that simply pull out, mirrors, plastics that crack under a metal hook, and wiring cable-tied exactly where a strap wants to sit. The number of genuinely usable anchor points on a motorcycle is small. Knowing which ones they are, on a bike you have not seen before, is the whole skill.
None of this requires a bike-only specialist. It requires a driver who has loaded bikes before, on a truck carrying the right kit. A wheel-lift cannot carry a motorcycle at all, so every bike booked through TowManVan goes out as a flat-deck job rather than being matched to whatever truck happens to be nearest. If you want the detail on how the truck types differ, the towing service page covers flatbeds and wheel-lifts properly.
Six reasons a bike ends up on a deck
Almost nobody books motorbike transport because they cannot be bothered to ride. They book it because riding is illegal, impossible or genuinely a bad idea that day.
What moving a bike costs
| What you're moving | How it travels | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Motorbike, scooter or moped | Open flat deck, front wheel chocked, soft straps at opposing angles | From £70 |
| Trike, sidecar outfit, or a bike that must travel enclosed | Booked as a van-class job rather than an open deck | £120 |
| Two bikes, same address, same destination | Both on one deck where deck length and weight allow | One callout, priced in the app |
| Non-runner that will not roll or steer | Extra handling at both ends, sometimes a second pair of hands | Quoted upfront, before dispatch |
A bike sits on the same base as a car under 1300kg because the truck, the driver and the callout are identical: what changes is the kit on the deck, not the vehicle sent. Beyond the included distance a per-mile rate applies and is shown in full before you confirm.
One thing worth knowing: there is no weekend or evening surcharge on recovery work. The 1.3x evening and weekend rate on our pricing applies to man and van and removals bookings, not to a bike on a deck. A Sunday morning collection costs the same as a Tuesday one.
What proper strapping looks like, stage by stage
You are unlikely to be watching for the whole journey, so here is what should happen at each stage and what the shortcut version looks like. If you only check one thing at the kerb, check that the front wheel goes into a chock before any strap is pulled tight.
| Stage | Done properly | What damages bikes |
|---|---|---|
| Loading | Low-angle ramp onto a level deck, engine off, in neutral, steering lock off, walked or winched up straight | Ridden up a steep ramp, or dragged up at an angle with the brakes half on |
| The front end | Front wheel into a chock or against a wheel restraint so the bike stands upright before a single strap is tightened | Left on the sidestand and leaned against the headboard, with straps expected to pull it upright afterwards |
| Strap contact points | Soft loops around the lower yokes, bar clamps or fork legs above the seals, then ratchet straps to deck anchors | Hooks straight onto brake lines, hollow handlebars, bar-end weights, mirrors, wiring or painted plastics |
| Fork compression | Compressed roughly a third of available travel: enough to hold tension over bumps, never anywhere near bottomed out | Ratcheted until the forks bottom out and left fully compressed for a three-hour motorway run |
| The back of the bike | A rear strap or a pair of them to stop the bike walking sideways and to keep the front tension honest | Front straps only, so the back end swings on roundabouts and every mile loosens what is holding it |
| After setting off | Straps re-checked a few minutes into the drive, once the suspension and the loops have settled | Strapped once at the kerb, not looked at again until it comes off at the other end |
The compression point is the one that causes most arguments. Straps need enough fork travel used up that a bump cannot momentarily unload them, and no more. Bottoming the forks and leaving them there for a long run is how a transport job turns into a fork seal job, and it is entirely avoidable.
Six things we need from you before the truck sets off
Being straight about the state of the bike is not a formality. Every wasted callout in this line of work traces back to something nobody mentioned, and it is almost always one of these.
None of it changes the price you were quoted unless it changes the job, and if it does, you see the new figure before anything is confirmed rather than after the bike is on the deck.
Booking bike transport
Every driver is DBS-checked and carries goods-in-transit insurance of at least £10,000 plus public liability cover, verified before they can accept a job. Same-day slots are normal and the booking itself takes about 60 seconds. Moving the bike as part of a house move, or shifting other kit at the same time? See single item delivery or same-day man and van.
When you should not book bike transport at all
Four situations where the honest answer is that we are not the right call. Saying so costs us a booking and saves you money, which seems like a reasonable trade.
If the bike is one of several things you need moved on the same day, it is usually worth looking at the full service list before booking two separate jobs.
Motorbike transport FAQs
Need a bike moved?
Fixed price in about 60 seconds, a flat deck with a chock and soft straps, a DBS-checked and insured driver, and photos at both ends. No membership required.
Get a fixed priceTom Hargreaves - Head of Recovery Standards
Tom spent 12 years patrolling UK motorways with the AA before joining TowManVan. He signs off every recovery price, coverage area and response-time claim on this page. Questions? Email tom@towmanvan.co.uk. All figures reviewed August 2026.
Last updated August 2026. Prices verified August 2026 by Tom Hargreaves.