Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126653
I PRODUCT EVALUATION DAVID BAILEYTHE CHAMP Dem Good Products' Bike Shoe 0<") CO Tie-downs have been a staple in the transportation of motorcycles for as long as our youthful staff can remember, but one product may make an inroad on the tradition of webbed nylon between metal hooks. Richard and Shirley Doyle and one partner are the forces behind Dam Good Products, and their sole product at the moment is the Bike Shoe. Il's a stationary device that uses three circular arms to hook the 21-inch front wheel of a motocrosser or other modem din bike. The Bike Shoe will mount to the bed of a pickup or van, and also to trailers and bike racks. Installation consists of drilling four holes in the surface to which the Bike Shoe is to be attached. In our case, the subject vehicle was a short-bed Datsun. You have to use the shoe as a guide to drill the holes. Once done, you place the three supplied retaining bars on the underside of the surface. If you want t~ be able to take off the shoe with a minimum of fuss, use silicone seal to hold the bars to the underside's sur· face. (Even silicone seal is not a guarantee of adhesion though, since we lost one of the bars the fust time we removed the thing.) Then all that is needed to complete the job is to slip the bolts through the shoe and into ilie threaded holes of the holding Mrs. Torque 'em down and you're ready to go. While the shoe simplified bikeloading efforts in comparison to tie· d6wns, there were a couple of details to attend to. First, after the three hoops are pulled fully back, one should pull them up again. The front tire pulls slightly forward as a result, and the device winds up g.etting a better bite. . The other detail is to make sure during installation that the bike rolls in straight forward. We installed ours too close to the wheel well, and as a result could not put the bike in straight. Since the main pivot point on the bike - the steering head - is well above the Bike Shoe and nOl held in any way, the bike swayed to and fro with the slightest touch. As a result, we used a single tie-down att· ached to the rear frame loop to keep the back end straigh t. We checked other Bike Shoe installations and found thal with the bike straight, there was much less sway, al hough the entire set-up is not as taut as with tie-downs. However, two machines "shoed" in should move in unison and not make contact. One feature that makes the Bike Shoe worth the $79.95 list price is th,at it is drilled to accepl a lock. The Bike Shoe is distributed by Standard Crank, Inc., 942 South Towne, Los Angeles, CA 90021,213· 627-7036. Retail and dealer inquiries ate invited. 0') '83 .SUPER CROSS CHAMPION CONGRATULATIONS y-~. \ --- _.---; \9JJ.f!/!! ' I I HIt-1I111l L..---- ~-_ I Jeep.". SIIC " ----I. Get one and STICK IT... on your We don't care how the hell they do it in California! mLlIBWS-IAST Do you care" Wei then, send $1.00 for tills brash bumper stickle to: Cycle News Products P.O. Box 498 Long Beach. CA 90801 ........ ........... ...,