Recently, we completed transportation of a 2009 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic from Glendale, AZ to Omaha, NE. Transportation took 1,320 miles in an enclosed truck costing $1,219.00 per trip – that’s $0.92 per mile.
This price comes at the higher end of the price spectrum for bikes that we have published, and there is a good reason for it – the bike in question is a full dresser, not a regular motorcycle.
The route
The distance of 1,320 miles from Glendale to Omaha starts from the desert area and continues through the Rockies into the flatlands.
Glendale is located northwest of Phoenix. The motorists have to take I-17 towards the north through the high desert region of Camp Verde, passing through the Mogollon Rim to reach Flagstaff, where an elevation of 6,000 feet is reached.
From Flagstaff, I-40 is taken east through the Painted Desert and enters New Mexico through Gallup to reach Albuquerque. From here, I-25 is taken north to cross through Raton Pass and Colorado Springs to reach Denver.
Further, I-76 takes the route northeast from Denver through Fort Morgan to join I-80 at Big Springs, Nebraska. From here, I-80 takes the traffic east through North Platte and Lincoln to reach Omaha.
A full dresser is its own category
We’ve shipped a 125cc Grom, a dual-sport and a BMW tourer at the same time, and we’ve shipped a supersport and a cruiser too. The Ultra Classic stands out from all of those motorcycles.
That’s the weightiest production motorcycle category. Loaded, with fairing, saddlebags, Tour-Pak, and full fuel tank, an Ultra Classic weighs almost 900 pounds. This is twice heavier than a cruiser and four times a Grom.
It is also the most spacious motorcycle type. Handlebars, mirrors, and hard saddlebags make a dresser occupy much more space than any other type of a motorcycle.
That means the advantage of the deck share gets diminished. The thing is that motorcycles have relatively low rates because a number of motorcycles use the same deck area as one car does. The share of the deck space taken by a full dresser gets significant enough to decrease the discount and thus increase the per-mile rate.
Removable bodywork needs a decision. Tour-Pak, windshield and saddlebags come off on many dressers. Whether they travel fitted or removed should be agreed before the driver arrives, and anything removed rides inside the trailer rather than loose.
Highway bars are not tie-down points. Crash bars and engine guards look like convenient places to attach a strap. They aren’t designed to take that load, and a driver who has moved dressers knows to use the triple clamp and lower fork area instead.
And the chrome is the reason for enclosed. A dresser carries more chrome and polished trim than any other bike, across the fairing and bars and bags and exhaust. Pitting from road debris does not polish out.
What $0.92 per mile reflects
There are two things that go into this number.
The first is simply size. As noted above, a full dresser takes up enough deck space and is heavy enough to put its price at the level of a small vehicle and not an average motorcycle.
The second is distance. At 1,320 miles, this is a medium haul. The fixed cost of picking up and securing the load and delivering it has a fair amount of miles to cover but not the really long miles that bring a coast-to-coast haul price down even farther.
It’s worth mentioning terrain. The climb from Phoenix to Flagstaff and the passage over Raton Pass are legitimate elevation gains, although they’re not issues for a route that operates regularly like this one.
Enclosed transport
All bikes we reserve come enclosed, and a dresser is one that comes as well-protected as any machine we deal with.
The thing is there’s no bodywork to protect anything, because in a motorcycle, the fairing works as bodywork. With the chrome, the painted bags, the windshield, the naked exhaust system, the surface area that requires protection in a dresser is bigger than in just about anything else you can ride.
Securement used a front wheel chock to lock the front wheel into the upright position. Soft tie-downs were installed onto the handlebars and lower triple clamp, while ratchet tie-downs squeezed the suspension and made the bike stay grounded through 1,320 miles. There was nothing around any crash bars or pipes or painted surfaces.
Transport summary
- Origin: Glendale, AZ 85310
- Destination: Omaha, NE 68130
- Distance: 1,320 miles
- Service cost: $1,219.00
- Cost per mile: $0.92
- Vehicle: 2009 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic
- Trailer type: Enclosed
- Route: Glendale, AZ → I-17 north through Camp Verde to Flagstaff → I-40 east through Gallup to Albuquerque, NM → I-25 north over Raton Pass → Colorado Springs and Denver, CO → I-76 northeast through Fort Morgan → I-80 east through North Platte and Lincoln, NE → Omaha, NE
