ultimate mx hauler - part 2

i eventually decided to order the 4 inch drop adapter (after careful measuring) for the receiver, and received it in the mail last week. It lowers the umxh platform just enough to position the bike over it, so i went ahead and loaded the bike. it took a little work to get the bike positioned just right on the platform - the foot pegs need to be locked in place using hooks that go through the platform. once they were locked down, the bike seemed secure, although there was a lot of wobbling, both sideways and up/down. it subsided somewhat after i raised the platform, but i'm still a bit worried about it. i'm also a bit worried about how secure the bike is with only two hooks holding down the foot pegs. i decided to also strap it down with 3 ratchet ties, for extra safety, and took it for a test drive.

loading took me about 15 minutes. i imagine with practice i will get much faster. with the drop adapter, the bottom of the carrier is only about 8 inches off the ground, so i need to be careful going over bumps and exercising the rear suspension. i also need to remember that the van is now 3-4 feet longer than it was before. it will be even more tricky to back into parking spaces with the bike on the back, but i'll get used to it. the bike does not block the view in the side mirrors. i can see the edge of the wheels on each side, but that's it. i did not notice any excessive shaking during my test drive.

after the test drive, everything looked good, all bolts were still tight. unloading the bike took only about 3 minutes.

so far so good... i'm still concerned about whether this form of transportation is completely reliable, but i'm going to work with it and hope that my worries will prove to be uncalled for.