Have you gotten your dirt bike stuck in a mud pit out on a long trail ride? Did it take long to get it out? Did you lose all of your energy from pulling it out? If you answered yes to at least one of those questions, then I can help make life (well, riding.... but isn't riding your life anyway) a whole lot easier. If you don't know what a tug strap is, it's a piece of material that goes on the rear end of your seat that you can use to lift your dirt bike up.
First step is to get some material from a fabric or craft store. Should be pretty cheap because you only need a couple feet of it. You'll be looking for fabric that's similar to what tie-downs are made out of so it's strong enough. Two to three feet should be enough.
Next is to measure it up to the bike. Take the bolts off that hold the rear of the seat and side panels. Pull the rear of the seat up and take the material and put one end up to one of the seat bolt holes. Now, there are two ways you can do this, one will require a little more length in material, but will probably be more sturdy. First one is by putting the seat back down so the holes line up (ready for bolts to be screwed back in), then wrapping the material over the seat and lining it up with the other seat bolt hole. You should leave just enough slack in the strap over the seat so that you can fit a hand through it, but too loose will leave it hanging out, causing it to catch on your or another object not on the bike. Next is to mark the spots on the strap material where it lines up with the holes (a sharpie or marker will work). Now we'll look at the other option before we finish it...
The second way is to line up the start with the first hole, like we did for the first one. Instead of going over the seat now, first go under the seat with the strap, then wrap it around the top, and once again under the seat. So, it should be a complete loop around the bike (kinda' like what the Hot Wheels tracks did where you roll the car down the track and it does a loop, and then...Oh, never mind). Just remember to leave enough room for you hand. I guess the down-side to this route is that you have to wrap the strap around seat one more time when you take it off (big whoop!). The strap should now be lined up with the second hole; where we left off for the first strap...
After you have properly adjusted the strap and marked-up the holes, take it off. Now you will get the holes out to the correct size. You can do this by drilling them, or using a propane torch to heat a bolt/nail and burning a hole through the material. Also, take the torch and fray the loose ends of the material that you cut/burned so it stays together (just don't burn your lovely strap!). Now you can put some washers in between and strap it around your seat and go!!
-Tom Stark
http://motocrosshideout.com/
I'm running Motocross Hideout in my spare time, writing articles and making videos on dirt bike maintenance, product reviews, and many other tips for fellow and future riders.
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