Question for Voltage 3705 owners

[pitweval]

New to the forum, hopefully you folks can help answer a question for me.

My wife and I are in the final negotiations to pick up a (new to us) Dutchman Voltage 3705. We have a couple of motorcycles that we want to put in the garage, what I am trying to figure out is what the interior dimensions are for the garage. I know it is 11' feet in length, and I believe the exterior width is 8.5', but what are the actual usable dimensions on the inside?

Bonus question, anybody had two motorcycles in one of these? How well does it work?

[dsol]

I don’t have exact dimensions but the walls are not that thick so I bet close to 80 inches at least—I actually thought it was wider than 85 but I will take your word for it. I am able to fit a 4 seat RZR and two dirt bikes next to it. They are full sized dirt bikes. I use a ratchet strap to hold the foot pegs up and I remove the handle bars and lay them parallel with the seat across the forks and tie them down too. I also put one in backwards so they can overlap a bit. So while your bikes are certainly wider than mine I think you will have plenty of room given that my RZR is about 6 feet wide.

You might want to stagger the bikes and have one a few feet further forward just to make it easy to angle the straps into the D-rings and also give the handle bars plenty of room.

I think you will be in great shape.

[dsol]

So just measured my interior width and it is 8 feet or 96 inches. So I guess you have about 5 inches of wall thickness give or take.

[pitweval]

Cool, I was more concerned with the length back to front (my wife's bike is 7'10" long...) but it sounds like there is enough room that I will have some options for how I put them in.

I like the suggestion of facing them different directions, I could anker them a bit closer together in that case.

[dsol]

You don’t have to face them different directions, just stagger them a a few feet. Different directions would require you to back a bike up the ramp which might be difficult.

Others can tell you the best way to secure a big street bike but I would suggest you not use a kickstand, instead use ratchet straps holding it perfectly straight. If you use a kickstand it will likely tear up the floor. Also use rubber tire chocks that are solid as opposed to light weight plastic ones that will vibrate and move or slide around.

[ATCguy]

Quite honestly, it really comes down to what kind of bikes you have. If you've got a couple of smaller "cruiser" or dual-sport bikes, you'll be ok... but if even one of them is a large "bagger", you may have some issues. And if both of them are large "bagger" bikes... not only are you going to have difficulty getting them to fit, but their weight is probably going to put you either at or over your GVWR.

Yes, the interior is 8' wide... and yes, even most "bagger" bikes are under 4' wide. But you need some room to maneuver them... and also room for your tie-downs. Getting 2 large bikes into the rig once... maybe twice, ok fine. But if you're going to be doing this a lot, it's gonna get real old, real fast trying to wrangle large heavy bikes into such a confining space... AND then trying to tie them down.

First let's discuss wrangling the bikes into position. Getting the first one up the ramp isn't too much of an issue, as you've got the whole space to play with. You can get up the ramp, and ride it pretty much right where you wanna go... maybe a few 'back & forth"s to maneuver into the exact position you wanna be. But now it's time for the 2nd bike. You've lost half of your working space. And now you to either ride up the center of the ramp, and make a turn... or try riding up the side of the ramp with no place to plant a foot on one side if needed. Oh, and by the way... you not only have to deal with coming up the angle of the ramp... but once you cross over the threshold, you gotta not hit the wall, OR the other bike.

Ok, so now you've got both bikes inside... now you gotta secure them. Using the center tie-down points on the floor are fine for the 'inner' tie downs between the 2 bikes... but where (and to what) are you going to anchor the "outer" tie downs? The bike's already against the wall... and chances are, your wheels are already almost directly over the top of the outer tie-down points in the floor. The walls aren't strong enough to support that kind of weight... so what are you going to do? You want your tie-down straps to have WIDE, 30-to-45 degree angles to your anchors for stability... but that's gonna be pretty much impossible here.

Speaking of stability... don't go cheap with your chocks. Personally, I recommend a pair of the Condor Pit-Stop chocks. They're simply the best. Yeah, they're not cheap, but... well, if you got a $5 bike, secure it with a $5 chock.

I used to carry a large late-model Goldwing in my rig with a 10' garage. It weighed nearly 1,000 lbs, and was 9' 7" long from the leading edge of the front tire, to the trailing edge of the trunk. And trust me... just getting that one monster in & out of the rig was difficult. The thought of having to try to put another bike inside with it... even a small one... is not something I'd want to have to do on any type of regular basis.

[pitweval]

Yeah I get all that, I've had both in the back of a utility style trailer which was sketchy at best, so I'm familiar with manuvering them up a narrow ramp (I've even put a sport bike in the back of my truck with a ramp that was designed for dirt bikes... that was crazy, not planning on doing that again.

Lucky for me the bikes are not baggers, one is a Harley Streetbob (under 700lbs, 7.7' long) and the other is a Vulcan Mean Streak (650lbs, 7.9' long) so weight shouldn't be an issue. And I think the length should be ok. One thing I am wondering is if I should look at adding more tie downs (not even shure how difficult that would be...).

[jharleyblu]

Get yourself 2 of the B&W Biker bars and forget about all the work of tie downs and straps, chocks, etc. Just prior to loading, you just attach the bar to the bike's frame, right under the motor . The bar has a handle on the end for tightening it down. No tools needed. The you just drive up the ramp, into the garage, and the bar locks into a mechanism, bolted to the floor! Your done! The bike is solidly locked in place. Awesome device! I have a Harley Streetglide and I have pulled it all over the country.
It NEVER moves! Then when you want to unload, you just get on the bike, push the release latch with your foot, and back out. SO simple!
Look it up on YouTube. B&W Biker Bar
Best way to haul your bikes!

[Grdrod1]

I have a 3970. I load a Harley Wide Glide, and a Harley Ultra Classic. No problem. It is a little tight but works fine.

[larrypride]

I wouldn’t trust any of the tie downs until I checked them. I looked at mine and they put in two screws of which one hit the steel , one tie down is only in the plywood. I added tie downs. I have a Harley deuce and a BMW I can haul them both no problem. I use quality straps from Mac’s and I put my bike jack under bike so I can strap it down tight with out compressing the struts much. I also use the cheap front tire holder from harbor fright to the tires don’t move out from under the bike. I haul my bikes across country San Diego to up state New York. I added the bar with movable tie downs see the attached picture. So I can put bike next to the wall, plus it’s bolted to the steel runners under floor.

[MSthriving]

We have the same trailer and are able to get my husband’s bagger and my tri-glide in without much issue. His goes first on the left side up front and mine goes on the right staggered behind his. So far we have only tied them down. We have heavy duty straps and use two apiece on the front. Then his get’s one on either side and mine gets one on the brake side and through each of the rear wheels. Hope this helps!

[hognuts1960]

Originally Posted by jharleyblu

Get yourself 2 of the B&W Biker bars and forget about all the work of tie downs and straps, chocks, etc. Just prior to loading, you just attach the bar to the bike's frame, right under the motor . The bar has a handle on the end for tightening it down. No tools needed. The you just drive up the ramp, into the garage, and the bar locks into a mechanism, bolted to the floor! Your done! The bike is solidly locked in place. Awesome device! I have a Harley Streetglide and I have pulled it all over the country.

It NEVER moves! Then when you want to unload, you just get on the bike, push the release latch with your foot, and back out. SO simple!

Look it up on YouTube. B&W Biker Bar

Best way to haul your bikes!

I wish. They don't make them for Indians since the engine is part of the frame.