Modern Vespa

Can you get two GT's in a pick-up? If so, what size bed do you need and how are they positioned and tied down?

It really depends on the pickup, but yes, you can. Tying them down without rubbing the paint off the opposing one, however, is a challenge.

I have a 2007 Nissan Frontier, which has grown a bit from previous model years and is now solidly in the Upper Medium category, size-wize. I can fit two GTSs (or GTs, if you like) in the back, but I've spent considerable time and effort adding tie-down-points at the critical areas of the pickup bed. The standard tie-down-points aren't sufficient for this task. I've also installed wheel chocks and some retractable tie-downs (kind of like seat belts) permanently bolted to the front of the bed.

The biggest hurdle is that with the bikes so close together, the outer tie-down strap on the back has to go almost straight down to get to an anchor point. This almost always makes the strap rub against the paint. Add any kind of movement at all, and you've got bare metal.

Here's a picture of my pickup fully loaded. I'll try to find some pictures of the mounting hardware.

Here's a better shot of the bed and the hardware.

We had no problem fitting them in a Chevy S10 with a small cab,
using Canyon Dancer straps to the hooks that came with the pickup
and one of those extender things that sit on the tailgate

But... getting the 2nd one in and out was quite a pain
It involved a manual boat winch, 2 people, and no little cussing

That is an impressive haul, Jess.

Looks like you have put a lot of thought into securing the scoots, er, securely.

Thanks! I have those same chocks in my enclosed trailer and had thought that they would be essential to this application.

I'm familiar with the problem of tie downs that don't have enough of an angle to keep from touching paint and I wondered if there was a way to secure two GT's/GTS's with the chocks in combination with something that secured them from the top of the side railings - maybe even a fixed, rigid system that runs from side to side with clamped anchor points in between.

Also, I need to tow a 4,000 lb. trailer, so it will have to be truck with around a 10,000 lb towing capacity since the towing math usually works out to be about half of what the rate is if you want to get up and over any 8,000+ ft. passes.

In this application, I have them mounted on some lengths of SS unistrut. That way, I can adjust them forward and backward so as to get the best offset between the bikes. Otherwise, the handlebars would collide. I keep mounting new anchor points farther up the bed sidewall in an attempt to remedy the problem. I think next I'll be mounting some anchors right on the top lip, sticking up, in an attempt to increase that angle. I'll need some really, really short tie-downs, though.

The inside anchor is not so bad -- ideally, it's an anchor point just a bit on the other side of the center of the bed. Sounds like a full-size pickup, so no real space problems there.