A few mods make a mini pickup a cheap motorcycle hauler

The reality is sometimes you just have to haul a bike. Whether it's a friend broken down in the rain, a dirt bike that needs to get to an off-road event, or picking up that project bike you've (incorrectly) convinced yourself is going to be a cheap and easy flip.

Over the years, I've tried plenty of options. Rear hitch mounts like the Trackside Motorcycle Carrier, a shoddy homebuilt trailer based on the beloved Harbor Freight Haul-Master, and cargo vans of all make, model, and vintage. But the platform I keep coming back to is a four-cylinder mini truck. I'm talking about compact pickups like the Ford Ranger, Toyota Pickup, Mazda Mighty Max, and Chevy S-10, typically called mini trucks by those of us who appreciate them and not to be confused with the even smaller Kei trucks. These compact pickups have all served me well over the years.

I am currently a proud owner of a 1993 S-10. It cost me $1,500 and it's beat to shit. It has 263,000 miles, no power steering, no power windows, and no AC, but it does have the hottest heat I've ever experienced as well as a four-cylinder engine paired with a five-speed manual transmission, which means it absolutely sips gas and will cruise happily at 70 mph all day long, as long as you don't ask it to go a single mph faster.

I've made a few simple modifications to the truck so that I'm ready to grab a bike at a moment's notice, while still being able to safely park it on the streets of Philadelphia, where it's also my daily driver.

How I prepped my S-10 for bike-hauling duty

I've added a wheel chock to hold a single bike in the middle of the bed. I welded a few bungs into the bed of the truck so that the chock can be removed easily when I want to carry larger items, like a sofa. For a weld-free install, you can add a chock by drilling a few holes and running some bolts through the bed floor, but removal won't be as quick or painless when needed.

My Trackside Aluminum Folding Ramp gets strapped right to the tailgate so it's not rattling around and is secured with a lock so it doesn't walk off. All I had to do was drill two holes in the tailgate big enough for a ratchet strap to hook into and the ramp is secured.

The final touch was storage for my tie-down straps. This was done with an ammo box and four self-tapping screws installed through the bottom and into the bed to keep it in place. This holds my Trackside 8 Piece Tie-Down Set as well as a few other spare straps and keeps them dry and organized. You can buy a lock for these ammo cans, but even in the city I've never had the straps go missing. I like to think that may be because of my quick spray paint job to make the can blend in a bit better in the bed so it doesn't catch the wrong kind of attention.

The last few things I did to the truck are a bit more form than function but do help. I installed a drop kit that lowered the truck two inches in the front and three in the rear. I haven’t found a bike I can't easily get into the truck myself with no steps needed, though when loading a Harley Touring model a running start does help. It boggles my mind to see riders (usually dirt bike owners) using lifted trucks where the ramp is at an 80-degree angle when they're loading up.

Not every modification helps with motorcycle hauling. I installed a chrome chain steering wheel with suicide knob that really ties the room together. It never fails to get compliments at the drive-through window at McDonald's. I don't know what that means, but I feel it's worth noting.

Is a mini truck the cheap bike-hauler you need?

Is a mini truck the right bike-hauling solution for everyone? Definitely not. But if you find yourself needing to transport a motorcycle often, have no room to park a trailer, and are thinking about getting a spare beater four-wheeler for the weekends anyway… you're probably the target demographic. Though they're getting less common as more of these used trucks go out of service, a mini truck can still be had for around $3,000 or even less. RevZilla photographer Luke Darigan just bought one in that price range after shooting mine. You may have to be comfortable with high mileage, but these trucks were built to be economically reliable choices and typically keep going for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles with regular maintenance.

As trucks in the U.S. market keep getting bigger and bigger, with bed heights reaching chest level, a used truck is the only way to get something that makes loading a motorcycle easy. Maybe it's time to buck the modern auto industry, explore your local Facebook Marketplace, and bring home an ugly duckling of your own.