Looking at doing solo riding on some sketchy trails and am thinking a lightweight winch like the Warn XT17 (~$400) would be adequate insurance. But it's a little pricey... Found the Superwinch LT2000 (~$75) which is considerably cheaper albeit with a slightly different setup. To cut the weight down on the LT2000 I guess I could replace the steel rope with synthetic (~$30). So, are winches a "get what you pay for item"? Does the XT17 appear to be worth the extra cash? Looking at he specs the XT17 says .4hp/1700# while the LT2000 says 1hp/2000#. What gives? Looks like the LT2000 should lift more than twice, no?

 

How are you going to use the winch? Mounted to what? Truck? Four wheeler?

I have a warn winch on my four wheeler and have pulled out logs and my fourwheeler out with it, but it would not pull out a full sized truck.

With winches, I think you do get what you pay for. Some have faster pulley speeds , how fast the cable can be let out and pulled back in. Mine has a quick release and I can pull out by hand 100 ft of cable. It's called a free spool type winch. Some have bigger relays. And with any winch if you try to pull what your hauling in without letting your alternator charge , you could drain your battery. Let's say 10 ft at a time. My four wheeler has a battery warning light and I have had to stop winching to let the battery charge back up.

 

https://www.warn.com/adventuretouring/XT17_winch.shtml

Apparently the winch can be used in line without being hard mounted to anything. This would seem to be an adventure bike, like a BMW GS sort of thing.

The KLX is pretty light. That said, I did have to have it pulled out by a truck once when it went up to the gas tank in mud!

Unless you're doing Romaniacs I wouldn't have one. It seems like an awful lot of weight and like it would kill your battery pretty quick.

This seems like a cool option. HitchMaster - dynamic rope pulley system.

 

OP, if you're talking about putting a winch on a KLX, I don't think you'll find one small enough for the KLX battery to power it sufficiently. Everything I've seen out there requires a 12 amp hour battery. Our KLX's have options ranging from 6 (stock) to 8 amp hour. I just purchased the smallest winch I could find in my area...a 12 amp hour 2000 pound unit to help pull my bikes into the back of the toy hauler. Now, that may sound unnecessary, but here's what I found. I have a steep back loading door. If I load my KLX or other bike into the hauler when it's still warm, I have no issue walking the bike up under power. If the bike has cooled, and it burps or hesitates just a tiny bit while going up the ramp, it gets interesting. It was easy to do a quick release setup so that I can just slap the winch into my front wheel holder mounts. I load the bike with a push of a button whenever I want whether cold or hot. My winch recommended twice the amp hour battery capacity for any real application, but regardless I don't think the KLX battery is going to support any winch.

 

this isn't probably what you want, but its your cheapest option.

which is good news.

hear is a article from RMATV on 44 uses of rope.

https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/r...dventure-trip/

number two is listed as using rope to pull a bike out. is also goes further to mention something about a mini-pulley system and truckers hitch.

something like a ****** block. or a pulley and rope system that could be tied off to a tree, that could give you a mechanical advantage to pull the bike out with less effort.

the bike isn't very heavy to start with, a winch would be overkill.

but a winch would be nice to have when loading the bike into a truck or hauler, when you have no one else to help you load it,

 

I carry some 550 cord and 3 aluminum climbing carbiners with threaded locking gates. You can use those as a make shift pulley system to help recover a bike or sling the front or rear end up to change a tire using a tree or what ever.

FWIW, I do a lot of wheeling with my Jeep and I've had a winch for probably 7 years now...I honestly don't remember the last time I used it and I go gnarly places. I know they're worth their weight in gold, its like insurance, but honestly I think they're really over rated. That hitch master looks great btw. I think the only draw back is if the load jumps or looses tension I could see the ropes popping out, no biggie when your dealing with a bike but maybe a little annoying if you're having to re rig up your recovery.

 

The question becomes - is it really a wise move to risk traveling in those sorts of conditions alone? What if a winch doesn't work or worse, if you get injured to the point of not being able to manage alone?

I personally know a rider riding an ATV running his trap lines. He flipped on a small incline when alone. Broke his back. Fortunately close enough to a road that he dragged himself out to the road and was seen by a passing vehicle.

I personally stuffed a double on an MX track. Fortunately close enough to the owner's house and his bulldozer. His son almost ran me over, but got everyone to stop. Had his father call the ambulance and deal with me. His father bulldozed a path up to the track for the ambulance. Still it was darn close, with a ruptured lung had there been any delay of even ten minutes I might not be writing this. Two months in the hospital learning to walk again and a year and a half to recover sufficiently to function as normal as was possible with some nerve damage from a shattered C6 pushing a bone chip into my spinal cord. I now wear a Leatt neck brace for off road riding... and some reserve in what I do.

Not trying to scare you from riding, just saying there is a value to a traveling partner or being wise enough to know the limits.

Either way I wish you the best in all your travels.

 

if you absolutely had to have a winch,

you could purchase a winch that is powered by gasoline.

maybe you could even mount it to a rack or something.



Vestil HWG600 - is a brand of a hand powered winch. which would be lighter than a gas powered winch.

this might sound crazy, and its expensive, but there is a attachment that you can put on a chainsaw, that makes your chainsaw a winch. here is the link.


http://www.westechrigging.com/capsta...hannelid=FROOG

Simpson Chainsaw Powered Capstan Winch

 

The Warn XT17 weighs only 8 pounds so that wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. I can see how the battery would be an issue though as it's spec'd for a 12Ah batt.

Warn Industries - Motorcycle Winches: XT17 Portable Winch

 

NorCalKLX hit the nail on the head.
Rope and some climbing gear will give you the mechanical advantage you need to overcome most situations with a 300lb bike.