Patent ID: 6848873

Claim:
A bracketing member for use with mounting straps and adapted to be mounted to the upper forward region that is substantially vertical of the bed of a truck having a longitudinal and lateral axis and adapted to mount a motorcycle having a front tire thereto, the bracketing member comprising: an elongate member adapted to substantially extend in the lateral direction having a central region, the elongate member comprising: i a mounting region substantially extending in the lateral direction and substantially planar in a mounting plane and having a plurality of mounting points that comprise surfaces to define openings, the mounting region is adapted to be mounted to said upper forward region of the bed of the truck, ii an attachment region extending in an attachment plane that is noncoplanar to the mounting region to provide rigidity, the attachment region having a plurality of positionally fixed attachment points that define openings that are no larger than 3 inches opening in any direction, the attachment points being adapted to connect to said mounting straps and the attachment plane is adapted to be within 25 degrees of the direction of pull of the mounting straps, iii a tire engagement region adapted to engage said front tire of the motorcycle, a plurality of fasteners having a head region, a base region and a linking member where the fasteners are adapted to mount the elongate member to the upper forward region of the truck bed at said mounting points of the elongate member, whereas the mounting region is adapted to distribute the load exerted upon the elongate member for a substantially more uniform distribution along, the upper forward region of the bed of the truck and a portion of the mounting region and attachment region located in the tire engagement region are adapted to engage said front tire of the motorcycle and apply pressure thereto.