EK Motorsports Power Cat Soft End Dirt Bike Tie Downs

EK Motorsports
Power Cat Soft End Tiedowns

"Eastbound and down, loaded up and truckin..." As I barreled down the road, eager to moto, the theme song from Smokey and the Bandit blared from my truck speakers. Meanwhile, a bike that was in the back, floundering due to wimpy tiedowns, got me thinking about what better tiedowns are out there.

EK Motorsports' Power Cat Soft End tiedowns offer a couple of neat innovations to separate them from the crowd. Instead of attaching a metal hook to your bar and inevitably scratching it in the process, the Soft Ends allow you to wrap the bar with webbing. Furthermore, both hooks have carabiner-style clips. On the way to the track or trail, there's already enough for me to think about without having to glance nervously in the rearview mirror every time I hit a pothole. The clips are a welcome addition that prevented the hooks from popping loose.

At $29.99 per pair, the Soft Ends may be more expensive than other tiedowns, but the extra features are worth it, and they're made in the United States. The red-and-black checkered pattern looked great next to a CRF450, and other colors and designs are available at the company's website. From now on, the rest of my tiedown collection will rattle around in the back of my truck, relegated to dirtier and greasier duties such as strapping down gas cans, spare tires and oil drums. As for the Soft Ends, they're so nice that I'm going to reserve them for handlebar-use only. -Brian "Couch Pilot" Purtymun