My first experience with a motorcycle lift.

[Zorlac]

I put my new lift together today and VERY CAREFULLY tried it out. HF lift sale.

After riding up onto it, I realized that there's no way to use the side stand, and since I've never put a bike on

the center stand while sitting on it, I had to back down and try again after adding some wood blocks on the floor for the stand to rest on.

For me, it was a little unnerving putting the bike onto the CS on that steel diamond plate since it seemed like it could slip.

I'm considering adding a strip of indoor/outdoor carpet or rubber sheet glued to the lift deck.

I put some foam rubber in front to try and dampen the bounce of the front wheel when it hits the front wheel stop coming off the CS.

Having a strong helper probably would have been the most prudent way of accomplishing all this. <_<

The board across the frame with the straps seemed to make the bike pretty stable.

I tried some wood blocks under the lift for stabilization just for safety sake, especially when I start wrenching on the bike.

I inserted two small pieces of plywood on each side of the front wheel clamp so that it just squeezed the tire and keeps the

clamp back away from the rotor and rim.

Comments from anyone who's had experience either good, or bad, with a motorcycle lift would be most appreciated.

I feel like I started on my millwright apprenticeship today. :dribble:

 

[38 Ford]

Hi, I have owned one like it for a couple of years and it has been a great lift. I never ride the bike up on the lift perferring to walk beside the bike and let the bike pull itself up on it to the front stop. I then kill the bike and use my foot to turn the wheel handle to tighen the clamps onto the front wheel.

It will not scare up the rim or tire and will hold the bike in an upright position. If I want to put it on the stand I just leave the front clamp a little loose and step up on the lift and put the bike on the stand and then finish tighten the front clamp. When I want to go riding I just use my foot to loosen the front clamp, grab the front brake and use it as I push the bike off its stand and then walk the bike off the lift. If you want to take the front tire off use you bike tie downs on the rear of the frame and you can get the front tire a couple of inches off the ramp. The lift when up is strong enough to use by itself with out any of the 2x you show to be useing. You can remove the rear tire without removeing the rear plate. You can not use the side stand but the clamp on the front will hold the bike upright by itself. I have no problem letting my grandsons climb all over my FJR while it is on the lift .

Have fun, it is a great tool. Harold

 

[markjenn]

First, it would really help if you wouldn't post 1600 pixel-wide images in a thread - it makes us all have to scroll around to read the text.

I've been using similar lifts for ten years and I absolutely detest the front wheel chocks. I don't think they're safe enough to depend on keeping the bike upright, so all they end up doing is getting in the way of any kind of front end maintenance. I kept the little stop that keeps the bike from rolling off the lift forward, but otherwise, my lift is a completely flat platform.

I also never ride a motorcycle onto the lift. That's asking for trouble. Typically I can roll it on by hand, but if necessary I'll use the engine a bit.

Once onto the lift, I use a centerstand if the bike has one, the sidestand if not to initially stabilize the bike. Occasionally, I'll have to push the bike sideways slighlty or roll it on at a slight angle to have enough room for the sidestand to touch the lift. Depends on the bike.

With the bike now sitting comfortably on the lift, I may use shop stands or tiedowns to stand the bike up for whatever job I'm doing. I always work carefully and think about the next step - if you're alone you can get into some very ackward situations.

One that has happened to most mechanics sooner or later is when you are doing something on the bike with it on the centerstand and you accidently push the bike forward and off the centerstand. If the bike is up in the air, you're in real trouble. A good trick is to use a racheting tie-down between the front wheel and the centerstand to keep it from rocking forward.

- Mark

 

[clutchless1]

I have the same exact lift and have been using it for about 3 years now without complaint. I did however make a couple of changes just to keep things safe. The front tire clamp I found not to my liking, I didn't think it didn't give the wheel and tire enough support. I went on-line and found a nice not too expensive motorcycle lift vise, I now not only have support at the bottom of the wheel and tire but this vise also goes part of the way up the side of the wheel and tire combination giving me much more support. The original clamp not only didn't have any support, but it started to bend on one of the sides when I had it clamped tightly to the front tire. If you look at the heavier more expensive bike lift on HF's web site you will see the same type of clamp I replaced mine with. Just that new vise made all of the difference by itself.

I have to whole heartedly agree with the others saying I don't ride my bike up onto the lift platform, I put two small pieces of plywood under the two adjustable floor stops located on the front, and lock them down so the lift won't slide forward when you begin to push the bike up the ramp and onto the lift platform. Once the bike is on the lift and between the better vise, I lock the vise down tight on the front wheel with one hand while holding the bike up straight with the other. The better vise is so good in fact that once the wheel is tight it will hold the bike without any problems until I strap it down in several places. Once I've completed my work, I lower the bike and remove any hold down's, I open the vise a little and just push it off.

I have also made a few more holes in the platform so I could add more places to tie the bike down, I have the original two plus three more down each side, now I have 5 places where I can use to tie any of the bikes down. This works out good for me because the FJR isn't the only bike I use my lift for. I have also never added anything on top of the diamond plating, and have also never had a problem with the tires sliding on it at all. One thing I see in your picture, it looks like you've left the back plate removed. I keep the plate in position unless I need to have it removed so I can take the rear tire off (I just don't knock stuff off of the platform that way). Oh, I did add a small plate that I can slide toward the front or rear so I can capture the side stand on what ever I am working on (the plate uses two bolts finger tight so they can be removed once the bike is strapped into position) The plate measurement is 6"X12", it sticks out to the side 5" with the other 1" of the plate through bolted on the side. The way you set yourself up using the blocks looks fine, it doesn't matter how you do it just as long as the bike will stay in place until you strap it down.

I've even changed out the front forks on my Sportster using the lift and the removeable floor plate. I backed the Sportster up onto the ramp and clamped the rear tire and wheel down, this allowed me to raise and lower the front end as I needed to. So it doesn't matter which end is put onto the ramp first, that's what makes using this thing so nice. Granted it's not the most expensive piece around, but it does what I need it to. One other thing, I don't use this lift for any larger of a bike than the FJR (around 650 pounds). From what I've noticed this lift does work well but it is very narrow and I'd be afraid to put a lot of weight up in the air because of this. I had a Yamaha Venture that was around 850 pounds, but I would never consider putting the bike on this lift, it would have been too top heavy and easily tip over as far as I was concerned. The only reason I bring this up is I've had friends wanting to use the lift for their heavier Harley's and always said no (safety reasons) I would rather loose a so called friend telling them no than to see them hurt or their bike mashed up.

Have fun, you will soon have one of the cleanest and best maintained FJR under carrages around. (you may soon have more friends than you know what to do with)

 

[Zorlac]

FWIW,

It was very awkward to place my feet on the edges of the ramp, and lift table, so here's what I did to make it easier to walk the bike up while feathering the clutch.

I temporarily mount the notched boards with carriage bolts through drilled holes and they can be quickly removed before putting the bike onto the center stand.

The boards on the ramp are permanently attached to just the ramp itself and make walking the bike up a piece of cake.

ramp https://i27.tinypic.com/2h7nqdf.jpg

side stand support https://i25.tinypic.com/oandyf.jpg

notch https://i30.tinypic.com/2hnlu0o.jpg

 

[twodogs]

First, it would really help if you wouldn't post 1600 pixel-wide images in a thread - it makes us all have to scroll around to read the text.

- Mark

Not me. The text is all in one place (above the photos) and the big photos are nice.

I'm sure there's a fix for the text wrapping the photos on your display but don't know what it is.

Bill

 

[Dangerous Dave]

I have the same lift as well, and have used it for a few years now. Hated the wheel vise and stop, so I removed both and put them on a shelf. Mine's just a flat platform now, which also makes it easy to store under my truck when not in use. I'd NEVER ride the bike up onto the lift. I push it up while walking next to it, then just put it on the centertand. As already stated, rear wheel comes off without removing the rear plate. Only time I tie it down is when I'm doing front end work, and I use tie downs to pull the rear down while on the centerstand. Kinda like this;

Sure coulda used a second stand that day. This one beats the hell outta the old home-built wood one I used to use. I caught this one on sale at H/F for $100 off, then used a 20% off coupon to boot! $240 + tax out the door. Oh how I love a bargain.

 

[Concours]

I had a Yamaha Venture that was around 850 pounds, but I would never consider putting the bike on this lift, it would have been too top heavy and easily tip over as far as I was concerned.

I've had the same lift for a couple of years now and use it for just about everything can think of in the way of "toy" maintenance and yard equipment maintenance. The reason I quoted the comment above is that in addition to my FJR, I also own a 06 RS Venture (a 99 RS Venture before that). The RSV is currently sitting on the lift (pix is last year though). I've not had any problems with having any of my bikes on the lift, including other friends' Ventures, Gold Wings, etc.

Curt