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Abba Skylift - Anyone used this?

skibumwi

New member
I posted this in the Wethead section but wanted to open the discussion up to all riders.

I'd love to be able to elevate my bike off the ground to make maintenance easier but can't fathom the idea of devoting enough precious garage space to accommodate a lift table.

r1200-rt-2.jpg

http://abbastandsusa.com/product-detail.asp?item=sky-lift&pid=44

This looks like a good, although spendy, alternative.

Anyone have experience with this product??

Ski
 
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I like you did not like the idea of loosing precious garage floor space for 2-3 days per year so my choice was a Kendon motorcycle lift that can be rolled to the side and standed up when not in use.

HTML:
https://www.kendonusa.com/stand-up-motorcycle-lifts/

I had the lift for almost 5 years and still love it.
 
I like you did not like the idea of loosing precious garage floor space for 2-3 days per year so my choice was a Kendon motorcycle lift that can be rolled to the side and standed up when not in use.

HTML:
https://www.kendonusa.com/stand-up-motorcycle-lifts/

I had the lift for almost 5 years and still love it.

What size of bike (weight) can you put on this lift?
 
Took delivery of the Abba Skylift today - First thoughts.

The FedEx man arrived at 12:30 today and delivered my Abba Skylift less than a week after I placed the order. The package weighed just a touch over 100 lbs. I put the lift together in my un-insulated, lightly heated garage with an outside temp just below freezing. The instructions and videos were very helpful but could use a few tweaks. The quality of the product appears to be quite good, but there are a few issues that I can detail if anyone is interested.

As you can tell from the following pictures I am not OCD :)

20170315_170707.jpg
Wheelie Position - great for working on the front end -should make installing a new horn much easier.

20170315_171848.jpg
Stoppie position - great for working on the rear wheel or adding additional LED lights.

It also has a Horizontal position - but that's boring.

The bike can be rolled around in either wheelie or horizontal position, but not stoppie (the front wheel remains on the ground). The lift itself can easily be broken down when not in use and should take up very little garage space.

The Abba videos show them rolling around a 300 pound sport bike on perfectly smooth concrete with no issues. Having a 600+ pound bike on a 50 year old, cracked, garage floor make me think that I may want to upgrade the casters a bit.

The other thing I'd point out is that I could BARELY get the bike mounted, I needed a hand from my son. The issue appears to be that the distance from the floor to the Swing Arm connection points seems to be right at the minimum height for the mounting brackets. I think placing one of the wheels on a 2x4 will make it a lot easier to mount the bike.

The bike seems very stable on the mount in any position so I think I'm going to get a lot of good use from this item.

Fire away,
Ski
 
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What size of bike (weight) can you put on this lift?

The statement on the ABBA website is:

"If we manufacture a fitting kit for your bike it will safely lift the bikes weight, you can find this out by using the drop down menus to select your model. The Sky Lift incorporates a 3-Ton hydraulic pump. The lift itself can safely lift a 450kg motorcycle."

That translates to supporting a bike weight of ~1,000 lbs.

Ski
 
Hey Ski, I'm interested! Please detail the few issues.

Thanks!

I've had the lift for quite a few months and the issues are pretty minor, I still highly recommend it:

1) Because the swing arm pivot is so close to the ground on the '16 RT the lift arms don't quite line up with it , the arms are about 1/2 inch too long. I get around this by parking my bike with the back wheel on a piece of 2x6 wood, and then putting the bike in gear to keep it from rolling off while I'm attaching the bike. By raising the rear of the bike this small amount (1.5") the mounts line up on the swing arm pivot easily.

2) I'd like to see some larger diameter caster wheels used. The stand rolls around great on smooth concrete but not so good on a 40 year old garage floor with cracks.

3) This one's really minor and more related to my forgetfulness. In order to use the lift in any other position than stoppie there is a plastic drum that fits into the hub of the rear wheel. You then attached straps between the hub and various points of the lift to achieve either wheelie, or horizontal positions. The problem is that I keep forgetting to remove the hub before driving away, luckily I've found the hub laying in the street about 50 feet down the road so have not lost it. I've attached a piece of rope to the hub and tied it to the lift too keep this from happening.

Ski
 
I've had the lift for quite a few months and the issues are pretty minor, I still highly recommend it:

1) Because the swing arm pivot is so close to the ground on the '16 RT the lift arms don't quite line up with it , the arms are about 1/2 inch too long. I get around this by parking my bike with the back wheel on a piece of 2x6 wood, and then putting the bike in gear to keep it from rolling off while I'm attaching the bike. By raising the rear of the bike this small amount (1.5") the mounts line up on the swing arm pivot easily.

2) I'd like to see some larger diameter caster wheels used. The stand rolls around great on smooth concrete but not so good on a 40 year old garage floor with cracks.

3) This one's really minor and more related to my forgetfulness. In order to use the lift in any other position than stoppie there is a plastic drum that fits into the hub of the rear wheel. You then attached straps between the hub and various points of the lift to achieve either wheelie, or horizontal positions. The problem is that I keep forgetting to remove the hub before driving away, luckily I've found the hub laying in the street about 50 feet down the road so have not lost it. I've attached a piece of rope to the hub and tied it to the lift too keep this from happening.

Ski

Thanks for the update!
 
I've had the lift for quite a few months and the issues are pretty minor, I still highly recommend it:

1) Because the swing arm pivot is so close to the ground on the '16 RT the lift arms don't quite line up with it , the arms are about 1/2 inch too long. I get around this by parking my bike with the back wheel on a piece of 2x6 wood, and then putting the bike in gear to keep it from rolling off while I'm attaching the bike. By raising the rear of the bike this small amount (1.5") the mounts line up on the swing arm pivot easily.

2) I'd like to see some larger diameter caster wheels used. The stand rolls around great on smooth concrete but not so good on a 40 year old garage floor with cracks.

3) This one's really minor and more related to my forgetfulness. In order to use the lift in any other position than stoppie there is a plastic drum that fits into the hub of the rear wheel. You then attached straps between the hub and various points of the lift to achieve either wheelie, or horizontal positions. The problem is that I keep forgetting to remove the hub before driving away, luckily I've found the hub laying in the street about 50 feet down the road so have not lost it. I've attached a piece of rope to the hub and tied it to the lift too keep this from happening.

Ski

OK, I figure out a way to get past issue #1 - If you go into menu setup and select "dual rider" the bike raises the rear end enough to make the swing arm pivot align very easily to the mounting connectors on the ABBA.

Realllllly happy with this lift!


Ski
 
I have a 2010 rt will the skylift work?


Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

No. I have a 2007 and wrote to them about it.
Models earlier than 2014 are not compatible since the swing arm pivot is under the fairing and not accessible.
I asked them about using the swing arm removal kit and they told me it wouldn't work

Hi, unfortunately the sky lift is not suitable for this model.

Even if it was possible to attach the centre section of the lift to the bike the swing arm is on the right hand side of the bike so there is no way to attach the rear support arm.

Looks like I might have to shop for a new bike :rolleyes
 
No. I have a 2007 and wrote to them about it.
Models earlier than 2014 are not compatible since the swing arm pivot is under the fairing and not accessible.
I asked them about using the swing arm removal kit and they told me it wouldn't work



Looks like I might have to shop for a new bike :rolleyes

Dammm, was just thinking I should get one...Thanks for sharing this with us,
saved me a ton of complications. And no, for this, am not getting a new bike!:nono
Am still turning around and admire it!;)
 
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