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bike lifts?

Hi Brewmeister, what is that front wheel lock attachment on your lift? Was it part of the original lift, or did you add it? At any rate, good looking rig.

Mine appears to be, or at least closely resembles, a HF lift. It's got the front wheel catcher with a crank on the side to secure it. Problem is, if you ever want to put it on the centerstand and lock that front wheel with this clamping device, the bike rolls back about six inches when you put it on the cenerstand which moves the front wheel away from the clamp (and on my bike it puts too much weight to the back of the lift). I should probably come up with a better idea than this, but I found that putting trash bags under the lift where the centerstand pads will touch, then extending the centerstand onto the trash bags allows you to push the bike forward and it will slide back into place with the centerstand deployed. A strap attached to the front wheel and the centerstand, as shown here, prevents centerstand retraction when you push the bike forward. Once you're ready to take the bike off the lift, slide the bike back 6 inches, remove the strap, then push forward off the centerstand.
 

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I'm not up on their current models. But, mine is the basic air lift, with 8" side extensions, and of course the wheel vice. The extensions mean I can ride on and back off astride the bike with a place to put my feet down. The wheel vice is essential.
Paul, your lift has the wheel vise and the brewmeister's picture shows a wheel chock. Does either have an advantage over the other for performing certain jobs on the bike? :dunno
 
Paul, your lift has the wheel vise and the brewmeister's picture shows a wheel chock. Does either have an advantage over the other for performing certain jobs on the bike? :dunno

I don't know. I had grasping wheel chocks in a trailer - they said no tie downs were needed. Of course I didn't believe that for a minute. I actually use one of them at times when working on a bike on the floor.

On my lift I find no need for tie downs for stability in most situations, especially if on the center stand. The vice grips tightly. If I have the bike jacked off the centerstand as when removing a transmission on a K bike I use tie downs as a precaution.

I can't speak to other chocks - mine took a hefty tug to move the bike back out of the grasping chock. With a vice, loosen and roll back.
 
Paul, your lift has the wheel vise and the brewmeister's picture shows a wheel chock. Does either have an advantage over the other for performing certain jobs on the bike? :dunno

I use the vise on my HF, but all my bikes have center stands (which I always use on the lift) so the vise works fine for me. I have the vise and the front stop set apart as far as they go and it works fine for me. You could always drill holes and remount the vise to account for the roll back from using the center stand if you wanted.

I aways use tie downs as well. Depending on the job, you could be tugging on something more than you want. Not to mention that steel-on-steel is slippery. I slid one of my bikes (center stand and no tie downs) while fighting with an exhaust system removal. That got my attention real quick, so now its tie downs for every task!

For front end work, I just use an old screw jack under the engine to raise the front.
 

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I use the vise on my HF, but all my bikes have center stands (which I always use on the lift) so the vise works fine for me. I have the vise and the front stop set apart as far as they go and it works fine for me. You could always drill holes and remount the vise to account for the roll back from using the center stand if you wanted.

I aways use tie downs as well. Depending on the job, you could be tugging on something more than you want. Not to mention that steel-on-steel is slippery. I slid one of my bikes (center stand and no tie downs) while fighting with an exhaust system removal. That got my attention real quick, so now its tie downs for every task!

For front end work, I just use an old screw jack under the engine to raise the front.

There is a HUGE difference between the vice shown on the HF lift in Post #26 and the one on my Handy Airlift. The one shown has a small horizontal clamp. The one on my Handy lift is somewhat L shaped and it clamps the bottom and the front of the tire. It actually extends above the axle, and grips a full third of the tire. This makes a significant difference in stability. My earlier comments about tie downs related to the Handy lift vice - not at all to what I see in the above photo of the HF lift. If my vice was like that vice I'd use tie downs all the time too.

Here is a picture of the Handy lift vice. Pardon the lack of a wheel. I just ran out and put the tire there to provide size perspective.
 

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With a few exceptions, the postings are all about Harbor Freight lifts. I'm also interested in what is available and searched "lifts" last week. Not of much help as I don't buy from HF.
I just bought a lift from HFT a couple of weeks ago. But I have not yet used it on my BMW. It cost less than a hundred bucks and is good for 1,500 lbs.

I am a big spender at HFT and for me, most of their stuff works fine. Just because it's all made in China doesn't mean it's all junk.

I have this one.

Notice they have a BMW shown up on their lift.

But perhaps you will prefer this one.

So far, I have only used mine on my Suzuki DR200SE:

liftd200se-1.jpg


-Don- SSF, CA​
 
...The one on my Handy lift is somewhat L shaped and it clamps the bottom and the front of the tire. It actually extends above the axle, and grips a full third of the tire...

I can see that is quite stable. Can that slide back grab the wheel after you center stand it or don't you use the center stand? If not, to me its got the same problem as a chock - no center stand ability.

Having the rear wheel lifted is a real plus for most of the work that I do on my bikes. The center stand does that task securely and automatically, without the need of secondary lifting devices.

Both wheels can be down if you are just changing the oil or brake pads, but with most other tasks you want the rear lifted somehow.

- Rear tires get generally replaced more often than fronts
- Changing final drive fluid
- Bumping the engine to set valves

So why not use the center stand if you have one?

For me, the inexpensive HF (less than $300 on sale) with its generic vise works perfectly. I used the money I saved to get a GS-911.

Is it the best? Of course not. If you work on lots of bikes, an air lift is a plus, but for the few times a year I use a lift, taking 2 minutes to raise it is no big deal.

Bottom line is that you need to look at YOUR needs and go from there.
 
So how many of you mechanics have a bike lift like this one featured on You Tube? It looks as moving your bike around on the lift to be a breeze. Seems that you wouldn't need to ever use your centre stand. :bliss http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml_JJd5HEsY&feature=related

Some real thought went in to that one. It is really cool, but for $4937.80 (plus international shipping) it better be! Ouch!

http://www.accessorimotostore.com/i...d=1441&zenid=494c527032e85b545ed73a7784b44ec5
 
I can see that is quite stable. Can that slide back grab the wheel after you center stand it or don't you use the center stand? If not, to me its got the same problem as a chock - no center stand ability.

If I roll the bike all the way to the stop and then centerstand it, the wheel is in approximately the same position as the tire is shown in that picture. My F650 Dakar has a long enough centerstand that it swings the bike a bit further back.

When I need to slide the whole thing forward to optimize the placement of the wheel in the vice I simply hook a tie down strap to each center stand leg and standing at the front of the lift pull the bike forward an inch or two.
 
Very nice job on the sunken lift:thumb

The one draw back beside cost and difficulty to construct is the lift will now lose approximately 6 inches of maximum lift due to it's lower starting position. In my experience I use all the lift my Handy Lift provides and sometimes wish for more.

I do like the easier loading and unloading on the lift with the sunken design.
 
The one draw back beside cost and difficulty to construct is the lift will now lose approximately 6 inches of maximum lift due to its lower starting position. In my experience I use all the lift my Handy Lift provides and sometimes wish for more.

If you are inclined to tackle the job your self the cost is not all that bad, rental for a concrete cutter, lumber to build the form and of course the concrete . An estimate to have mine done by a contractor was 3 days and $800.00.

Handy makes a number of lifts that when fully raised reach 35 inches one I think goes to 40". I think the HF lifts limits are 29 inches.

It is a messy labor intensive job, clean up takes as much time as the work itself, at the end of the day it all depends on how bad you want one in this configuration. I have never regretted the decision.
 
Very nice job on the sunken lift:thumb

The one draw back beside cost and difficulty to construct is the lift will now lose approximately 6 inches of maximum lift due to it's lower starting position. In my experience I use all the lift my Handy Lift provides and sometimes wish for more.

I do like the easier loading and unloading on the lift with the sunken design.

K&L make a lift that goes up to around 50" high. I saw it at the Indy Dealer Show a couple of years ago.
Very robustly made - like the Handy - and had a buttload of options that you could add to it.

As I remember, it wasn't cheap though. Somewhere around $2,000.
 
The one draw back beside cost and difficulty to construct is the lift will now lose approximately 6 inches of maximum lift due to it's lower starting position.

Ah, but then we do not know the "altitude" of the OP... do we? Nice project 4N.
 
bike lifts

All things said and done, the Handy lift is really one fine lift. However, for the weekend mechanic and one that enjoys working on the bike, the Harbor Freight models work very well and are much cheaper than the Handy lift. They do the same job. I made wings out of 2x6 framing and put 3/8 plywood over that. I use this set up on each side of the HF stand and it works great. I also use good quality tiedowns and the bike is well supported. Final word from me is that the HF lift does a very good job with no regrets from me. My knees really appreciate the lift.
 
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