Bike Lifts On Sale

[Wildkat]

I just measured mine and it is 73 in long.

Ooooohhhhhhhhh mmmmmyyyyyyy!!
You've been holding back on me, haven't you?

[blue giant]

Originally posted by Wildkat



Ooooohhhhhhhhh mmmmmyyyyyyy!!
You've been holding back on me, haven't you?

[DiverRay]

WildKat,
John didn't tell you about the 70, only the 3?????

[79XS11F]

Mine is the same length but only rises 29 inches :-( LOL LOL
Rob

[79XS11F]

Originally posted by John
I just measured mine and it is 73 in long. If I place the bike as far forward as it will go, then the center stand is just forward of the removable panel.

On a more serious note ... John .. .What is the distance from the front edge to the front of the opening plate on your lift?
Rob

[Wildkat]

Editted for my own protection
lol

He just didn't put them together... thank goodness!
and because I love him (ohhhh... how sweeeet) and want to continue to have him love me... I am now completely dropping this part of the conversation... before I get myself into trouble... again...


Hey Rob, I just went and measured the lift... It's 55" from the front edge to the front edge of the opening...

(and on a less serious note... 29"?!?! reminds me of a video I saw the other day... to which, I say again )

[prometheus578]

"Wheel Clamp."

All things considered....
There's really not that much stress on the wheel clamp.
Yes, the bike weighs 500 lbs, but remember, it's standing straight up. As you know from sitting on the bike... when it's straight up, it takes very little corrective measures to hold it in that postion. If the bike leans to the side, obviously, it takes more force to hold it upright.
So... a bike that's standing upright... in a tire clamp.. exerts very little sideward stress on the clamp, etc. ( I don't know the exact figures... say maybe 15 lbs of sideward stress?)
Over time, due to bike not being perfectly lined up nor perfectly upright, the sideward stress from that will eventually warp the clamp and the steel part of the lift that it's bolted to.
Of course, anytime that I raise the unfettered wheel, I usually put straps on the bike to hold it upright. Just use common sense. A bike with it's front tire clamped, but also having a jack underneath it as a pivot point isn't really stable... center of gravity and all. (you've reduced the weight distribution from the length of "tire to tire"... to "tire to jack", somewhere beneath the engine. Gets unstable, then)
What's really fun is when working on the front end... with the bike backed onto the rack. Oft times, depending on the bike and the position of the mufflers, one can't use the tire clamp as you can't back the bike in to where the tire slips between the clamps due to the exhaust getting in the way of the clamp arms.
Yes, then obviously straps are in order.
One must also be carefull when removing the front tire.... especially when you have the bike on the centerstand and are using a jack under the engine to pivot the front end upwards.
When you remove the tire... or the forks, the immediate decrease in the weight on the front end will cause the bike to violently pivot backwards. (!)
You will also find that after a lot of use... having the bike on the center stand, all that weight will eventually cause a depression in the middle of the lift as the steel bends under the pressure.
As I'm currently cleaning the garage... a raised lift makes a great (though, expensive) table for sorting through crap)
Oh, nice clean garage there, 79XS11F!
Hopefully mine will look the same soon.
Oh, and as a final caveat....
NEVER push the bike onto the lift with the sidestand down!!!!!!!!!!! ( I said NEVER!)
The front tire goes up fine... but when the sidestand hits the ramp... it'll toss the bike over on it's right side. Very few of us have the extreme body mass required to hold it from toppling and hitting the floor.
Also... pay attention to what you're doing. There's nothing more humbling that raising a bike... only to have the windshield shatter against the ceiling.

It's also helpful to have a helper when pushing the bike backwards onto the ramp. Rather difficult lining up the tire with the clamp, to say nothing of you ending up on the wrong side of the bike... opposite from where you need to be to crank the clamp closed.

Gee... I'm just a fount of knowlege today... or is that a fount of bad experiences?

[79XS11F]

Yes total height is an issue here as well because I have a ton of stuff hanging from the ceiling. I can currently only lift the bike about 2/3 s of the total lift capacity. For myself .. I think i will likely do front wheel removed jobs on the floor with my jack stands. My 11 is complete now in any case but i will have a lot of stuff to do when i start the hop up bike and the Katana. Given that I have 3 bikes here and the lift was only 350 on sale .. it's a small investment compared to what I have into my bikes and the cost of pain killers.
Rob

[79XS11F]

CORRECTION

Correction ... This lift is 83 inches long but the opening is only 49 inches from the front edge so I can not put my bike on main stand unless the main stand is on the removable plate.
HMMMM ... looks like I will have to cut and weld the cover plate accordingly.
Rob

[blue giant]

Dumb question Rob but,

is the platform on backwards? or, can it be rotated 180 degrees to give you more distance from the front of the platform to the opening?

JAT.

Paul

[John]

Height

I don't have a clearance issue with the windshields, but I can't open my garage door if the bikes are raised, because the door would hit the windshield. I need to make more room in front of the bikes so I can move the lift further into the garage. The issue I have with the wheel clamp may just be with the quality of the clamp. Mind you, this lift IS from Harbor Freight, it's not a high dollar Snap On, or similar quality lift, but it is perfect my for my needs.

[prometheus578]

"Good Point."

I agree that the manufacturer of the lift and clamp may have some bearing on it's reliability.

[79XS11F]

Originally posted by blue giant
Dumb question Rob but,

is the platform on backwards? or, can it be rotated 180 degrees to give you more distance from the front of the platform to the opening?

JAT.

Paul

No the main unit comes assembled. All I had to do was install the wheels, tie downs and purge the air out of the system. The deck 2 piece wielded together when it arrives.
Rob

[79XS11F]

Re: "Good Point."

Originally posted by prometheus578
I agree that the manufacturer of the lift and clamp may have some bearing on it's reliability.

I agree that unless your twisting wrenches on bikes day in and day out for a living a big brand, big buck unit is not needed. This one is an "off shore" manufactured unit that will do the job at hand nicely.
Rob

[GNEPIG]

The lift with the Honda on it is very nice, you don't want to know how much that one cost. It has the removable section at the end that I've only removed when I have sex with the wife on the lift = very fun but otherwise useless. It also came with an air opperated tire vise, very nice lookin bit, but it only holds the front tire when the air hose is plugged in = usless. I like the rocking wheel lock, just ride the bike onto the lift shut it off and walk away, but it's kinda in the way when removing the front wheel and tie downs are a must when having sex with the woman, on whatever bike is parked on the lift.

The lift in the background is the $275 cheap Ebay lift. Very similar to the rest of yours but cheaper made. After some modifications, some welding, some additional parts it works just fine. It only takes about 50 pumps with the foot pump to lift a bike to the top and as said previously is good enough for how much work I do at home (and kicks the crap outta workin on the floor). (Oh yeah, never had sex on that one )