Low cost Bike Lift ?

I'm thinking of buying a lift. Any recommendations?

Harbor F has several models. This looks like the best one. I don't want something that will wobble and it's gotta be air powered.

www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94813

www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94121
i got this one and im really happy with it. its has air or foot lift

is it stable when fully lifted? somehow the design doesn't look stable compared to the standard scissor design.

are u using it with air or foot pumping?

thanks!

Me and my back :pinch: are very jealous of your bike lift. Im going to go take some advil and cry myself to sleep now.

Something else I noticed Harbor Freight selling are those electric and chain lifts that will lift up to 1 ton or so. Plenty of lifting power for most bikes I would imagine.

So, what if we took one of those things, mounted it to the roof of the garage and then rigged up a harness to attach to the bike's frame? Then, just push the up button and you could have it at any height you wanted...no back pain!

Now, you'd have to somehow stabilize the bike so that it didn't twist around while rising and being worked on. Seems like it would be fairly inexpensive and provide easier access for oil changes and such.

Has anyone done this already and if not, any thoughts as to whether it would work or not?

Three thoughts on this:

1) The roofs in most structures are made to support specific loads over a wide area with no more margin than is required for there construction and in some places snow load. If you add 600 pounds at one point you may well have to reinforce the roof support or find a way to distribute it over 2, 3 or more joists to prevent sudden failure or to reinforce the existing structure of joists, rafters and purlins.

2) This brings me to the next issue which is failure mode... fail-to-safe or fail-to-unsafe. If the overhead support should fail (don't ask how I know) will it do a free drop to the floor or will it be cushioned by its rider? :pinch: You may need to consider some sort of frame that you role in under the hoisted bike for fail-to-safe support, to prevent free rotation and to hold the bike while you wrench around... gee sounds as if you're back to square one with a platform under the bike.

I use a lift similar to yours (cheapest I could get at Canadian Tire) and I had to make a fairly complex plywood adapter, using trial-and-error, that fit between the exhaust pipes. Essentially, the weight resets on the under side of the engine casing and is only mildly stable in the face of strenuous torqueing. Some, I hear, have made brackets to attach to the engine mounting bolts... but they will have to come forward with their inventions.

3) Remember, at the end of the day the objective is to have live, healthy and happy KZRiders ready for the road.

Best of success!

I too have the Harbor Freight Lift, Nice item for the $$$. I trust it for all my bikes including my Guzzi and my Wes Cooley that is waiting for me right now...

Pic from earlier this year with the Kawasaki on it.

I prefer the hydralic foot pump. I live in a Condo and when the compressor comes on the neighbors complain. You ought to hear them bitch when I'm using my Harbor Freight Sandblaster....

Richard Z.

How about a build it yourself wood stand?

rstnick wrote:

How about a build it yourself wood stand?

Now that is cool.... My problem is... If it's made of metal and plastic, I can do it.... If it's made of wood, well consider it firewood. I stink at building anything that is made from it.....

Richard Z.

I wouldnt climb on it at half lift but its pretty solid at full lift. plus the 4 wheels makes it real easy to move on concrete.

bill_wilcox100 wrote:

Three thoughts on this:

1) The roofs in most structures are made to support specific loads over a wide area with no more margin than is required for there construction and in some places snow load. If you add 600 pounds at one point you may well have to reinforce the roof support or find a way to distribute it over 2, 3 or more joists to prevent sudden failure or to reinforce the existing structure of joists, rafters and purlins.

2) This brings me to the next issue which is failure mode... fail-to-safe or fail-to-unsafe. If the overhead support should fail (don't ask how I know) will it do a free drop to the floor or will it be cushioned by its rider? :pinch: You may need to consider some sort of frame that you role in under the hoisted bike for fail-to-safe support, to prevent free rotation and to hold the bike while you wrench around... gee sounds as if you're back to square one with a platform under the bike.

I use a lift similar to yours (cheapest I could get at Canadian Tire) and I had to make a fairly complex plywood adapter, using trial-and-error, that fit between the exhaust pipes. Essentially, the weight resets on the under side of the engine casing and is only mildly stable in the face of strenuous torqueing. Some, I hear, have made brackets to attach to the engine mounting bolts... but they will have to come forward with their inventions.

Thanks for your thoughts Bill!

Yeah, it would really bite to get crushed by my bike. I was thinking though that if the fail safe support was made in such a way that it allowed easier access to the underside of the bike, it may be a bit better than square one.

If anyone would like to share, I'm really interested in pictures of how folks got the brackets to attach to the engine mounting bolts. Since I already have the mini lift, it would be the least expensive option I'm sure.

Well, for my bike teardown/rebuild I used a come-along, hooked into the supports for my garage doors. Once I had it up I lowered it onto a milk crate setting on top of a "car creeper". The car creeper/milk crate arangement allowed me to move the bike where ever I wanted it. I did end up putting too much strain on the garage door supports and bent one support and partially-pulled the bolts holding it up. When I need to use this method again, I will need to significantly heavy up that support area.

$10 comealong
$10 creeper
$00 milk crate
$2 for lag bolts to repair garage door supports