Bike lift.

[Hann]

I`m in the process of making a bike lift.
Early testing is going OK - it easily lifts the Big with a plate under the frame (bash plate has to come off).
Still some fine-tuning to do and when testing/fine-tuning is complete i`ll give it a coat of paint.
Working on a bike `in the air` is a game changer for an old fecker like me, no more bent knees and scrabbling about on the floor....
The only trouble is the height i can work on is limited to the height of the carport roof!

[GrahamW]

That looks great, much better than the scissor bike jack I use.

[kurtverbose]

That looks great. Do you have another pic 90° from that?

---

That looks great, much better than the scissor bike jack I use.

And much better than my 'beam and ratchet strap' system.



i also have a manual fork lift but that has its own problems.

[Hann]

That looks great. Do you have another pic 90° from that?

Here ya` go;

[kurtverbose]

There's some stroke on that jack!

[Hann]

There's some stroke on that jack!

Not really, in an effort to make the lift out of whatever was to hand i used this jack as it was lying about in my gagare, it`s just a simple 2-stage telescolpic car jack, i have to raise the bike to the max working height in three stages as the stroke is about 250mm.




Is that a Rocket III in your pic?

Why is it in such an advance state of dissasembly?

[kurtverbose]

Yes, it's a Rocket III Roadster. It was due a big service and I also wanted to treat a load of parts for corrosion. I did the valve clearances, had the fork oil replaced, greased the shaft, etc. This was last year and it's all back together now.



I bought it almost from new in 2011 and it's only done 10k. Bit of a garage queen so it was a bit disappointing to find corrosion on some parts. It's funny as the cylinders are almost the same in size as the DR 800, but it has three of them. It is a very stupid bike but it is fun to ride. I bought it for the engine. Not so keen on the retro looks and all that chrome.

I had a test ride of the new one and that was a much better bike, lighter, far more ground clearance and noticeably more power. They've also gone for anodised aluminium rather than chrome so I think it won't be such a problem with corrosion and it looks much better. It's the bike the original Rocket should always have been.

Anyway, love your bike lift. It's actually better than most bike lifts I see for sale and has got me thinking that if I need one it would be better to make one like yours. I've normally got some spare steel lying around and also a bottle jack. I would call it the 'Hann lift'.

---

This is the new Rocket I had a ride on.



Brakes were also far better, although they're not bad on mine.

[Hann]

" I bought it for the engine. Not so keen on the retro looks and all that chrome."

Completely agree, superb engine but as you can see from my Big i`m a proponent of the `chrome don`t get you home but matt black will get you back`ethos!

The new ones look much better but i`m not a fan of nakeds really, i like some sort of screen or fairing to hide behind out of the way of wind blast...

The lift has been built with spare parts and steel i already had, i`ve only had to but some bearings, threaded boss`s and flat plate.