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Building A Bike Lift
Building A Bike Lift
For quite awhile I'd been reading the ads looking for a reasonably
priced bike lift because I knew the time was coming when I'd have to
replace my front and rear tires. I wanted to remove them myself so I
needed to find a way to get the wheels off the ground at home. I was
also getting tired of crouching into a small ball on the left side of my
bike every time I cleaned it. Again, I wished my bike could stand free
in an upright position. The sophisticated lifts I saw advertised cost in
excess of $400 and the inexpensive ones, about $80. So, like many others
before me, I decided to experiment a little and build one myself. After
talking to friends and seeing examples of other homemade lifts, I came
up with a pretty simple one. It will take you about 1/2 hour of time
shopping at Home Depot; then 15 minutes to assemble, and cost you less
than twenty dollars. To construct this lift you'll need the following
items. (Some, you might have laying around your garage; which if true,
will save you even more.)
(1) 3 ft. long 4" x 8" Douglas fir @ $2.00/linear foot
$6.00
(1) 4' x 3/4" galv. threaded pipe @ $4.32
$4.32
(1) 3/4" galvanized pipe flange @ $3.11
$3.11
(4) 3 1/2" x 5/16" lag bolts @ .50 each
$2.00
After building the lift I found the pipe flange from Home Depot is from
Taiwan and a little brittle (although I'm still using it, cracked and
all). I suggest trying to find a stronger one at your local hardware
store.
For a Sport ster frame you'll need a 28" long piece of 2x4 and four long
nails to secure it to the 4" x 8" and 2 1" eye bolts.
You'll need the following tools to assemble your lift:
o Pencil & Ruler
o Electric (not battery powered) Drill
o 1 3/8" Paddle bore drill bit (Will cost about $5 at Home Depot)
o 3/16" Wood drill bit
o 1/2" Socket to tighten lag bolts
o Small pipe wrench
o Hand saw to notch the wood to compensate for the exhaust header on the
Sporty that hangs below the frame or
o A hammer to nail the 2x4 to the 4" x 8" if building this for a
Sportster frame.
Instructions:
Locate and mark a point on the 8" wide side of the 4"x8"x3' piece of
wood that is 3 1/2 " from end and on the centerline of its length (see
Assembly Drawing)
Using the Paddle bore drill bit, drill a hole through the 4" thickness
of the wood centered at the point marked above.
Place the Pipe Flange, countersunk, into the hole and mark the four Lag
Bolt hole locations on the wood.
To ease screwing in the Lag Bolts, pre-drill each lag bolt hole with the
3/16" bit ensuring you are drilling at a good 20 to 30 degree angle away
from the centerline of the hole just bored through the wood. Drilling at
this angle eliminates the pointy end of the lag bolt from emerging
through the other side of the wood when fastening the flange to the
wood.
Re-seat the flange in the 1 3/8" hole, then screw the lag bolts down
securely with the socket wrench
Insert the 4' galvanized pipe through the bored hole threading it into
the flange and tighten with the pipe wrench.
Your done! You may want to paint the pipe red or orange so it stands out
and alerting you not to accidently trip on it. Another suggestion is to
wrap some duct or electrical tape around the handle end of the same pipe
for comfort. And lastly, stapling or tacking down some old carpet over
the lifting edges of the 4" x 8" will keep the wood from removing paint
from your frame each time you lift the the ole scoot.
To operate your lift, insert the wood directly under your frame
somewhere beneath the engine. Check that you won't be putting pressure
on something you shouldn't and insure the ground beneath your bike is
level). If you can with your left hand, hold your bike upright leaving
the kickstand extended outward. Now push the handle of your new lift
rearward and downward. Your bike is lifted and in an upright
position making it easier to work on, clean and to check the oil (smile,
Soft tail owners).
Notes for Sportster owners. The Sportster front exhaust header is lower
than the frame tubes. Using the lift as designed above would cause the
4"x8" lifting surface to put pressure on the exhaust header. Therefore
to lift the Sportster properly you'll need to nail a 1"x4" or 2"x4" to
the lifting surface of the 4"x8". It should be cut 28" long and aligned
flush with the edge where you drilled the hole for the pipe. Robert
Kemper mentions this in his email below.
Additionally, because the Sportster frame is so narrow, for safety and
security you should purchase two 1" eye-bolts. These would be fastened
to the lift so you could run a strap through them and over the seat to
keep the bike from falling on either side. Both Robert & Dave talk about
this in their email below.
COMMENT FROM ROBERT KEMPER:
From: "Robert Kemper" Date: Sun, 24 May 1998 00:41:53 -0400 -If you end
up buying a 2"X8"X8' to cut in half for the lift because the store
doesn't have 4"X8"s, buy 2 1/2" lag screws not 3 1/2". -The 8" isn't 8".
So, you may have to add a piece of 1"X4" to the top (then you get to
trim that). This is good because you won't have to cut a notch. I used a
1"X4" that went 4" past mid-line (28" on a 4' board). - The pipe is not
designed to thread all the way to the bottom of the pipe flange.
Fortunately, I asked someone who knew that and I didn't foolishly try to
return a "defective" flange to the store. Don't EVEN try to thread it
from the bottom up to save from counter sinking the flange. -Only Rickko
can build a lift in 15 minutes. Real time including trips to store,
borrowing tools from neighbors, etc.- 6 hours. -Eye bolts are a nice
addition to tie the bike down, but when you place the lift so that it
catches those rail looking sections on the bottom of the chassis, the
bike feels solid as a rock! EXCELLENT LIFT!
COMMENT FROM DAVE GARRETSON:
From: Dave Garretson Date: Sun, 21 Jun 1998 18:18:48 EDT Subject: lift
improvements Just wanted to send a few improvements to you that I had
made to your lift that you have posted on the net. If you are building
this lift for a Sportster recommend the following improvements: 1) use a
4' long 4" x 8" and put two eye bolts in the wood about 3" from each end
so that they face the ceiling when the bike is on the lift. Now when you
put the bike up, take off your seat and use two nylon pull type tie
downs to secure the bike frame under the seating area to the lift at the
eye bolts. Straddle the bike and pull them tight simultaneously and
viola the bike WILL be stable no more worry about the narrow sporty
frame and the bike's stability while up on the lift. 2) When drilling
through the wood to install the pipe and flange, use two different size
bits so that the wood lends some support to the pipe and the flange
doesn't take all of the weight. I did this and used the same flange you
did; however, my pipe flange has yet to break or crack.
COMMENT FROM TERRY BAYNE
From: "Terry Bayne" Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 07:48:21 -0800 Saw the posts
about Rickko's lift and thought I would mention the mods I made. First
gotta say thanks to Rickko! I built one about a year ago and use it at
least twice a month, if not more often. When I built mine, I had seen
the posts about the flange cracking....so I spent a few minutes looking
at things before I did the drilling....... What I ended up doing was two
things.....first I drilled the hole in the lift to be the same size as
the outside diameter of the pipe - tight enough that it had to be tapped
into place. Then I countersunk the flange on the other side (drilling
out the existing hole just enough to allow the flange to fit.) This
arrangement allows the pipe and the wood of the lift to take most of the
stress, not the flange. Building A Bike Lift
since my wife and I started riding together we have met a lot of great
people. Not enough can be said for the togetherness you can find riding
"in the wind" together as a couple and with friends; of whom you'll make
plenty on the road. Words are insufficient to describe the view as you
come out of a curve overlooking a mountain lake or what the great
outdoors smells and feels like as you drive through it. Bikers have a
reputation for being rough and rowdy. We've never met the rough crowd,
but at times we've met some who knew how to have a good time. Whether it
be at a major rally or just a simple country ride with friends,
motorcycles bring out the a feeling of companionship and freedom that I
have yet to experience anywhere else. Passion for Riding
Enjoy |
