Jacking up your bike

Unfortunately, my bike did not come witha center stand, taht being said it obviously makes working on the bike difficult, what I've been doing is borrowing a friends jack and plpacing a board under the exhaust headers and jacking the bike up, then I place a jack stand under each side of the engine cases to support the bike and stabilize it. I've been thinking a bottle jack under might fit better in between the exhaust headers and be a better place to rais the bike from. What do you guys use to jack up the bike and support it while you are working on it. I'm about to rip apart the shift lever area to repair a small leak and I want to have a better method of securing and raising the bike than my current makeshift way.

I suppose a couple of pit bull stands would be ideal but I don't have the cash for that right now.

Oxygen

 

What about one of those neat devices that allows the wheel to spin. I saw the HARDLINE Rollastand in the Motosport catalog ($55). I also saw a cheapie version ($20?) in the Harborfreight catalog. DO THESE WORK AND ARE THEY SAFE?

 

THIS works for me, and i've done it many times without incident:

You can get both wheels up using a 6" 2 X4 across the centrestand mounts with a sissor jack under and a block of some sort under the oil pan . a wall or tree or something is needed in order to lean the bike very slightly to the right.

start with the bike parallel to a wall with centre of front tyre about 11" from wall and rear tyre centre about 14" from wall. next lean the bike slightly so that there's slight pressure between end of right handlebar and wall. IT HELPS to use straps or a rope to secure the bike to the wall or tree or shelves or whatever. put an old unmounted tyre between the wall and the side of the bike , centering the tyre around the clutch cover. put a 2 X 4 block in front and back of FRONT wheel b4 any lifting.

After raising the jack enough to lift rear tyre about 3" off floor, place wood blocks or something suitable under oil pan, then lower the jack and (miracle !!) the front wheel will rise off the floor.

 

MORE pix of lift....... both wheels up, no special stands or fancy equipment.

 

I first lift the rear with just the PitBull rear stand, then raise the front with a floor jack covered with a 2x4 placed under the headers. IIRC it was $80.00, delivered, for the VFR SSA version. I haven't had need to remove the back tire, yet, but I believe it can be done while on the rear stand. You can always add the front stand, later, if you need it. But the rear stand is going to be very useful, by itself.

All that does is allow you to spin the wheel so you can clean the tire/chain. You can also do that with a rear stand.

 

I use a M/C stand that I bought from Harbor Freight. When I bought it it was on sale for $59.99. They are regularly $79.99

 

Sorry I must be in the wrong thread. I was looking for the "Jacking Off" on your bike thread. It appears this is the "Jacking Up" your bike thread. Sorry for the confusion.

Regards,
Rollin

 

most or all front stands let you remove wheel but NOT the forks or steering stem, therefore only a partial solution.

 

:thumbsup:OMG that was hilarious. cause i thought the same thing, and boy did i have a really good story to tell...Oh Well!!!:crazy:

Google homemade motorcycle lift or DIY motorcycle lift. There is a guy who made a motorcycle lift from 2x4s , carpet and some pipe, he used it for his harley. I know he even gives a demonstration how the lift works. and this guy was OOOOLLLDDD!!! and i am sure i saw he listed the actual plans on how to make it. Good luck... as a matter of fact here is the link

http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/bikelift.htm

 

The harbor freight stand didn't fit under my 86 VFR 750. I shaped a piece of wood to fit in between the headers and clear them, then screwed that to a larger board for stability. Worked great.