Monday, December 28, 2009

DIY - Cycle Shop - Motorcycle Table / Lift

This is what I did over the weekend. The ol' lady asked what I wanted for x-mas and I told her, two 4 X 4 posts and some 2 X 4's. I already had the plywood from a recent shelving project. The lag bolts were given to me by the old dude that lives next store. I've seen tables like this in pictures and stories of UK shed builders and always wanted something like it. In the US you mostly see guys just plunk down the dough for fancy steel bike lifts. I'm cheap when it comes to tools and most other things that are not motorcycle parts and I wanted more versatility and storage area. I don't have a problem wheeling a bike up a ramp for two feet, so didn't need the lift aspect. After my club brother Brian won a full on motorcycle lift at a recent Nomad's party raffle, and I saw the motivational effect of having a project up in the air and right in front of you, I knew it was time to get it together. I did the google thing to see what I could find on the web, but didn't find anything that appealed to me, so I went into my familiar pipe dream trance state and this is what I came up with.

Here's the basic frame. You could use 2 X 4's across the top and along the bottom for an even stronger arrangement and to save buying the sheet of plywood. The materials list is something like: six eight foot long 2 X 4"s, two eight foot long 4 X 8"s, one 4X8' sheet of 5/8" or thicker ply wood, twenty four 4" long lag bolts, a box of 3" deck screws and some shorter screws for the screwing down the plywood sheets. Cost is about $80.oo. The length of the table is 8 foot and it is 2 feet high. The short cross pieces of 2 X 4"s are 21" long. You can figure out the rest.


My Dad's been bugging me forever to take his old engine building stand with Triumph frame mounting fixture, so it was incorporated into the plan. Being able to float the chassis is something your average bike lift isn't going to do. Should be handy for installing forks and wheels.

I have a slightly different plan in mind for the frame mounting fixture that will keep the frame lower, by using the sidecar lug hole under the seat area that is common to most Triumph frames. Just need to scrounge together the steel.

2 comments:

  1. Looks great. Especially relate to the comment of putting a prject in your face for motivation. You just motivated me to build my stand. Thanks!

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