Bike Lifts

[jas67]

I don't see any need for storing it with the weight off the tires. By the time sitting would do any damage to them they are going to dry rot/harden anyway.

:1:

Does your bike have a center stand?   Just put it on the center stand.  The tires have very light weight when the bike is not the center stand.    One will not be touching the floor the other will have so little weight that you can easily tip the bike to the other wheel with one or two fingers.

.....Lifts are more secure than jacks ....

 :1:

[Kev m]

Jay pssst, OP has a Cali 1400...

[m13]

of course the bike would need some stabilization, but perhaps a rolling car jack? I've used mine for lifting most everything, trailers, cars, chicken house, has been a very usefull tool for lifting almost anything so not limited to only the bike and very low when in down position, rolls under weight too if desired.


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 and got mine for around $100 at Costco and have abused the heck out of it.

[smdl]

Thank you all for your comments and advice. I decided to skip the V Lift mainly because it will not work on the Calvin and on Audace it will require some additional piece of plywood to get both wheels off the ground. I called J & S Lifts and was informed that their lifts will not work with Moto Guzzi bike because there is too much plastic underneath the bike. Mind you they didn't even ask for the model of the bike. This told me they are clueless and any further conversation is just waste of time.

Good news is bought a lift tonight and it looks like the perfect tool for my needs. It should be here next week. I will write more once I test it but this is what I decided on: Big blue http://www.bike-lift.com/

Thank you!

Very cool, Janusz!  I looked at those before buying my lift table, and thought they looked very interesting.  I'll be very interested to hear how it works for you.

Cheers,
Shaun

[Rough Edge racing]

  I always preferred hanging from the rafters.  No chance of tip over or leak down.
  If you don't have block and tackle or come along but do have a bike lift then just lift it as high
 as you want it to be and fasten the ropes to the rafters.  Let the lift down and roll it out of the way.
 The bike stays hanging up where the wheels can rotate or you can play with the swing arm or what ever
 kinky thing you want to do under it and it will not fall over.  You can even use this method to remove or replace an engine.   Once the bike is hanging, put the lift under the engine properly shimmed to hold it stable.  Then un bolt and roll the engine away to your engine work area.  With full cradle frames, lift the bike, hang the engine and unbolt so that you cal roll the bike away from the engine.  You are limited only by your imagination if you know how to use ropes.

 I have done that but the bike still need to be on stands to steady it so it doesn't move around when using force on wrenches...

[Kiwi Dave]

It's a pity the Audace's silencer is just a little too long, denying you clear access to the rear wheel axle.  Otherwise you could use this simple stand method for the rear wheel.





It's simply a rod through the hollow rear wheel axle.

[swooshdave]

I bought an HF lift for 299. You need a truck and a friend to help you unload it. It is a heavy beast. The front wheel chock will not hold the bike steady by itself. I had to place a 8x8 beam on the left side so I could use the side stand. Once it was tied down the lift did well.

Throw away the chock that comes with the lift. Mount this instead. It will hold a bike without straps (of course I use straps as a backup)

http://t.harborfreight.com/1800-lb-capacity-motorcycle-standwheel-chock-61670.html

HF will deliver for a fee.

[Arizona Wayne]

Throw away the chock that comes with the lift. Mount this instead. It will hold a bike without straps (of course I use straps as a backup)

http://t.harborfreight.com/1800-lb-capacity-motorcycle-standwheel-chock-61670.html

HF will deliver for a fee.

I have 1 of those.  If you bolt it down it's OK, otherwise it slides when  you try to roll the front tire  on it. 

As for a real bike lift I went ape shit and bought a HD Bison MC lift with extensions on both sides so I have plenty of room for tools/whatever when working  on my bikes or scooters. 

[jas67]

Jay pssst, OP has a Cali 1400...

I guess I don't know them well enough to know if you can get a center stand for them or not.

[janusz]

Today I finally manage to test my bike lift, Big Blue Lift. I know many will consider this lift as perfect waste of money and I sort of agree, for less cash one can buy very disent motorcycle lift table. In my case I had couple criterias the lift have to comply with:
- easy to operate by one person
- once in the air I can wash or leave my bike up in the air for the winter storage
In both cases this lift passed my tests with flying colours.
My first attempt failed, soft of :) There is only 12" of available/expose frame pipes one can used to rest bike on the lift arms. The area exposed is a bit off balance, so when you try to lift the bike up the rear will drop. The solution is to use provided hooks, which grab the frame pipes closer to front wheel and tight to the lift front arm. Once this is done the bike is very stable and you can easy lift up and down without any worries. The link to the video shows my second attempt after tightening the bike frame to the front of the lift arms. Sorry for not be able to show too much details but it is difficult to hold cell phone in one hand and try to lift bike just using another one :)
https://youtu.be/ZuFSEMEX-C8
If you ask me if I would recommend this lift, the answer is: DEFINITELY YES! Keep in mind I haven't tried any other lifts but I watch a lot of youtube videos which shows number of different bike lifts and this one is very easy to assembly and use.
The most important thing is that this time I will not end up in the dog house for putting hundreds of dollars on my credit card, my wife paid for it. It is my Xmas present and I have say it is great one!

Cheers,
Janusz

[smdl]

Looks good, Janusz!  Oh, and Jola is definitely a keeper!   

Cheers,
Shaun

[Kev m]

Cool, glad you found what you wanted.

Ride safe!!!