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Post by rattler on Aug 25, 2020 13:55:06 GMT 1
Hi
I'm thinking of making a bench / ramp out of scaffold planks or similar and wondered if this is a false economy and I should just buy a purpose built jobby and save the hassle? Is the hydraulic assist worth the extra?
Thoughts? What do you use?
Tim
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ahthud
Weekend rider
Posts: 64
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Post by ahthud on Aug 25, 2020 14:55:13 GMT 1
I absolutely love my hydraulic ramp, but I'm old with creaky knees!!!! Mine cost about £280 from Fleabay and its been brilliant.
If you were looking at something DIY, look for an old hospital "kingsfund" bed. These can be adapted into a ramp.
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Post by beardy on Aug 25, 2020 15:19:56 GMT 1
I normally need a big shove to spend money on what I considered to be an extravagant purchase of my hydraulic ramp. It’s a bit like the microwave etc.
Wouldn’t be without it now.
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smm
L plate rider.
Posts: 30
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Post by smm on Sept 23, 2020 18:23:27 GMT 1
Get a proper one, you’ll never look back
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Post by copper99 on Sept 24, 2020 20:06:29 GMT 1
I normally need a big shove to spend money on what I considered to be an extravagant purchase of my hydraulic ramp. It’s a bit like the microwave etc. Wouldn’t be without it now. Same here...Bought one from the NEC show last November thank God..Dont know how I got on before with it now... |
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Post by JonW on Sept 25, 2020 13:55:50 GMT 1
Ive seen people build them out of old hospital beds, but... I bought one. best thing I ever did. Buy a wide and long one, if you have space to house it. Long means it will not be a fight to get the rear wheel on, wide means you can use it as a bench for parts and tools when working. Also... ditch the clamp thing for the wheel and buy one of those over center front wheel stands. That will hold the bike and not let it fall and be easy to use. Else use the windy clamp at your peril and use straps. Like this:  |
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Post by ringdingding on Sept 25, 2020 15:00:50 GMT 1
I've been looking for a hydraulic lift on ebay and at the moment they all seem to make not much less than new.
I'm also currently building a work bench with castors so I can have a long term project on it and wheel it about to work on.
When I looked on the bay a well built one was £400 plus £45 delivery and an extra £50 if you wanted checker plate on bottom level, per side.
I thought I could easily build one for that, but...the steel was £115 for 50mm box cut to length. You have to buy lengths so it was more than it could have been. I'll give a mate £50 to weld it. The HD castors were £22, the phenolic trailer board I'm using is around £80 a sheet, and it'll be around £70 to powder coat it. So actual cost is £340, saving me somewhere around £160.
Probably worthwhile and seriously heavy duty.
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Post by shaunthe2nd on Sept 25, 2020 17:08:30 GMT 1
You won't regret getting one. I love mine, either as a bench when no bike on it, or as a ramp to get bike to nice working height. You can also park a bike on it when lowered so doesn't really take up that much space.
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Post by sidney81 on Sept 25, 2020 20:50:19 GMT 1
i would love to buy one ,but im thinking about making one ,maybe a fixed height one ? just wheel it up a ramp
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Post by cbm on Sept 26, 2020 5:39:58 GMT 1
i would love to buy one ,but im thinking about making one ,maybe a fixed height one ? just wheel it up a ramp To make a fixed decent height one work Sid you'll need to A, to make the ramp very long + have very long arms only, B only own small/light motorcycles or C be built like the Incredible Hulk and just lift them up onto it  If you have the room then a bike lift is one of life's "WTF didn't I get one years ago" items and I can assure you the older you get the more you appreciate them  |
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Dave B
Drag-strip hero
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Post by Dave B on Sept 27, 2020 10:36:13 GMT 1
The other thing is that you can lift the ramp itself onto its side if you need the space. A fixed wooden one is just that, fixed, and when you are not using it , in the way.
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Post by rattler on Sept 28, 2020 16:23:53 GMT 1
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Post by abar121 on Sept 28, 2020 16:35:10 GMT 1
Well worth getting one, as above. If you can find one, the UK made JD Benches are well worth the money over a metal Asian one.
Just more pleasant to use and sturdy.
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Post by steve63 on Sept 28, 2020 22:49:56 GMT 1
I made a fixed height one. It's 500mm (I think) high and made from 100 x 50 x 5mm thick steel. The top's made from 3mm thick steel. The box section was free out of a skip at work, the 3mm was two 25mm deep trays, again free out of a different skip at work, the welding rods were free and the welder cost me £20 about 20 years ago. I use the same aluminium ramp I bought for the trailer. To load a bike onto it. There's pretty much always going to be a bike on it, a XZR400 at the moment and I can store a load of gear under it so I've lost no room at all really. The trailer is similar really as I keep one of the bikes on it all the time so effectively takes up less space. The metal for the trailer. Guess where that came from? The bench is so heavy it doesn't budge if I bump into it either. Skips are great places for free stuff. There's a load more 100 x 50 in there now. I don't have anything in mind but I might get some anyway  |
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Post by shaunthe2nd on Sept 29, 2020 9:04:21 GMT 1
Tim, That one looks fine to me. There are a few similar models around so just do a quick search. I'm not a lover of the clamps as difficult to use when you are loading the bike on your own, so i also use the type of wheel clamp jonw shows above if no centre stand. Usually I just pop my LC onto the centre stand with no wheel clamp at all. I have also sat bikes on it with rear paddock stand but usually need someone to hold the bike as you position it. I actually bought mine 2nd hand for about £150 but don't seem to come up very often and if they do they are miles away. You won't regret it. |
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Post by markhoopy on Sept 29, 2020 9:31:50 GMT 1
The Tight Yorkshireman bench .. Buy two of these.  Flip them over, drill out the pop-rivets that are holding the plastic feet in place, remove the feet, shorten the legs with a hacksaw to just above the strengthening stays so that the plastic feet can be refitted and pop-rivetted back on. It was early 2013 so I can't remember exactly but it was something like three inches off each leg. Trial and error won't work so get the first one right and use the offcut as a template for the other seven legs so they are all the same.  One 8 x 4 sheet of 1/2 inch ply. Or 2440 x 1220 x 13mm if you're young. Again I can't remember exact measurements but I reckon we cut the ply along the length to give one 18" width and one 30". Or maybe 16" and 32". Pop the two hop-ups on the 30" piece, figure out the best place for them and mark the plywood with a pencil so you know where they go. You can see from this pic that the hop-up on the left is about 12" from the end of the ply - this is where the front wheel will be once finished. The second hop-up is much closer to the other end of the ply - maybe 4" or so from the end - because the ramp will be located here and you don't want the f*cker tipping up like a see-saw when you get the front wheel of your bike to the top of the ramp.  Looks like 18" by 12" but could be wrong ..  Wood glue spread between the marks that were drawn earlier to show where the two hop-ups will be going.  Pre-drill the 18" 'centre strip' that you have measured twice, cut once, to fit between the hop-ups.  Loads of screws - looks like forty-ish - so the whole thing will hold your Fat-Boy securely.  If you are a Scottish person rather than a Yorkshireman you might want to save a few pennies and just fix a block of wood at this end, but we sold a whippet and bought this instead. The circular silver thing with the slot was screwed in place and we then drilled holes at the far end through the ply, so that the wheel-stop slotted in place but could also be bolted down securely.  Wing-nuts holding this in place so it can all be removed easily.  Two things here - we drilled down through the plywood and hop-up with an 8mm drill then bolted the two together. Dome-head bolts and wingnuts so it all looks tidy and is easy to take apart. The ramp is from my bike trailer and has two locating pegs at this end - mark where they sit, drill two holes and the ramp drops in place.  It all now looks like this. Bolting the hop-ups to it means it is solid and can't tip or move about when you're pushing a bike up the ramp, and adding the central strengthening strip underneath makes it all quite sturdy.  I know the 3MA is a fairly light bike but the bench was strong enough for my 350N and anything heavier would be fine if you had a mate to give a hand up the ramp and to get a paddock stand in place. Frushy admiring his handywork .. he built the shed, the bench, loved the 3MA. Won the Spring Cup and c**k-O-The-North in 89, second to Forgarty in the Gold Cup the same year, sadly no longer with us and due, in part, to an absent-minded car driver straying over the centre line and hitting him head-on. Tw*t.  This shows how the two hop-ups are under the wheels of the bike. When together it's a solid thing and when not in use it can all be quickly taken apart - two bolts to remove the front wheel stay, two each for the hop-ups, and all with wingnuts.  This is the bench-top in storage. It slides in behind the tool box and is only an inch wide so doesn't get in the way at all, and the hop-ups come in handy for doing things that you need a hop-up to do.  I think it was about £120 to buy everything but a chunk of that went on the two hop-ups which are really handy things to have anyway. Cheaper than any of the hydraulic bike lifts you can get and if you do decide to make one you can have yours wider or whatever you need - just mull it over for a week or two and maybe scribble up a diagram before you get started. The hop-ups definitely need the legs shortening though otherwise you would struggle to get a bike up there on your own  |
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Post by shaunthe2nd on Sept 29, 2020 14:22:38 GMT 1
This is one I put together when I built my frst LC in my lounge:  I think it cost me about £50 at the time. It would raise and lower for loading the bike etc. The kitchen worktop started to sag, hence the extra supports at each end. I eventually ditched this, built a purpose built bike garage and bought a hydraulic ramp for my subsequent builds and general cleaning/maintenance. |
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Post by rattler on Sept 30, 2020 11:37:33 GMT 1
thanks for the responses - and great work Mark with the hop-ups. I will also need to work out how best to support the bike with front end / rear end Winter swaps - so perhaps will suspend from the garage roof beams? I smell a plan forming |
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Post by JonW on Oct 1, 2020 1:08:21 GMT 1
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tommo
Drag-strip hero
Posts: 279
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Post by tommo on Oct 1, 2020 6:49:41 GMT 1
Costco sell bike ramps
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Post by midlifecrisisrd on Oct 1, 2020 8:48:07 GMT 1
Feckin hell 😱
Is that RG seriously propped up on the pipes
That should be confiscated 😏
Steve
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Post by JonW on Oct 1, 2020 13:50:06 GMT 1
Feckin hell 😱 Is that RG seriously propped up on the pipes That should be confiscated 😏 Steve Agreed. Looks to be resting on the two spars on the ATV ramp (I have one of these, they are about 2inches wide)... and yes on what looks like aftermarket pipes. How thin would they be? And how much stress is that on the poor cylinders etc etc  |
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Post by ringdingding on Oct 7, 2020 8:43:43 GMT 1
Here's my current project 50mm box:  It'll have 100mm lockable castors on bottom, storage underneath and trailer board phenolic top, it'll get powder coated when finished. The plan is to have the long term project bike on it and be able to wheel it into middle of garage to work on, back against wall when not. |
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Post by steve63 on Oct 7, 2020 12:35:02 GMT 1
Here's my current project 50mm box: It'll have 100mm lockable castors on bottom, storage underneath and trailer board phenolic top, it'll get powder coated when finished. The plan is to have the long term project bike on it and be able to wheel it into middle of garage to work on, back against wall when not. Nice beaver |
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Post by steve63 on Oct 8, 2020 12:35:36 GMT 1
Here's my current project 50mm box: It'll have 100mm lockable castors on bottom, storage underneath and trailer board phenolic top, it'll get powder coated when finished. The plan is to have the long term project bike on it and be able to wheel it into middle of garage to work on, back against wall when not. I hope the powder coating is cheap or preferably free otherwise is going against the principles of thriftiness I live by. Mine is a natural finish, a bit oily and rusty where it's not By the way the reply should be "thanks, I've just had it stuffed"  |
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Post by ringdingding on Oct 8, 2020 13:01:38 GMT 1
Sorry
I was going to say, it's a bit small, but then the inference would have been that I was big....
Sadly powder coat not free but done at mate's rates so not bad and certainly better than me having to paint it.
I'll put a thread up on it.
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