Okay, so I’ve been wrenching on bikes for years, and my back ain’t what it used to be. I finally decided to bite the bullet and get a motorcycle lift. I did some looking around, read some stuff, and figured, “Hey, I can probably handle this.”
First thing I did was clear out some space in my garage. It’s always a mess in there, with tools and parts everywhere. I moved a bunch of junk, swept the floor (sort of), and made sure I had enough room to actually, you know, use the lift.
Then, I ordered the lift. It wasn’t one of those fancy, super-expensive ones. Just a basic hydraulic lift that seemed sturdy enough. When it arrived, the box was HUGE. I dragged that thing into the garage and started unpacking it.
Assembly was… well, it was a thing. The instructions were pretty terrible, mostly just pictures. I spent a good hour just trying to figure out which bolt went where. I messed up a couple of times, had to undo some stuff, and generally muttered to myself a lot. There was some heavy lifting and some awkward balancing. It wasn’t elegant, but I got it done.
- Attach the base.
- Connect the hydraulic pump.
- Put on the wheel chock.
- Test the up-and-down action (without a bike on it, obviously!).
Testing the Lift
Once I had it all put together, I rolled my bike over. I have a sportbike.
I carefully positioned the bike onto the lift, strapped it down (very important!), and started pumping the hydraulic jack. It went up smoothly, which was a relief. Having the bike at a comfortable working height was AMAZING. No more crouching!
I did a quick oil change and some other minor maintenance. Being able to easily access everything was a game-changer. I used to dread some of these jobs, but with the lift, it was actually kind of enjoyable.
When I was finished, I slowly lowered the bike back down. No problems there. All in all, I’m super happy with it. It’s not perfect, and the assembly was a pain, but it’s going to save my back and make working on my bike so much easier. Defintely worth the money and time.