Which bike lift? Are they all the same or should I pay more?

[ninja_butler]

I'm thinking of buying a cheap motorcycle lift/jack but without seeing them up-close it's hard to tell which one to go for.

On eBay we have:
MC480 Sealey for £114 + free p&p https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400212427695?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Tongrun lift for £73.95 + £9.95 p&p https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tongrun-680Kg-Motorcycle-Bike-Lift-ATV-Jack-1500LB-/300915909738?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item460ffc646a
No-name bike lift for £69.90 + free p&p https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1500LB-Motorbike-Bike-ATV-Quad-Motorcycle-Jack-Lift-/380347307746

The Sealey is probably the safest bet out of the three, but it's £40 more than the cheapest option and I'm not expecting to use a lift very often.

[Rogerborg]

Red one?

The "Tongrun" from Busters has two braces between the platform rails. If they were just making a cheap knock-off of the Sealey then they wouldn't have bothered adding the extra one. Is how I'd probably rationalise it.
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[Chuffin Nora]

I've never quite understood the point of them, myself, but then I've never seen one being used.
I mean, if it's supposed to make contact with the frame's bottom tubes - and I can't think how else - what then of a lower-than-bottom tube exhaust system, and the like?

If you're building from scratch, sans wheels and/(or not) forks and swing arm, concentrating on engine - less sump + gubbins - and frame-bound bits thereabouts, as restorers/renovators are wont to do, then all well and good; and if that is you're intention, being that that's what they're for, I might shut-up now.
But . . .
'Cause when I read the word 'motorcycle', as in 'motorcycle lift', an image of a wholly entire bike springs to mind and not a half-built bitza in the loving and greasy mitts of a thoroughbred craftsman in a pukka shed at the bottom of his garden, you dig?

Therefore, are you sure that you don't mean one of these:
https://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuilder.asp?id=20&method=mViewProduct&productid=9135
which makes an awful lot of sense.


Do tell if I'm missing something.
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[ninja_butler]

[Teflon-Mike]

If you want to work on road-bikes FORGET those.
I have one; it's great under a dirt-bikes frame rails where there is no exhaust or belly-pan or anything, but of very limited use for much else.

Pair of paddock stands, preferably the swan-kneck under the head-stock front, with adjuster cups, not hooks & bobbins, is the more useful bit of equipment for routine maintenance & fair bit of full up built TBH. Or a work-height rail-bench.

The off-road / atv jack is neither nor; unfortunately. Its dont go up so high as to substitute for a rail-bench, and its no where near as stable as paddock-stands.

e-bay, ricambi-weiss... think that's the set I have. £65, and far more all-round use, on far more motorcycles than the ATV jack... though that has proved useful hanging garden gates and tackling a broken car exhaust hanger!

And TBH, the hydraulic bike ATV jack is total over-kill for most dirt bikes. I bought mine mainly because we dont have Milkmen any more.... for twenty years, I quite happily propped my Cota trils bike up with an upended milk-crate... but they go brittle and crack eventually, so thought that would be 'just the job'..... its actually heavier than the fucking BIKE..... and more effort holding the bike up and pumping than to just lift the ruddy thing on and off it!

Might be suitable for a heavy cruiser I suppose; but?!? Mine rarely earns its keep. The paddock stands DO!
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[ninja_butler]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STFLT-HEADSTOCK-LIFT-PADDOCK-STAND-SET-FRONT-AND-REAR-/310291249971?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item483eccbb33&clk_rvr_id=520975641552

Thanks Mike, I like the look of that. Do you think that "headstock lift" would hold a Honda Blackbird 1100? I'm going to buy it anyway, it looks like what I need for the Fazer.

[Aff]

Buy an ABBA stand.

/Thread.
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Current Bikes:Honda 929RR Fireblade, Honda CD200 Benly (Project), Stomp Z2 140
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[.....]

I've got the 'no name' one. Had it a couple of years and has been fine. Very stable and lifts the bike nice and high.

They're more suited to off-road style bikes which can be lifted from underneath.

[ninja_butler]

[G]

Erm, you do know these lifts are designed for bikes with twin frame rails at the lowest point?

Won't work well on bikes with underslung exhausts protruding.

'Front lifting kit' for an ABBA = bit of wood. (Or some weight on the back.)

You can get copy abbas that have generic fitting kits which will fit most bikes.

[Teflon-Mike]