I took advantage of warm January weather today to try out the stand. Here is a mini-review.
It is almost fully assembled - cut the box away and bolt on the foot pedal for pump.
There are no assembly instructions. I guess they assume the target customer (someone who wants to elevate a motorcycle to work on it) can figure things out (how to bolt on foot pedal, how to use the bag of hardware to secure bike by footpegs, etc) from the parts diagram. Not a concern.
It is a bit too tall to slide under my Husky. I rolled the rear wheel on a handy 2x2, then it would slide underneath when I unweighted the rear suspension.
The platform is large with thick rubber pad. The bike feels secure without the footpeg clamps. I would not hesitate to use it at lower heights without the clamps.
Depending on the shape of your underbelly (rather, your bike’s underbelly) you may want a block of wood to level things (see picture). The cradle of my Husky 125 slopes up a lot towards the front. As I raised it the first time, the front wheel stayed planted on the ground until the rear was 8” or so in the air (bike rolled forward until full cradle in contact with stand). Likely not harmful, but a block of wood (the same handy 2x2) under the skid plate keeps things level.
It raises and lowers easily and rolls around fairly easily on my almost level but slightly pitted garage floor.
I bought this for 3 reasons:
1. to get bike to a more comfortable height for longer maintenance sessions (aging knees)
2. to make it easier to do maintenance on both ends at once (like removing forks and shock for service by Dave)
3. (mainly for winter maintenance) to move bike around if wheel(s) are off
My short test suggests it will work great.
I have two bikes and two stands (the mechanical lift ones, slide underneath, step on pedal to raise a few inches). I thought I might be able to get rid of one, but no. It is a slight hassle to get the bike on the Princess stand so I won’t be using it as everyday stand to park the bike.
Having used it, I understand the comments on ODSC site about extending life of hydraulics. My procedure will be:
Raise:
1. pump to desired height
2. insert locking bar
3. press on lowering pedal to take weight on locking bar and relieve pressure on hydraulics
Lower:
1. pump to take weight on hydraulics
2. remove locking bar
3. press on lowering pedal to fully lower
Photo shows it jacked up part way. Tiny photo to accommodate board limits, click to see it all.