Bedifferent
Old man on a bike
Well, it was a beautiful sunny day here in Michigan with no residual salt on the road so I decided to take the monster for a short ride. Did I say I hate the winter months...
I'm always cooking up something so here goes another one. I decided to make my own adapter plate for lifting my R3 Touring. I've seen numerous example (some fancy, some manufactured and some pretty basic)....all of them seem to be putting some of the forward lifting force on the bottom of the engine, which apparently is not a problem. I decided to design an adapter that would use the center stand lift point, plus, have some or all of the forward lifting pressure on the floorboard mounting bars. I figured this way I would get a wider stance for supporting the bike and also take some of the weight off the bottom of the engine. The adjustable lift points were made so I could properly adjust the distance between the forward lifting aluminum angle and the floorboard support bars. Thanks to my early Christmas present ( a mig wire welder) I was able to fabricate the adjustable supports out of steel using some 1" square tube, 1" pipe and some 5/8" nuts and bolts. All of the aluminum was 1/4" thick and I used some 1/4" oak boards for spacers and shims keeping all lifting and resting surfaces the same. I based my lifting adapter surface points on the lifting surface size for a Craftsman Aluminum motorcycle lift. Several forum members have this lift and in answer to a post I made, they found it to be a good lift. I used some red rubber for protecting any pressure points and cut a relief hole for an oil drain plug boss ( I do not use a lift to drain my oil). The center plate is offset a little bit for centering under the engine and a 1/2" bushing gaves me the clearance I wanted for mounting the rear plate to the center stand holes on the right side of the bike. It should make for a pretty stable lift going all the way out to the bars. Any future supports I might need I'll make in the spring when I have a chance to observe the balance point of the bike. Here are the pictures if you would like to see what It wound up looking like. If anyone would like further details or plans, let me know and I will take the time to post them.
I'm always cooking up something so here goes another one. I decided to make my own adapter plate for lifting my R3 Touring. I've seen numerous example (some fancy, some manufactured and some pretty basic)....all of them seem to be putting some of the forward lifting force on the bottom of the engine, which apparently is not a problem. I decided to design an adapter that would use the center stand lift point, plus, have some or all of the forward lifting pressure on the floorboard mounting bars. I figured this way I would get a wider stance for supporting the bike and also take some of the weight off the bottom of the engine. The adjustable lift points were made so I could properly adjust the distance between the forward lifting aluminum angle and the floorboard support bars. Thanks to my early Christmas present ( a mig wire welder) I was able to fabricate the adjustable supports out of steel using some 1" square tube, 1" pipe and some 5/8" nuts and bolts. All of the aluminum was 1/4" thick and I used some 1/4" oak boards for spacers and shims keeping all lifting and resting surfaces the same. I based my lifting adapter surface points on the lifting surface size for a Craftsman Aluminum motorcycle lift. Several forum members have this lift and in answer to a post I made, they found it to be a good lift. I used some red rubber for protecting any pressure points and cut a relief hole for an oil drain plug boss ( I do not use a lift to drain my oil). The center plate is offset a little bit for centering under the engine and a 1/2" bushing gaves me the clearance I wanted for mounting the rear plate to the center stand holes on the right side of the bike. It should make for a pretty stable lift going all the way out to the bars. Any future supports I might need I'll make in the spring when I have a chance to observe the balance point of the bike. Here are the pictures if you would like to see what It wound up looking like. If anyone would like further details or plans, let me know and I will take the time to post them.