Bike Lifts

[Guest]

With the various types of bike lifts on the market, is there a preferred one for the GS1100E?

[koolaid_kid]

Well, a lift is not bike specific, but rather price specific.
How much are you willing to spend?
A lot of folk have purchased the Harbor Freight lift for $299 with a coupon. It still needs a wheel chock, which they typically have for around $30.
A really high quality unit will cost you upward of $599 or so. But they are really, really nice.

[WingMan71]

It depends on what your budget is and what you have the room for.

If you don't have room for a table lift, then I suggest a Pit Bull lift, here:

http://www.pitbullmotorcyclelifts.com/

Those are one of the best quality side-style lifts available. I work on Honda Gold Wings a lot and the thing will lift a Gold Wing!

If you DO have the room for a table lift, I recommend The Complete Motorcycle Lift (TCML) from Complete Hydraulics in Franklin Indiana. They sell AND service these great commercial quality table lifts. Yes, you can call their tech support line, get help, and order replacement parts if you need to. See them here:

http://www.completehydraulic.com/lifts-motorcycle-tcml.html

I got one to replace my old Harbor Freight table lift. The TCML is a 1,500 lb rated commercial quality lift and built like a brick out house! Really strong and really sturdy. It includes a really good fork brace and a great service jack! Great price too. Most lifts this quality are twice as expensive. Plus, watch the site, they have sales every now and then and knock $100.00 off the price, so you could get it for $649.00.

The Harbor Freight table lift is not a heavy duty lift like the TCML is. No comparison really. I work on Gold Wings a lot, and the Harbor Freight lift really struggled to get the bike up and it was not very steady once up. Too much wobble with it in the air for me. Lots of flexing going on. Kind of scary. Plus, you can't get service or parts! (I tried.) That's not good. That said, if you're going to work on bikes that are less than 600 or 700 pounds or so, the Harbor Freight unit is passable. However, if you can afford better, I'd recommend doing so.

Hope that helps.

[cowboyup3371]

I picked this AC Delco jack up last night from OReillys for $100.