Rounding the appropriate corner without a safety stop rod opposite to the lift handle could be fatal. Imagine lifting the bike by rotating the handle toward the back of the bike and now start pushing or pulling a wrench handle on a big nut or bolt in the forward direction with enough force to start the lift rolling forward. If it goes past the balance point, that handle will come smoking toward the vertical at a very high rate of speed. If it hits you in the head, you won't be awake to watch the bike fall over. If the handle hits anything else, it will probably break whatever it hits and you won't be riding for the rest of the season. No room for a brief mental lapse.

There is no way I could get the rear wheel out with that lift on a Road King. Even with the tire deflated, the wheel won't roll out the back or bank to the side far enough to clear the fender. It would be fine to rotate the wheel for cleaning or get the valve to the bottom to check air pressure and a few other chores for which having a wheel off the floor makes the job easier.

 

The bike gains fore and aft stability by having the block of wood flat on the floor and bike, and by having those edges. It means to roll, the bike has to lift up a good bit. So it inherently just sits there on that block. Bevel or round those edges and it'll roll off much more easily.

For better leverage, use a longer pipe. Off-hand, I'd say the 4' length is about as short as you'd ever want for a heavy bike like a Road King or such. A 5' length would be appreciably easier to lever the bike up with. Not that it was hard with the 4' piece mind you. About like tightening lugnuts on a car.

You can also unscrew the pipe after the bike is up on the block if you wish.

 

This is an updated design....

http://austin.craigslist.org/mcy/3517052774.html

 

I made one of these lifts for my Yamaha 650 prior to buying my 2011 Road King. It worked great on the Yamaha (maybe 540 pounds), but it was way too flimsy to lift the Road King (812 pounds). I think the problem may have been that I used two 2x8's, screwed together. When I tried to lift the Road King, the whole thing just torqued and sounded like it was cracking, and I chickened out.

So the lesson is probably that the 4x8 might work, but a pair of 2x8's screwed together is a bad idea for an 800 pound bike. I seem to recall that the store didn't have a non-pressure treated 4x8, which is why I went the other way.

Jay

 

Mine is made from 2 2x8's screwed together. I used good wood and good screws. No problems with lifting my Road King at all. Not a crack or pop or twist. Just lifts the bike silently with no adventure and then holds it perfectly secure.

 

I can now answer this question. Yes. At least it does on my 04 Road King.

Still ended up taking the shocks off, so I could lift the swing arm up. Then I just slipped the tire out to the right.