Building a rolling motorcycle rack.. Help!

So I'm a 24 year old guy who shares a garage with my 41 year old brother at our moms.. It's "his garage" so I have to make the most out of it to build my bike. I can work on it and roll it back where it was when it's done.

Thing is that I want to take of the wheels to get new tires, tubes, bearings, powdercoat and so forth. Also, forks and all that stuff getting rebuilt, coated and such.

Also, I want to be able to keep it up for a little bit while I work on it and not have to move shit to get it back where it was or worry about stuff moving around as I move the bike around.

So here's the plan... Build a rack to put it on.

Anyone else build one?

This is what I am thinking....

Build something like this in wood, but use metal pipes welded together to hold up the frame while wheels and stuff are off. Make it clamp able, so I can make sure it doesn't shift.


Someone built one, with two levels, which I think would be convenient because I could store parts under it and still take up the same amount of space...


or this..


Anyone have any input? Show me what you've built!!

Why don't you just buy a $50 bike jack? They have wheels, so you can move the bike around, and it will lift the bike about 20" off the floor. Also get yourself a little rolling shop stool.

AlphaDogChoppers said:

Why don't you just buy a $50 bike jack? They have wheels, so you can move the bike around, and it will lift the bike about 20" off the floor. Also get yourself a little rolling shop stool.

Click to expand...

I thought about this, but how well will the bike balance out on it? I'd have to stap it to make sure it stayed, I assume.

Yes, you need to strap in on the jack for safety sake. Also, just use some common sense. For example, if you are removing a wheel, lower the jack. You don't want it to be way up in the air if wheel removal changes its balance point enough to make it fall.

Some bikes work better than other on the jack. I had to cut one of the cross braces on mine to clear the jiffy stand on my Harley Dyna. Some bikes I have to use some blocks of wood to even it up. A bike without downswept exhaust almost always lifts just fine.

The thing is it's going to be moved consistantly back and forth, so I don't want to put it on a little stand I'm going to have to fight to move, you know? Figured four casters over a wide space would be easier.

Motorcycle lifts are there for lifting, not holding. Same goes for your car jack. Use a lift to get the bike up high, then put it on a table like the wooden one in your 2nd image. Cheap to build, useful to store things in as well. You can make wood standoffs and supports to match your frame and just screw them down into the surface of the table. Get good quality casters and make sure any two of them is rated to support the whole weight of the table plus bike plus parts. Locking casters would be a good plan as well in this case!