Cool Day and Barely Worked On the Cycle Lift

Sunday December 31, 2017 Guerneville CA.

I didn’t  think I’d get anything done today

My woodstove had burned out and it was cold when I got it going today. I went outside to do some work, but it was just too cool for me to be comfortably working out there so I went in the house and got the heat going and did some cooking until everything was warm.

After a couple hours I went outside to check things out. The day looked like it wanted to rain, but it wasn’t. I went over to my work site and looked at things. Before I knew it I’d picked up the drill and was working away on my van’s cycle lift design as I had some ideas.

This is the work area.

The down position

I’m trying to adjust the levers(boards) to make the block at the left be at the right angle when it is in the up position. This is the down position.

The up position

This is the the up position and as you can see the upper block is not right. If a motorcycle was bolted to this block the front tire would hit the back of the van so it needs to be steeper in this spot.

Adjusting the block in the right spot

So I thought about it and decided the easiest way to get it right was to adjust the block where I wanted it in this spot, so I did.

I adjusted the upper block at the angle I think might work for the bike to clear the back of the van and it looks like this all might work with a bit more refining. The bike would be carried in a vertical position, just like it was doing a wheelie so this should work.

Hinged mount plate will work nicely

When I put it in the down position the block was pointing down. That’s not good, but I figure I can overcome this by using a hinged plate that the bike will bolt to so that the block comes up under it eventually and it should work. The hinged plate also has the benefit of making it easier to bolt the bike down.

Just a rough design

I left the bottom lever boards long as I wasn’t sure how long I would need them. This is just a rough model to get the feel of things. They would be cut off and not overhang the end. The unit is resting on my hitch ball where I plan to mount the final unit.

Once I think it can be done

I’ll just leave that there for a bit and study the thing until I’m happy with it and then build it in steel once I think it can be done.

I spent a bit of time getting some firewood in for the night and that was pretty much it for me as the day cooled down and I headed back in the house for the day.