Dave Plowman (News) presented the following explanation :
In article
,
jkn wrote:
I don't currently have any welding equipment so was originally
thinking of making something out of wood with metal fittings ... but
it might be a good 'excuse project' to set myself up with some cheap
welding gear ;-) ...

Not sure how good cheap welding gear is. Especially for the inexperienced.

I cannot see the OP so my apologies for replying to yours...

If by bike you meant a motorbike, then I built one a couple of years
ago. I used some scrap stainless steel box section of several different
sizes to lift my VFR. I used two F shaped sections, each sliding under
each wheel from the side, with the bottoms of the F a slide fit in some
slightly wider box section. This all mounted or rolled up and down a
vertical post with fixed arms which slide under the middle of the bike.
The two F brackets with the bike on it was then lifted by a cheap hand
cable winch which was bolted onto the top a plate welded on top of the
vertical post. I took pictures and posted them on the Honda VFR online
forum, which might help explain the basic idea.

Prior to using a winch to provide the lifting force, I tried a long
threaded rod and nut. Turn the thread and it winched the frame up. This
worked, but was extremely slow and hard to turn.

There is also a type where your ride the bike onto a steel table, then
the top of the table is lifted in the air by a cheap hydraulic car
jack. The plans for this can be found on the Internet.

I didn't use that idea because the table needed as much space as the
length of the bike, plus and extra three feet or so available on the
end. Whereas mine just slides straight under the bike and lifts
vertically.


--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk