Crude; but functional; homemade motorcycle worktable.

Well I've managed to put a little over 8k miles on the used 2010 NT I bought last September.
And it's gonna need new tires.

Since the NT requires removal of exhaust and rear fender to change it's rear tire without a worktable.
Ever since buying the NT I had been planning on buying a Harbor Freight motorcycle lift:
http://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-capacity-motorcycle-lift-69904.html


But I've concluded that I just don't have the room for the Harbor Freight lift.
Plus moving a 300lb lift around on the plywood floor of my "garage" does not sound like fun.

SO
I stole an idea from post #9 in this thread:
http://www.hdforums.com/forum/touring-models/288073-home-made-lift-table-pics.html



And I spent a few hours last Saturday making basically the same thing:









Mines a fair bit smaller than that Harley rider's table.
Mine is only 22" wide x 11" high x 8' long. And each section is 32" long.
I used 2x10's for the sides and and 2x6's for the deck.
I had planned on using 2x8's for the top deck. But the local Home Depot did not have any 8-ft 2x8's in stock.
Hopefully 11" deck height plus the 15" of fender height provides enough room to remove rear tire.
I believe it should. Because rear tire is about 23" tall. (17" rim + 2x 3" tire height = 23").

As you can see. It's rather crude looking. I only had a circular saw to cut the wood. So some cuts are not the straightest.
Currently all the 2x10 making up the sides; are simply attached to each other at right angles via deck screws. And then the deck is screwed on top of the sides.
It feels rather sturdy. But if I feel it ever needs some strengthening; I may add some vertical 2x4's sections in side each corner.

But as it stands right now. I just need to add a couple screw holes to secure the ramp to table, tie-down anchors, and something to prevent the sections from sliding apart when loading a bike into the Sport Chock.

After work today I bought some eye bolts and D-rings to use for tie-down anchor points. I plan to add some 2x4 cross members under the deck and attached to the sides.
I'll then mount the eye bolts and D-rings though both the 2x6 deck and the 2x4 cross members.

The wood cost about $65, box of deck screws $9, and the eye bolts/ D-rings another $10.

I'll try to remember to take some photos while changing tires next weekend.
And let everyone know how it performed.

--ET

Are you going to park your bike on your platform Or? I have a HF lift and I parked my NT full time on it, when I had the NT, as I don't have that much room. There is no moving the lift around. Now I park my Wee STrom on it full time.

I will not be parking any bike on top of the platform.
My garage is just WAAY too crowded to leave the the platform in one spot.
The above photos were taken without the truck in the garage.
So I just stack the sections on their side in a corner somewhere in the garage.
They're currently in the one corner, in front of the snowblower, and blocking a door.

--ET

Your idea looks workable to me plus it's easily moveable since it's in three sections. Great design!

Nice work and great idea.

Nice Griso too

charlie b said:

Nice work and great idea.

Nice Griso too

Click to expand...

Unfortunately looks are deceiving.
Griso is the biggest piece of junk I ever bought.

Do you ride it up on there or push it? Is there room to stand to put it on the centerstand? Just asking not criticising. I can see myself falling off of there. LOL Klutz.

nyst100 said:

Do you ride it up on there or push it? Is there room to stand to put it on the centerstand? Just asking not criticising. I can see myself falling off of there. LOL Klutz.

Click to expand...

I pushed the bikes onto it.
And I had to place a small wooden pallet beside the platform for me to stand on while I raised the NT onto it's center stand.

--ET

ett said:

Unfortunately looks are deceiving.
Griso is the biggest piece of junk I ever bought.

Click to expand...

Was yours one of the ones that the top end disintegrated?

charlie b said:

Was yours one of the ones that the top end disintegrated?

Click to expand...

The tappets and cams may be failing.
But don't have the $$ or time to verify.

I've also had plenty of other issues with it and the dealer.

The Griso was only two weeks old when the dealer corrupted the ECU.

I don't think I had the dealer order any parts order correctly or in a timely fashion.
Everything with them must be prepaid 100% and takes at least 1-1/2 weeks. Usually much longer.
Even when the parts are in Guzzi's warehouse in Atlanta.

The second Winter the Fast Idle quit working. Griso had about 30k miles at that time.
Probably a sign that the tappets and cams had started to fail.

Over the next two years. I had three different sensors fail. Phase, Oxygen, and Oil Pressure.
I had both rims get bent and fork seal start leaking due to Griso's limited suspension.
Suspension is not up to par for the size of the Griso. I hit a pothole in a corner and bent both rims.
3/4 of the suspension travel is used just sitting on the bike.

A year later; the exhaust mid bracket broke. Placed an order for mid exhaust.
After 3+ months; it was still on back order. So cancelled order thinking I'll just get the part welded.
Come inspection time a few months later. I still could not find anyone willing to weld.
So I again placed an order for the mid exhaust.
And surprisingly it arrived in only TWO hours ! But the exhaust gaskets took another two weeks.

The Griso's fuel tank has also swollen up.
The last time I took off the tank. I could not get it back on.
Had to take it back to that dealer. One mechanic said "They rigged it".
When I replied "What the F does that mean ?!".
The head mechanic said "Nothing. It just took two of us to force it on.".
I'm afraid to ever remove the tank.

The alternator is also failing. It's only putting out 13.2 bolts instead of 14.8 volts.
And a new alternator from Guzzi is $850. (Although probably much cheaper if I can rebuild it or find equivalent car alternator. I assume just the stator is failing.).

The ECU's misfire at just above idle (ie parking lot speeds) combined with the slack in the drivetrain.
Makes for some jerky riding in slow moving or stop-n-go traffic.

On April 3. The wind blew it over in work parking lot.
The aftermarket CARC guard and engine guards appear to have saved the Griso from any major damage.
Other than the guards now needing to be replaced (Engine guards are no longer available.), scrapes on bar end and foot pegs, the right hand mirror broke.
I called the dealer April 5 and placed an order for a mirror.
They said the mirror was in Atlanta and should be here next week.
Well by April 14 I had to call them asking where my mirror was.
They then tried to give me a line about the mirror being in Italy.
I had to call them out on that. After which they said. "Oh sorry; you're correct. It'll be here late tomorrow."
In other words; they never placed the order and now had to do an over night shipment.
On April 15 a mirror arrived. I say "a mirror". Because they ordered the wrong mirror !
Just today they called me back stating they found the correct mirror. But it will cost is $105 !
I told them to get lost and give me a refund for my first order.

I'm sure there been other issues with it and the dealer.
But I've rambled on enough.

There are some VERY nice things about the Griso.
I love that shaft drive. No shaft effect while riding. And rear tire changes are so easy.
I love the power output of the motor. Low end torque, mid range power, and high rpm horse power.
Never had a motorcycle that had all three.
And when new; I loved that alternator. It could handle full electric gear even at idle.
On a smooth road; the Griso handles nearly as good as my race bike and street GSXR.
And I love how easy it is to check/adjust the valves on that Guzzi motor.

But it's negatives greatly out weight it's too few positives.

--ET

Yep, you've had a few. Some of which are why I've never gone through with the purchase of a newer Norge or Stelvio.

I got to ride a hot rodded Griso a few years ago and it was a hoot (Pete Roper's US bike if you know of him). A great hooligan bike.

I still lust after the V11 Lemans though. I passed on a Rosso a while back and am starting to regret it.

Am also glad I never had to rely on a dealer or the Piaggio parts network.

PS I just recently had to replace the alternator on my T5. I chose the Euromotoelectrics version. It is nice having excess charging current available.

OP here,

Well I used the platform to change tires and brake pads on the NT yesterday.
And a lot of the love I have for this bike evaporated when working on the rear of the NT.
What a mess. Never had any motorcycle that required so much stuff to be removed to do simple tasks.
This is were all you long time NT owners start giggling.

Overall the platform worked well. But it will need final touches to make it work perfectly.
Before starting. I added some D-rings. Four to be exact.
One on each side edge, on top the platform, and lined up with the engine guards.
Other two were lined up with the rear foot pegs.
All four were fastened with 3" deck screws passing though the top 2x6 and into 2x10.

Ultimately only the two under the engine mounts were of any use. They held the front of the bike down while working on the rear.
The two under the rear foot pegs I intended to use for keeping the front of the bike raised while I worked on the front of the bike.
Instead of keeping the front of the bike raised and the back of the bike down; they only caused the rear section of the platform to get airborne.
So I only used the platform to change the rear tire and brakes. I changed the front on the ground like all my other motorcycles.

Another issue with the platform that will need to be addressed. Is that since the garage bay housing my motorcycles is cleaner that the truck bay.
The whole platform slid when attempting to load the NT onto it. Ultimately I just let it slide into the garage door.

With the platform being 8ft long, my ramp being 6ft long, NT being another 6ft long, and workbench across back of bay being another couple feet.
The whole setup was nearly the entire length of my garage. Providing only a few inches of space to maneuver NT while loading and unloading.


As for working on the NT.
Changing the front tire and brakes was fairly straight forward. But I did encounter a couple annoying issues.
Placing NT on center stand and jacking up the front; via jack under engine; until the rear tire touches the ground.
Does not provide enough clearance for the front tire to easily pass underneath the front fender.
Tire has to be tilted; and it still rubbed fender.
Next time I may change front tire using the platform.
IF I can stop the platform from sliding into the garage door and use the bottle jack from truck instead of big, long floor jack to keep front of NT raised.
And when changing brake pads. I had to unbolt hoses from the fender.

Now for working on the rear of the NT.
Holy cow what a mess !
While the platform did negate the requirement of removing the rear fender.
I still had to partially remove the exhaust/muffler.
I could only get 3 of the 4 heat shield screws removed. I was never able to remove the one directly under the rear foot peg.
I was able to remove the two exhaust mounting bolts and loosen the front band bolts.
But the muffler just would not pull away from the headers.
And since I didn't have spare gaskets; I eventually quit trying to remove the muffler completely.
Perhaps next time I have space gaskets and get muffler completely off.
While working on the rear end. I encountered everything else you long time NT owners warned about.

With both front and rear wheels.
I found they would both spin when clamped in my No-mar tire changer right before getting the final lip of a tire over the rim.
Have no idea why. Never encountered that before.

And though out the whole ordeal. I was reminded why I don't trust mechanics.
Nearly every single bolt was WAY over tightened.
For example. I had to use my entire 230 lbs of body to crack free the rear axle nut !
There is no way it was only tighten to 66 lbf-ft as specified in the shop manual.

It took me over SIX HOURS to change the tires and brake pads.
Not looking forward to doing this every couple months. :frown:

--ET

ett said:

OP here,



With both front and rear wheels.
I found they would both spin when clamped in my No-mar tire changer right before getting the final lip of a tire over the rim.
Have no idea why. Never encountered that before.


--ET

Click to expand...

I use a tie down strap around the spoke of the wheel and changer arm to keep the wheel from slipping in the changer. In the attached picture you can see the blue strap.

When pulling the front wheel you can gain a little clearance by deflating the tire first. If I remember right though there still isn't quite enough to clear the fender.

Brad

ett said:

It took me over SIX HOURS to change the tires and brake pads.

Click to expand...

Haven't done the valves yet, have ya?

Yeah, the NT is a PITA to work on.