Motorcycle Faux Turntable

How to pivot a large motorcycle in a small space.

Step 1 The Problem

I've got a big motorcycle and a one-car garage that it lives in. I'd ride the motorcycle into the garage at the end of a ride, and then later to go for another ride I'd have to turn the motorcycle around. It's very big and heavy so doing a series of three-point turns was a serious invitation to lose control and drop the motorcycle. So what I wanted to do was turn the motorcycle 180 degrees, in place inside the garage.

This problem has arisen in various other forms in the past (for example, when moving: I'd ride the motorcycle into the back of a U-Haul truck and then be faced with the problem of getting it out again), so it's preyed on my mind for many years.

Comments

[floptw]

Ingenius. Thanks!

[mrcurlywhirly]

Nice work and ubercheap.

One thing you might want to watch out for is snapping your centrestand. Some BMs are notorious for cracking the stand where the weld for the foot lever sits - i didn't believe it when i was warned until my K100RS stand snapped in two - fortunately it only resulted in minor mirror damage.
So make sure the gussets on the centrestand weld are strong before you start flexing the stand by rotating a 300 odd kilo bike in a direction it is not really designed to take any force.

[scopevisions]

go west! good idea... but ... have you tried a cutting board? yes! a white nylon ( maybe polyethylene) 1/4 inch thick... find a dollar store and buy 2 of them... glue the "sliders" to one, and place it on top of the other and ... turn! reusable and CHEAP!!!

[poobajones]

go apple!

[tannerr52]

go strawberry!

[FreshPineSent]

go banana!

[skaar]

so, perhaps there's a way to permanently attach the furniture sliders to the stand...

[glorybe]

To put your bike on the main stand simply roll it back quickly about three feet until momentum does the work for you when you suddenly push down on the main stand. It should be effortless even with big bikes. I think the idea of a lazy susan without bearings is fine but I think the plastic bits need to be containerized for safety sake. One might slip with that plastic sheeting if it gets out of place.

[Mikey D]

Difficult to do and a tad iffy to put your right foot down on the stand while the bike is moving backwards (without dumping the bike on one side or another :( ) Press the stand down with your right foot (ball of your foot) and grab the left rear of the bike with your right hand. Then simultaiously stand up on your right foot (on stand) and pull up with your right hand and the bike (any bike any weight) will pop right up on it's stand. This with no chance of dumping your baby. Great idea for swiveling you bike by the way!

[day004]

Another way to do it is to put the bike on the side stand, grab the inside bar and lever the rear wheel off the ground slightly. Now just walk it around. Not always pretty or clean but will work on most bikes.

[tool_SLinga]

Uhm...back the bike in?

[wcleland]

My driveway is "uphill" and my Honda ST1300 weighs 750#s. Backing in is almost impossible

[KronoNaut]

Great idea, the Apple logos on the BMW are a nice touch BTW.

[waterppk]

If you had a smaller bike you can actually just lean it over on the side-stand, tip the bike off the two wheels and then spin it around without anything else.

[hack124x768]

I have a smallish bike, an 82 honda 400, and I can spin it around with out any sliders. How big is the bike in the instructable?

[waterppk]

It looks like a BMW r1200 or something of the like. Googling reveals that they weigh somewhere around 750 pounds, so very heavy.

[hack124x768]

Ah, my bike is about half that.

[Bigdawg]

Very nice! Great idea and cheaply accomplished. One thing came to mind, what about those Teflon cutting boards? Less than an inch thick, cheap, and would probably last a very long time. Your idea works great, I'm just putting this idea out there in case you come across those cutting boards; the idea will already be in your head! Very nice instructable.

[jeffreyf]

Clever! Though less portable, I could even see making it easier to use regularly by fixing a those sliders to a board, so one doesn't have to position them each time, and getting a hard plastic tray (perhaps the kind that are in cafeterias) on which to pivot.

[motosaurus]

Good idea, but I liked the locomotive better.