Abba Sky Lift

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rockdodger
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Abba Sky Lift

Post by rockdodger »

Hi I’m looking for a good solution to turn my bike round in my garage and some has suggested the Abba Sky Lift. I’ve watched numerous video online which in themselves are very good but I would like to see one being used first hand. Does anyone local to me (Brighouse West Yorkshire) have one they can show me how easy or difficult they are to use.
The bonus over other bike turning devices the Abba Sky Lift has is I can work on my bike at a comfortable level instead of been on my knees.
Cheers Steve
fatowl
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Re: Abba Sky Lift

Post by fatowl »

Not a sky lift, I know, but a cheaper and smaller (easier to store) alternative would be one of these lifts
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Motorcycle-H ... 3774807736

I got one similar for a CRF250, and it worked well enough. Easy to turn the bike round, and stable enough.
chrisjk
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Re: Abba Sky Lift

Post by chrisjk »

I have a sky lift and it's great for lifting the bike. You can turn a bike on it but the caster wheels are quite small so on a rough or uneven floor, it won't be that easy.
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mark vb
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Re: Abba Sky Lift

Post by mark vb »

fatowl wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 11:03 am Not a sky lift, I know, but a cheaper and smaller (easier to store) alternative would be one of these lifts
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Motorcycle-H ... 3774807736

I got one similar for a CRF250, and it worked well enough. Easy to turn the bike round, and stable enough.
I have a similar Clarke lift from Machine Mart. Great for lifting/moving a bike, but on my Africa Twin the bash plate has to come off so the frame rails are supported by the lift. The 4 mounting points for the bash plate appear too weak to adequately take the load, with the plate notably flexing under lifting conditions. So, a good solution which could work depending on whether a bash plate is to be the point of contact, and if so whether the bash plate and its fixing points are man enough to support the load without risk of damage..
rockdodger
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Re: Abba Sky Lift

Post by rockdodger »

Thank you all for the replies it’s very much appreciated.
My garage floor is reasonably smooth but it’s slightly out of level and I have a device where I ride my bike on then but it the bike on the side stand. Due to the slight issue with the floor it’s a bit hard turning the bike round so that’s one of the reasons I considered the sky lift. I was hoping the wheels on the sky lift would be better than on my current piece of kit.
Cheers Steve
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Elmer J Fudd
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Re: Abba Sky Lift

Post by Elmer J Fudd »

rockdodger wrote: Sun Mar 21, 2021 3:24 pm Thank you all for the replies it’s very much appreciated.
My garage floor is reasonably smooth but it’s slightly out of level and I have a device where I ride my bike on then but it the bike on the side stand. Due to the slight issue with the floor it’s a bit hard turning the bike round so that’s one of the reasons I considered the sky lift. I was hoping the wheels on the sky lift would be better than on my current piece of kit.
Cheers Steve
Could you not just fix the floor?

A decent self levelling system such as Isocrete may be simpler than buying more kit that might topple on an uneven floor.

You can also buy bigger wheels for your existing kit.
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Toe
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Re: Abba Sky Lift

Post by Toe »

I've used the regular Abba stands and not had any trouble getting any bike (apart from cruisers) into place so definitely rate that. I'd like to try out a sky lift though, would appreciate the working level the bike is at and can do everything apart from swingarm out. Although with the under engine stands you couldn't get engine out (although hopefully wouldn't have to very often).

44teeth actually had a little snippet on it this week https://youtu.be/FyQ09oZOA-A?t=804 (should be timestamped correctly, if not then 13m25s in). Looks like it has the small wheels like most stands tend to though.

As suggested above maybe look into a top layer that would smooth it out, whether permanent or some sort of that workshop floor tiling that goes together like puzzle pieces.
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macvisual
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Re: Abba Sky Lift

Post by macvisual »

As mentioned above, Chris from "44teeth" has recently bought an Abba Sky lift, check out their recent video uploaded on their YouTube channel.

Regards;
Peter
"Progress is not possible without deviation".

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