Harbor Freight motorcycle stand review

[sm00thpapa]

Had this stand now for about 3 years and only used it like 3 times and the rubber coating is already coming off the the part that lifts the swing arms. Waist of money now my swing arms are all scratched up. May have to buy some of that rubber in a can spray and try that. Cheap quality stand so you get what you pay for.

 

[MistahT]

I bought it, used it twice, and the second time my bike was up I freaked out.... I noticed one of the welds broke open! Called my wife out to help me get the bike down and trashed the stand.

I got some $75 motorcycle superstore special. It works much better, but after a half dozen times the rubber ripped... I took it off and wrapped the ends with electrical tape Other than that, worth every cent and MUCH better than the Harbor Freight one.

 

[Riccochet]

I've had my northern tools stand for a while. The rubber on the swing arm grips did come off. I used the plasti dip in the can to re-coat them and it's held up real good.

Shop Online When You Visit The United States at Sears

 

[nismos14]

Get a pair of these: Motorcycle Stand Set use coupon code forum and you'll get 10% off and get a pair SHIPPED for ~$75

 

[mikebaileyvienna]

own it

I own it, use it almost weekly. Great gear. Goes to show you that when it comes to cheap stuff like this, reliability (good or bad) is the issue. Would I buy a Pitbull instead?

 

[ReChUcK]

If you buy tools at Harbor Freight...


...you're gonna have a bad time.

Tools are a prime example of "If you buy cheap, you buy twice."

 

[TssTssTss]

Are we talking about the aluminum one?

If so, I've got the t-rex spool adapter setup and the aluminum stand from HF has performed flawlessly, and it sees regular use.

It's this one:

Low Profile Rear Motorcycle Spool Stand

Only ~$30 w/25% off coupon that is perpetually available online...

it is worthless without swingarm spools though - the manual makes mention of available 'pads' to obviate the need for spools, but they must be ordered from HF via the telephone (I guess - never tried).

 

[HotSauce]

I had the same problem, except the rubber ripped the first time I used it (glad it was the stand and not something else )

I have been meaning to get the plastidip to fix it but haven't yet....I bought some T-Rex front stands, much higher quality and really not that expensive, but I still use the HF rear stand. After hearing the horror story of the weld breaking, I'll prolly end up getting a rear from T-Rex, it's not really worth it to prop your bike up with cheap stuff like HF...

In the end you get what you pay for

 

[MichaelInVenice]

Are we talking about the aluminum one?

If so, I've got the t-rex spool adapter setup and the aluminum stand from HF has performed flawlessly, and it sees regular use.

It's this one:

Low Profile Rear Motorcycle Spool Stand

Only ~$30 w/25% off coupon that is perpetually available online...

it is worthless without swingarm spools though - the manual makes mention of available 'pads' to obviate the need for spools, but they must be ordered from HF via the telephone (I guess - never tried).

I suspect it's this one:

Motorcycle Swingarm Rear Stand

I have the alumnium one and I found the pads on fleabay. Big problem though. With the pads installed, and with a 17" wheel, the stupid thing won't lift the rear tire off the ground! They hang down just below the attachment point, and that's just too low. With the spool adapters everything is jacked up about 1 1/2", plus the spools themselves are usually somewhat below the bottom of the swingarm, so there's more space. I've been able to use mine with the swingarm pads by putting a 2x6 under each wheel as an extra spacer and carefully raising it. Even then, I barely have any clearance off the ground.

It's not a horrible tool if you have a bike with swingarm spools. I suspect this is why they stopped selling those pads. Like most of their stuff it's cheap Chinese made and probably designed for all the small-wheeled scooters and motorcycles they have over there. It would probably be fine on one of those smaller Asia-only bikes with smaller wheels. Maybe I'll sell it to somebody with a Honda Grom.

Some Horror Freight stuff works fine, especially if it's simple and has few things to go wrong. My locking wheel chock does just what it's supposed to do, no problems.

 

[linkgt]

Get a pair of these: Motorcycle Stand Set use coupon code forum and you'll get 10% off and get a pair SHIPPED for ~$75

sweet. thanks man