can we sticky this too?


i have just made some notes on a pad of paper and i'm headed into the warehouse to plunder some lumber (almost rhymed). what a great use of company time!

edit: an hour and a half later, success! however i learned the hard way why i needed a "sabre" saw... i ended up using a hammer and chisel (read: flat-head screwdriver) to get the wood out of the notches (we're not exactly a woodshop here... tools are limited). when i get home i'm going to take a file and smooth it all out, because as of now it's looking pretty chunky in there.

tomorrow i'll test them out while i'm changing my oil for the first time. woohoo! now off to open-24-hours wal-mart to get one of those nifty self-containing oil drain pans.

It may be too late but make sure you get one that closes and has a drain plug. It can be a real pain trying to recycle your used oil with an open-top pan... messiest day of my life.

that's what i meant by self-containing... not sure if there's a technical name for it. the one i already had was just a pan with a little notch to make pouring "easy," yeah right. i managed to get it all into a milk jug but it was an experience i'd rather not repeat.

unfortunately the smallest one walmart had was 15 quarts... way bigger than i wanted but on the plus side i can drain my car oil in there as well and not have to worry about filling it up every oil change. less trips to the oil-recycler, more happy me

How to jack up the GZ
 

Take it for what it's worth:

Three weeks after I got my bike I encountered an unfriendly nail somewhere that thought my rear tire would make a good home. I too had trouble getting it off the ground without falling over. I have a set of cheap jackstands ($15.00 or so, I can't remeber the brand or where I got them, but they are definately not the 5-ton variety) that fit really well under the square brackets that the driver's pegs are mounted to (just make sure you get them under the bracket and not the peg, or it could spell disaster). This took care of the front end, both keeping it off the ground, and stabilizing it. For the back I used a cheap 2.5ton car jack that was low enough to go under the frame, and jacked up on the flat bracket that is right in front of the rear wheel (the U-shaped one with two holes that looks just perfect for the center stand that 'Zuki should have put on it). This took care of the rear tire. At the end I had the entire bike off the ground and still had enough room on the side to wiggle the rear tire out.

Re: Motorcycle Jack Stands
 

Wow, that is a great idea. I might make a set for my self

Re: Motorcycle Jack Stands
 

i was thinking about making some of these but, couldn't you just buy some kind of wide wood beam and cut two pices off of it to the correct height. so you would have 2 solid blocks of wood and save a lot of time building something like this..

Re: Motorcycle Jack Stands
 

This is what mine look like. I used an old piece of 4" X 6" pressure treaded wood I had hanging around the house and screwed a piece of 1" thick decking board to the bottom. I have a lot of wood working equipment in my basement so I got a little fancy on the angle cuts and notching. I also fastened a piece of rubber to the top notches so that the bike rests on a nice soft material. I like to spray paint the shit out of every little project I make and these jacks were no exception... :)
http://www.postimage.org/aVAY5IJ.jpg

Note how those little notches in the inside part of the 4"X6" help the stands get closer to the bike.

http://www.postimage.org/gxdRet9.jpg

Re: Motorcycle Jack Stands
 

Wild looking muffler.

Re: Motorcycle Jack Stands
 

David Bo, nice touches with the notching and rubber cushions. Will the 4 inch thick dimension limit access to any parts you may want to work on ?

Re: Motorcycle Jack Stands
 

Thanks... The muffler really gives the bike a nicer sound too. It only cost $59.99 thru JC Whitney. Wasn't hard to install either. The 4" thick stands have not been a problem with accessing anything when I work on my bike. It least not so far.