Figure 1 – Instructions
Wanting a new stand for the garage Tusk Adjustable Lift Stand. As expected, when ordering online, some assembly was required. For the most part it wasn’t that big of deal. The instructions are pretty simple.
The only difficult part was step one. The Teflon washers are paper thin and getting them in place was pretty rough. There where a couple rough parts on the parts themselves that compounded the issue.
Figure 2 – Tight Fit for Teflon Washers
As you can see, it is a bit of a tight fit. But in reality, it only took a couple minutes and wasn’t that big of a deal. The rest of the assembly was cake.
The stand itself seems well built and has quit a bit of adjustment to it. At its lowest, it is 9 1/2″ tall. It has about 3-1/4″ lift, making its lifted height (at the lowest setting) about 12-3/4″. About the tallest I would be willing to adjust to is about 14-1/4″. This makes its lifted height about 17-1/2″. It is a little wobbly at this height. Also, there is not much of the shaft in the base, so I wouldn’t use on anything really heavy.
The platform has an Anti-slip rubber top that measures about 9″ x 11-3/4″. My XR600R is reasonably stable on it. However, some users do complain that the lifted bike rotates too easily. From what little I have used it, I like that the bike rotates easily, but I could also see where this would be a pain.
Figure 3 – Locking Nut
There is also a locking nut (Figure 3) on the shaft to help lock down the height adjustment. I have read a few complaints that the stand requires height adjust when used on different bikes and that the lock nut makes this difficult. First, of course it would require adjust more different bikes, different bikes are often different heights. As far as difficulty goes, it’s really not bad. Sure, it would be nice if there was a way to put index marks on the shaft, to make it quicker to set it for a particular bike. But, I bet even the most mildly creative person could come up with a way to do that.
So anyway, to lift it, there is a removable lever that you simply step on to lift the bike. My XR600R, not the lightest dirt bike around, lifts easily.
One downside is that it is just as easy to accidentally lower it. Fortunately, that can be partly remedied by removing the lever. Also, the ability to remove the lever makes working on the bike much easier, when you aren’t tripping on the lever. However, be careful removing the lever. The first time I did it, I lowered my XR600R onto the top of my head!
 Figure 4 – Lift Lever in Place |
 Figure 5 – Lift Lever Removed |
So, for about $60, it’s a nice little stand and the ability to lift the bike on the stand is way cool, compared to lifting the bike onto the stand. Especially when said bike is my XR600R!
