The EazyRizer
OK. This isn't a review. I'm not sure I could (should?) even attempt one as a
review ought to contain critical comparisons with similar products with
comparative feature details and I have totally no experience of any others to
draw on. Also it's new to me so I don't have any history of long term wear,
tear or reliability issues. However I've been asked for details and an opinion
so consider this more of a 'trip report'.
Firstly what is this EazyRizer thing? Well it's a device you can put your
motorcycle on and then elevate it to a convenient working height. Now I'm an
old man, let's admit that up front, and grovelling round on the floor to
adjust, clean and lubricate things is now getting... Well tiresome to my poor
old joints.
I looked at the table style systems that I see in workshop videos on the web
but I rather fancied keeping the wheels free so they can turn as a lot of bike
maintenance jobs work better that way. I saw quite a lot of systems offered
that just put two lift bars under the engine but I rather felt that my fairing
might object to that and I also rather wondered how stable they would all be.
Then I saw the
EazyRizer
Red and it looked at least worth researching a bit.
Let's get the things I worried about out of the way first.
They have two models. The Blue, a new one, and the Red, the older type. I went
for the Red as it was shown with Sports Bikes while the Blue seemed to be
marketed towards massive cruisers but I'm pretty sure they supply the 'foot
peg' mounts on the blue and it does have an enclosed thread which eliminates a
horrible greasy item just where you want to grab hold things to move it. I
didn't know that was even a problem at the time but I can see a bit of ducting
becoming part of the system quite soon.
I looked rather suspiciously at the 'foot-peg' mounting system. Yes, I could
see that it wasn't actually lifting the bike on the foot pegs but on their
mounts and that the clamps around the pegs are just there too ensure things
stayed in alignment so the bike couldn't escape. What bothered me more was the
fact that the front end was lifted on a plate that appeared to go under my
fairing. I was worried enough about that one to contact their enquiry email
address and, despite asking at 1815 in mid lockdown, was told within 15
minutes:
There is no need to remove fairings as the bottom is open for the exhaust
and the front mount of the footpeg mount set simply sits under the collector
box (an Industry Standard) it does frighten some people but its fine and will
certainly not cause any damage.
I will admit I crawled under the bike and pushed at the collector box but it
seemed impressively not open to being moved so I put that worry to one
side.
My second concern was that you seemed to need to virtually rebuild the lifting
supports every time you put a bike on it. In the end I decided that it was only
at worst half a dozen bolts and I felt I've done worse. When it came it wasn't
that bad and it goes together quite promptly.
So it turned up next working day as promised and it is solidly packed for its
weight. It all went together quite smoothly. OK, the thread that does the
lifting needed a bit of finishing work with the rat-tail files to get it into
the nut but again the email support was very fast and reassured me that what I
proposed to do was OK if unexpected. The instructions are clear and include
torque numbers for crucial bolts which is the sort of detail I always
appreciate.
Snags in use
My long term, time served and trusty battery power drill was not man enough for
the task of winding the system up and down even with its recently upgraded
batteries. However for a tool nerd this is hardly a problem, just an excuse to
drop onto Amazon and get a big, butch 1500w mains powered drill on next day. I
also took the opportunity to pick up a 13mm ratchet spanner and a 22mm socket
via Ebay to go in the lift/stand gear box to save breaking into my nice tool
sets every time I want to do a the lift setup job.
Annoyingly my collector was about 1cm too low for the mount to slide in
underneath it when sitting flat on the patio. Again not a big problem for me as
putting the rear paddock stand under the back end lifted everything enough to
go together but might trouble some people. Incidentally as my front stand is
not really something I'd trust to hold the bike upright on its own as it needs
to be I had bought their 'BikeGrab' wheel chock as part of the package. That
gave me a bit of lift already but did need an old man like me to start up the
bike and power up onto it.
I initially found aligning the lift under the bike a problem as it is heavy and
doesn't slide well on my brick patio but as I am only dealing with one bike I
will leave the lift side foot-peg mount in place as that will provide an easy
to see guide for next time.
I'm still a beginner and I'm still learning but I put it up for the fifth time
on camera in eight minutes including more tuning of position and I took it down
in three and a half.
Do I like it? Definitely. I can pull a chair up to the bike and work on it
comfortably.
Does everybody need one? I doubt it. A set of paddock stands is
probably quite enough for you youngsters to get full access.
By Nigel Hewitt