Why are Jacks / Lifts / Stands so Overpriced?

[Chopper_Whitewolf]

I’m looking for angle iron to make this style of simple bike stand. These cost £60.00 or more online and I can damned sure make one myself. One that is specifically suited for my purposes. It’s a super simple bit of kit. I’ve gone through several websites that seem to have decent prices on their mild steel only to discover at checkout it’s for Trades Only. This is something I keep running up against. We’ve been here about 8 years and I still struggle navigating retail vs wholesale distributors. I will also need mild steel for planned future mods to my bike.
Where can I find mild steel tubing/ pipe / angle iron that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg?

--==I have come to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable==--

[♠️ MARCEL]

Are you confortable using standard car jacks x2  , to lift the frame on both sides instead ? and you can wind them down slowly when done ?  Sissor jacks are what we use on GVs due to most of the  “So called hydraulic lifts” are too high to slide them under the GV frames as the GV’s are low slung machines unlike the GT’s

£60 for what you saw in your picture is expected or more but any bike shop locally can get it for you since they already have trade accounts to get it from wholesellers ?

// Meditation doesn't mean you have to sit still....

[Chopper_Whitewolf]

I’m an idiot.

I bought a trolley jack from Tool Station for 32 quid. I did this the day of finally finding and ordering the X-ring conversion. If I had just spent a few more hours searching online I could have had this.
Well if I’m being charitable with myself, I had just spent a weekend working on my friends van, in the rain, to then ride an hour home, in the rain, to then snap my drive belt a mile or so from the flat and had to push her home, in the rain. Then i spent three days being a ball of ADHD anxiety trying to find a replacement belt. By the time you came to my rescue with the X-ring conversion kit I was done in. I’d already spent three day freaking out over how much this “simple” bit of basic maintenance is costing us. I am hyperfixated on every penny we are having to spend. So when my nesting partner came into my office and said “What all do you need to get this sorted? Whatever tools you need, just buy them”
My brain was absolute mush, fatigue, sciatica, arthritis, that spot in the middle of my lumbar I can’t reach any more from the two times I broke my back, I was done. I couldn’t see spending 60 quid on a jank metal hoop that I could absolutely do a better job of with scrap metal and a bit of PVC for the roller. So I just blurted out “I need a floor jack. There’s a floor jack. Sorted” 😀

Last night I found this, on Amazon. It’s too late to return the trolley jack and order the bike lift in time. Parts should be here tomorrow, and it doesn’t hurt having a trolley jack.
Live and learn.
With a new rear tire needed before winter and having spent monies put aside for that on the chain conversion just means I won’t be getting the bike jack til sometime next year, hopefully.

That’s a really rambling way of saying, I found a decent looking bike lift

If I had just waited

--==I have come to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable==--

[♠️ MARCEL]

Lol, it’s okay , this is the bike life,  it’s always wise to have a garage full of backups for any situations.  Unlike a car, if it breaks down, you need AA 100% and most cases you need a taxi home and the car is stuck in a garage if the clutch goes bang etc, on major things.

I’d recommend backup clutch cables , throttles cables and a small set of tools in your pannier boxes, then heaven forbid a cable snaps , then you can replace it on the road side!  (A new bike? Should be OK for a long while, but as with buying used bikes, i usually overhaul everything and put the old parts in storage as backups in the future, saves the online crazy hunting you experienced) 🙂

I just literally had to send a cable to Jim from USA (he is on the forum)  ,  rode fine to wherever he was summoned to, but something snapped on the way back home! 🤐

// Meditation doesn't mean you have to sit still....

[Chopper_Whitewolf]

I’ve never had a new bike. Always bought used, rode hard bikes. Unfortunately, unlike back yonder here I don’t have my own workshop. My Brother (Not blood related. Ride or Die Brother) inherited all my tools when we moved. We relocated with only two checked bags each. I’m slowly building back up my toolbox.
The biggest struggle acclimating to Scottish/ U.K. life is “Where the hell do I buy stuff”. Automotive parts and accessories just aren’t readily available over here and just about everything I need has to be got online.

I spent the afternoon installing new rear shocks only to discover the tire gauge I bought online doesnt fit the Schrader valve on my wheels or suspension dampers. I keep running into seized bolts, and was unable to remove the front drive pulley because I don’t have a big enough socket nor a breaker bar. I don’t even know what size socket I need.
So I can’t tune my rear shocks. (which is a two-man job anyway) I can’t prep the bike for the chain conversion today for lack of specific tools. My front suspension is making a noise now like it’s dry or a worn seal and I really don’t want to have to rebuild my forks.

To top it off, I’m doing all this work outdoors in a shared car park … it’s been a long day.

Do you happen to know if there is a PDF or video guide for the X chain conversion installation?

--==I have come to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable==--

[♠️ MARCEL]

Chain coversions are usually swap and go, but SV650 uses the same Principal, so youtube videos on the SV650 and use the forum’s manual for tightening torques for the GV650 specifically

// Meditation doesn't mean you have to sit still....

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