eMopeds are sufficiently heavy that most bicycle maintenance stands will not support their weight for service such as tire changes.
What are the methods you use to safely jack up your eMoped for wheel/tire type issues?
I'm particularly interested in inexpensive "shade tree mechanic" type setups. Not necessarily junky, but cheap.
While eMopeds are considered heavy for
bicycles, they are still considered very light compared to motorcycles, so the lifting is not necessarily a problem, but the supporting while working is.
- Automotive floor/scissor jacks: One possibility is of course an automotive floor jack or scissor jack, but the bike will need to have a large enough surface area to jack that the bike won't fall off as force is applied to different areas of the bike.
- Stools/board method. User Uncle FJester on YouTube mentioned using two stepladders with a 2x4 board between them, which supports his Juiced HyperScorpion under the rack or something. This idea is worth exploring a bit.
- Centerstand pivot Those of us lucky enough to have an eMoped with a center stand will have a much easier time. Generally, one wheel will be off the ground when the bike is on the centerstand. Work on that wheel should be easy. Work on the other wheel can be done by jacking just enough to pivot the bike on the centerstand enough to elevate the other wheel.
- Side stand prop: When I had a Kawasaki KLR650 motorcycle, the community had a simple method of lubricating the chain when out and about:
- Put the bike on its sidestand
- Lean the bike over on the sidestand until the rear wheel is off the ground, then put a custom-made prop under the engine support frame to hold it.
This would probably be enough to remove the rear wheel, but wouldn't help with the front wheel
- Flip the bike over on its back. This is the tried-and-true method that cyclists have used for decades, however these days, there is often equipment mounted to the handlebar that could be damaged when using this method and the weight is resting on it. Be careful here. I saw one photo recently where the shade tree mechanic had the ends of the handlebars supported by boating life jackets as cushions on each bar end. This is worth exploring and is probably the cheapest of all options, as long as the eMoped owner can safetly muscle the bike onto its seat/bars.
eMopeds are a fledgling product right now. I expect someone will come up with some home brew stand ideas in the near future, then they will be everywhere.
Woodworkers I'm sure will start building fixtures like this out of construction grade lumber, and other folks will start devising ideas from PVC pipes.
As we see these ideas, let's share them here!
