Space is tight in my garage & the cars need to be parked very particularly to be able to maneuver a wide old Airhead around them.
For years I’ve considered building a DIY dolly on caster wheels, but I figure it’d be hundreds of dollars in time & materials to fabricate something serviceable, so when this popped up on an eBay sale for $100 CAD shipped, I thought it’d be pretty good value.
First impressions:
- It’s heavy & reasonably robust. I’m not sure of the exact gauge of steel, but it’s got to be 3/16” thick & weigh about 20lbs. There are also reinforcing gussets welded to the underside of the raised wheel mounting tabs. It’s still not quite as stable as solid ground, but certainly not unstable by any definition.
- The finish appears to be powder coated & I've not seen a scratch on it yet.
- There’s a rubber mat on the lowered platform. It helps keep the stand from sliding around on the dolly, but it can still be a challenge to set the stand perfectly square on the dolly.
- There’s a lever brake which sets a couple of steel cam lobes on the ground when actuated; nice feature especially as most garage floors are slightly sloped for drainage.
- The casters are thermoplastic rubber & appear strong enough for the task. The wheels are doubled-up & that differs from the online sales pictures which show single casters (perhaps there were enough complaints & returns that the manufacturer revised an earlier deign?). They are only 2” diameter though so they obviously work best on smooth surface floors. Rougher finishes would likely cause extra rolling resistance & make the dolly much less useable.
- Our Airheads naturally balance towards the rear when on the centre stand so this makes it more challenging to push the bike around because the dolly works best when the bike’s tipped forward so the front wheel’s on the ground.
- The platform is lowered but it still sits about 3/4” above the floor; just enough to increase the effort required to get the bike on the stand. Roll off is unnoticeably different from when the bike’s on the ground (especially with the dolly brake engaged).
Overall I’m pleased with the purchase, even if the dolly requires a bit more grunt to move the bike around on than I’d hoped. it certainly is useable as intended.
