Hello, Could really do with some advice

[ManWithAPlan]

Hello

I did have a good look on the forum and think this is the right place to post this...

I'm really looking for advice on how to build something as easy as possible and as cheap as possible....

I want to be able to have my enduro bike in the rear garden but due to the bungalow being a lot lower than the rear garden there is a 3 foot retaining wall going around to hold up the rear garden so at the minute its impossible to get the bike up there...

Removing the retaining wall would be a lot of work so I'm looking to build some kind of platform/table out of wood, so that the same height as the three foot wall, long enough (7ft) and strong enough to have the bike on it, (which weighs around 100kg) and then a seperate kind of ramp I can hook onto or push up against the platform and table so that the bike can be ridden or pushed up the ramp, onto the table, then with a bit of persuasion shimmying it over on to the garden.

I have drawn what i mean and hopefully you guys could give us some advice on how to build this or if you think there is a better solution to this please by all means let us know.

all advice and ideas I would be very grateful, I just dont know where to start with this or how to build it for that matter lol

Cheers, any questions which you may need to ask to help give us some ideas please do

 

[morfa]

My better idea is 'build it out of metal'.

It wouldn't be too hard to build something out of two by fours and plywood that would work however and you wouldn't need many tools. It wouldn't last as long tho.

 

[bugbear]

What's in the garden; a shed for storage/repairing/maintainance?

BugBear

 

[ManWithAPlan]

Thanks morfa for the idea, but i dont have the tools to build it out of metal, and also ideally I'd like to be able to move it once built in two seperate pieces elsewhere to not block up the side passage way not in use, but cheers

Thats right bugbear... Currently I have to work on the bike in a small passage way which you see in the first picture which is a nuance cus I gotta keep shunting the bike around and just the limited space makes it hard to do anything...

Thing is our rear garden is massive so would be ideal to be able to get the bike up and has a nice big empty shed to work in also and this is where im looking to build some kind of ramp or possibly taking out part of the retaining wall and putting in a slope but really I'd like the easier option and i would of thought the easiest and cheaper option would be to build this ramp/table thing to get it up and down...

Building the table I could probably mock up by 4 by 2 and that so its strong enough to hold the bike weights and myself and with a wooden surrounding bit like decking going round at the top to me or the bike falling off lol......just building the ramp and making it so that it would be strong enough to have the bike go up at it and to fix securely onto the table part is where i'd struggle without advice probably...

What would you all suggest the best way to go about it?? I'm thinking of having it on the other pathway now but im still in the same position, just theres no windows to fall into if I was to come off it or the bike once i got it built lol...

Cheers

 

[mailee]

I built a ramp for my bike, heavy 250 kilos! for my van. I used 2X4 pressure treated with diagonal bracing underneath on a ladder frame. i also put a lip on the top to stop the wheels falling off and a metal hook on the front to hook onto the van. It cost me almost as much as buying a metal one though! HTH. :roll:

 

[swb58]

Bite the bullet, remove a chunk of the retaining wall and put a proper ramp in. If the garden is as big as you say then it sounds like you need some good access to it.

If you build a ramp I bet you'll soon get fed up with moving it and finding somewhere to put it where it's not in somebodies way.

 

[GLFaria]

I wouldn't remove any section of the retaining wall, it's probably there so the garden doesn't end down in the passageway.

A removable platform is bound to be pretty heavy and cumbersome.
I worked the perspective a little and found out that the heigh of the wall is approximetely the same as the width of the passageway. Am I right? Wouldn't it be possible to build a folding platform, which would fold down against the wall when not in use, such as in the sketch below?
Of course, you would need to work out how stout it would have to be (I accept no responsibility on the design and buid, BTW). Also, you would need to think about slippage when pulling the cycle up.

A 100 kg cycle doesn't look like a lot, but I am used to pushing a wheelchair with someone about 50kg on it and can assure you it is no fun on steep ramps. Even less when the ground is wet. And a motorcycle is much less easy to push than a wheelchair is.

We shoul indeed be discussing this on another forum...

 

[nev]

My first idea was exactly as GL has drawn above but Could you possibly adapt one of these?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Collaps ... /?ALLSTEPS

 

[CHJ]

If you can find a reasonably priced (second-hand?) scissor lift it may be an easier option than trying to get the bike up that high on a ramp. You'd only have to ramp it up about 300mm and pump it up the rest of the way.

 

[bugbear]

If you can find a reasonably priced (second-hand?) scissor lift it may be an easier option than trying to get the bike up that high on a ramp. You'd only have to ramp it up about 300mm and pump it up the rest of the way.

Like this (not cheap!)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hydraulic-hig ... 3ce18e8a68

BugBear

 

[TimothyClaypole]

If the garden is to the left of the retaining wall in the picture then it has to be easier to dig some of that out and make a concrete path/slope, anything else would be a pain in the arse to use and have to move about.

 

[Spindle]

Hi

How do you normally get access to the garden? surely you don't have to climb the three foot wall, can't you take the bike the same way?

Regards Mick

 

[dickm]

If there can be steps from the higher to lower level, how about putting just a narrow ramp on one side of the steps, just wide enough to take the bike wheels? They do something like that on Swiss rail stations, to allow folk to wheel pushbikes up and down the steps more easily?

 

[ManWithAPlan]

Hello again, sorry for late reply, been hectic last few days...

Cheers for your replies though, I've thought about it and im going to scrap the idea of building for a ramp for it, its not worth it, by the time ive built it its going cost me a fair bit and thought of having to move it each time when I don't need it, and when its winter or when the bike is caked in mud i got the worry that it could become very slippery when going up or down it so not gonna bother with that..

Instead ive decided that in the next few months I'm gonna get a builder in to make us a concrete slope where the shed is (just behind the bike in the picture) , will make it ten times easier,quicker and cheaper to be able to get the bike up there when it needs to be...

Spindle.. there is really high steps at the end of the passage way but you cant get the bike up the steps due where the steps are, its just too narrow and hardly any clearance between the bottom step and the bungalow makes it impossible to have the bike facing the steps to be able to get up them...

but anyway cheers for your help lads, ill sure stay on the forum tho cus you seem a like a good bunch

Cheers again..