you may have a centre stand on your bike, if so then you are ahead of the game. A lot of maintenance tasks can be performed with the bike on the centre stand and nothing more.

     if you are not fortunate enough to have a centre stand, or your model simply does not have the option (eg GV650) then the next step up is the race stand. This is a tubular frame bent in the middle such that one end will fit under the rear swing arm and then the frame can be pressed down to lift the rear wheel off the ground. This provides a stable mounting to work on the rear of the bike, change the oil, etc. Note that lifting the bike with a racestand with only one person requires a little care especially with a heavy bike since you have to bring the bike to an upright position before lifting which requires you balance the bike vertically with one hand while pressing down on the handle of the race stand with the other. There are also similar devices designed to lift the front fork of the bike. To give you a relative cost idea race stands start at about AU$100 for a basic model and run to a maximum of about AU$300. The model pictured below is AU$180.



The black pads go under the swing arm from the rear...



...and then the handle is pressed down pivoting on the stand wheels and lifting the rear wheel of bike off the ground

      the next method is the hydraulic motorcycle lift platform. This is a pivoting parallelogram frame that is moved by a hydraulic ram. The mechanism is fitted to a frame mounted on castors. This device provides a platform that can lift the whole motorcycle. In general use the arms slide under the motorcycle's frame rails if its a double cradle or under the engine if the engine forms part of the bikes "frame". Bikes with a single cradle frame may not be able to use this type of lift. Note also that some bikes may require the fabrication of adaptors to "block up" the frame to clear underhanging obstructions - most commonly this means exhaust pipes that you would otherwise need to remove before lifting. The base frame of the lift provides D's to strap the bike down to when lifted thereby ensuring the bike cannot slip. Hydraulic lifts cost around AU$170.



      Thinking outside the square, if you happen to have a hydraulic engine crane at your disposal you can sling the bike from this. The drawback is that the bike is then not held in place horizontally making some work more difficult, also the engine crane is fairly bulky so you will need a long space in which to work. On the plus side the bike can usually be rotated around the hanging point in its own length which may be advantagous in narrow spaces. These are available for around AU$400.