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Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:53 pm
by fish
What is a safe way to raise the Forza's front wheel off of the ground?
Motorcycle paddock lifts are too high - and no one seems to make a lift for a scooter.
The body plastic under the belly seems too fragile to use as a jacking point....as there seems to be a lot of the scooter's weight on the front tire.
If ever I wanted to remove the front wheel, or even lift it to spin on some reflective rim tape.....how?
Lift it by the bars and set the fork ends on some wooden blocks?
That does not seem very stable.
Fish

Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:24 pm
by homie
Don't know about Forza but PCX fits perfect on Harbor Freight's 1500-lbs stand. The structure has to under there somewhere or Forza would probably be the first cycle that cant be supported on a work stand. I use it often and it's very safe even at that height which is totally unnecessary. Just don't forget to leave the center stand down :lol:


Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:39 pm
by fish
homie wrote:Don't know about Forza but PCX fits perfect on Harbor Freight's 1500-lbs stand. The structure has to under there somewhere or Forza would probably be the first cycle that cant be supported on a work stand. I use it often and it's very safe even at that height which is totally unnecessary. Just don't forget to leave the center stand down :lol:

Oh man...don't need to lift the whole scoot, and not sure I'd want her up in the air like that....just the front wheel. They make a pair of paddock wheel stands for both ends of a bike but those are for 17" wheels...just need to lift the front 13" wheel as the center stand takes care of the rear tire.
Fish

Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:49 pm
by BRed
with few exceptions, the Forza's bellypan is pretty flimsy...no good support points.

In the front of the center stand, hangin under the pan, there are two triangular pieces of steel welded to the frame along each side.

you can see them under the bike in this photo:

Image

They appear to be there to prevent you from high-centering the crankcase on a curb or parking stop, but there is a hole in each one.

I'd bet there is a Forza specific mandrel or cradle that fits the head of a hydraulic bike lift, like the one pictured above, and then is pinned or crossbolted to those two triangular wedges to lift both wheels.

If you have a lift it should be easy to make an adapter for the Forza using those two hardpoints.
if not, I expect you might have to use a jack under them.

I think?
That's what I intend to try. :)

but, you could remove the bellypan and see if there are more substantial supports forward?

Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:59 pm
by homie
I tried to block the forks before getting a stand but that was unstable and slipped off easily. Those hard points are where I place one rung of the jack stand and the weight of the PCX is mostly aft from those little flats as you can see when I rock it.

Your Forza's are so long and stretched you might be front heavy from those hard points... but I doubt it.

Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 12:16 am
by iceman
Not a bad lift for $90! I wonder if something like this may make people feel easier :)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HYDRAULIC-MOTOR ... 0728497890
Wheel the bike on, lock the front wheel in and have centre stand down - lift up!

Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 8:34 am
by fish
BRed wrote:with few exceptions, the Forza's bellypan is pretty flimsy...no good support points.

In the front of the center stand, hangin under the pan, there are two triangular pieces of steel welded to the frame along each side.

you can see them under the bike in this photo:

Image

They appear to be there to prevent you from high-centering the crankcase on a curb or parking stop, but there is a hole in each one.

I'd bet there is a Forza specific mandrel or cradle that fits the head of a hydraulic bike lift, like the one pictured above, and then is pinned or crossbolted to those two triangular wedges to lift both wheels.

If you have a lift it should be easy to make an adapter for the Forza using those two hardpoints.
if not, I expect you might have to use a jack under them.

I think?
That's what I intend to try. :)

but, you could remove the bellypan and see if there are more substantial supports forward?
I discovered a photo in the service manual .... a small scissor jack near the front belly pan ....to lift the front wheel to check operation of the combined braking.
I knew I'd seen something somewhere on lifting this very front heavy scooter ( or maybe it's just a heavy scooter!).
I'll have my pit crew look into this spot... :-)
With my Kymco I can raise the front wheel by putting an extra can of beans in the top case!
Fish

Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2014 12:46 pm
by BRed
It's the center stand location.....
the Forza's center stand is located farther to the rear of the frame than any scooter I've seen.

It's mounted 5-6 inches farther back to the rear than the BR or Reflex.
That makes it very easy to get onto the centerstand but front heavy while on the stand.

There is an opening in the belly pan near the front for the radiator outlet port....
it's likely there is a hardpoint in that area for forward support.

Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 10:10 pm
by speedandstyle
Here are some pics of the frame if that helps.

Image

Image

Image

Image

More can be found here - http://www.honda.co.jp/factbook/motor/forza/201306/

Be great if somebody could translate the PDF. Looks like it has lots of detailed information.

Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 1:23 am
by BRed
I love everything about those pictures.....
its like each part is color coded!

Sometimes, I think that I still see a Ruckus (uh, Zoomer) under all that plastic somewhere....

Nah!

Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 4:35 am
by speedandstyle
I think you are right about the color coding. BUT I can't find any info about what the colors mean. The places I found them were Japanese sites and Google translator isn't much help. The last picture shows the floating engine mount and so I see why those parts are different colored. Not sure why the frame bars are painted differently.

Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 7:18 am
by kramnala58
Is that a factory paint or did someone do it custom?

Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 12:22 pm
by blackcat54
The frame bars are painted colors to highlight the differences in stiffness of those frame sections.

The floating engine mount allows the engine to oscillate in a controlled fashion which reduces the transfer of vibration to the frame and rider.

From the factory, all those parts are painted black.

Re: Safe off the Forza front wheel ?

Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2014 5:04 pm
by fish
speedandstyle wrote:I think you are right about the color coding. BUT I can't find any info about what the colors mean. The places I found them were Japanese sites and Google translator isn't much help. The last picture shows the floating engine mount and so I see why those parts are different colored. Not sure why the frame bars are painted differently.
Right click after highlighting the Japanese script, then click bing translate. Working for me on my Dell.
Fish