1996 Suzuki Intruder VS1400

My home-made 'Bike Slide':

So, you want to get your bike as close to the wall as you can? So did I, but I'm not strong enough to slide my 500+ pound bike around the garage floor. I searched the internet for a product that would let me slide my bike around, but the ones I found cost $90 and up. I thought there must be a cheaper way to do it.

What I did was buy 2 packages of a product called 'Magic Sliders' from Home Depot. These are plastic feet whith adhesive backing that you are supposed to stick on the bottom of furniture to be able to move it around the room easily. They come in several sizes, the ones I am using are the '60mm Disc' and come 4 to a package.

Next I bought a pre-cut 3/4 inch thick by 12 inches in diameter plywood round from Home Depot. I sanded a bevel around both sides - the bevel on the bottom side will help prevent the plywood from digging in to the carpet, and the bevel on the top will make it a bit easier to roll the bike onto it.

Last was a 2 foot long piece of 27 inch wide carpet runner purchased from Lowes Hardware. This carpet has a nice tight weave on top, and a thin rubber/foam material on the underside.

Just use the double sided adhesive to stick the Magic Sliders onto the plywood round, and figure where you want the rear wheel of the bike to end up - and lay the carpet in that area.

Now place the 'Bike Slide' at the end of the carpet away from the wall, angle your bike so the front wheel is near the wall and your back wheel rolls onto the 'Bike Slide' - and then slide that puppy right up to the wall!

Total cost of project (approximate prices - your stores may vary):
Magic Sliders - $6.00 X 2 packages = $12.00
3/4 inch plywood round = $3.00
2 feet of carpet runner = $3.00
TOTAL COST = $18.00!!!!

My prototype was even cheaper - one package of Magic Sliders, a used auto floormat and a spare rectangle of 3/4 inch plywood I had laying around for a total cost of $6.00!!! The prototype actually worked fine, although my plywood was on the small side, so it was hard to get the bike on it just right. The auto floormat was also a bit narrow, and had rubber spikes on the bottom that I figured would eventually indent with the weight of the bike causing it to settle in one spot.