Topic: Harbor Freight wheel chock

[joeyvans]

Anybody have one of these wheel chocks for light maintenance and garage storage? Looking for something between $60 & $100 for when I ditch my center stand to make way for the MotoGP Werks exhaust. I won't be securing it to the floor, so I want something that won't slide too much. Other recommendations in this price range would be very welcomed! I have heard the Condor is the best, but a little pricey for me.  Thanks in advance!

[martin99]

Being in the UK I'm not going to be much help when it comes to recommending brands. What I will say is this - the chock in your picture appears to have a 'flat' in the centre of the vertical stand-up that the wheel butts to. I suspect many are made this way to accommodate modern, fatter tyres but the skinny wheels on our bikes don't fit quite as snugly and can wobble, as Calj has said.

The one I use is very similar to that pictured but the vertical stand is a straightforward 'V' profile, allowing you to wedge the tyre right in there. It's pretty stable, but I only tend to use it as a 'third pair of hands' if I need to load a bike on a ramp or trailer and have no-one about to help me. It's imperative to have it fixed securely, if you don't line up the bike correctly or if you are on a smooth surface the chock can skate across the floor resulting in damage to your bike and your back. I know this from experience:(

[rb550four]

+1  on the skating scenario. It's already too late when it starts to get away from you.
  If I were to use this as a workstation, I would bolt it to a piece of plywood that was also taking the weight of the back wheel so it doesn't skate , plus use tie downs to keep the bike steady. risky.

[joeyvans]

Roger that! Thanks for the input, everybody! I will probably just go the swingarm route.

[fmctm1sw]

You're supposed to strap the bike down to those anchor bolts on the sides.  I have one of those chocks bolted to my flatbed.  I dragged my 550 to Barber's in it, no issues other than ridicule for having one bike loaded on a 16ft trailer...

Ah, I see you're planning on using it in a maintenance setting.  I still think you'd be ok if you strapped it down.  There's holes towards the back of it too so you could bolt it to something as mentioned by 550four...