How to build a motorcycle workbench

There comes a time in every garage dweller's life that they need to at least build themselves a workbench. After having completed a couple of other woodworking projects I thought it was a good time to use some of the remaining scraps and get the bike off the ground onto a more suitable working height.

The build was super basic and took about half a day.  The cost of materials was around $80 although I did have a majority of the hardware and some lumber.

Considerations

I spent a large amount of time working out the ideal height for the bench as I wanted something that I could comfortably work on the engine as well do any necessary wiring around the dash etc.  I'm about 6ft so for I figured 500mm was a good height.  I also wanted something that I could easily move around hence the addition of the castor wheels.

As for the width I also wanted to be able to have the side stand down just for ease of rolling the bike up and down off the table.  The length I kept at the default length of the timber it was also enough to cater for a rear wheel stand if I needed to.

Materials

3 x 140x34 x 2400 Pine

3 x 70x35 x 2400 Structural Pine

1 x 2400 x 1200 x 15mm Structural Ply

4 x 100kg lockable castors

1 x box of 100mm 8g screws

1 x box of 30mm 8g screws.

2 x Pergola U Bolts

Construction

I first drew this up in Sketchup and as you can see it's basically a glue and screw operation. Although for the bottom shelf I checked in 15mm each side to cater for the narrow shelf.  I did this with a router and then cleaned it up with a chisel.

Extras

Wheel chock - After looking for one on ebay and the like I decided that I would make my own just from some RHS Steel and flat bar welded together.  After that was done I simply bolted that into the ply.  The thickness of the steel is 3mm and is overkill for this but it was the only type I could get.  

Looking forward to giving this some use over the next few months.  I'll make the sketchup available shortly in case anyone wants to download it.

Mockup in Sketchup

Enough space for the side stand

Enough length for a rear wheel stand

Ubolt and Front wheel chock allow for the tiedown