Did you mean that you rode the bike onto the lift?
Wouldn't pushing the bike onto the lift be safer?
Have never thought of riding it up onto the lift.
In 27 years of Harley's I have never seen a mechanic ride a bike onto a lift.
Must have been that sheltered life I lead. [smiley=nixweiss.gif]
I've seen mechanics push them on and ride them on. No real favored method it seems. Have done it both ways on this lift already and I'm actually much more comfortable and more stable riding it on.
Pushing it on the bike has to lean to me a fair amount. Instead of a wheel vise I used a BikePro wheel chock that actually holds the bike up. Really don't even need the straps to hold it stable with that. But the bike needs to be pretty straight to load up in to the chock. That was a chore pushing it by hand. Especially with the little side pads I set beside it riding it on is simple. Running it up in to the wheel chock has everything solid and upright.
I'd not even thought about hanging a couple of straps from the ceiling for the extra support that Cannibus described using when he rides his up on his lift. That's a great idea. With the wheel chock I hung on this lift, however, it becomes fortunately unnecessary and makes loading the bike a very easy one man operation without having to worry about balance or upright stablity.
I can then easily step down without having to worry about the bike. You can push from either side and it won't go anyplace. I still put a strap on each side after I climb down. But that's because I'm a big chicken.
If I had a wheel vise on the front I'd almost certainly push it on or have to do something like Cannibus described to help hold the bike upright while climbing down to tighten the vise and put the other straps in place. Using the self-supporting wheel chock in the front, however, makes riding it on the only way to go. Too simple not to.