I changed the tires on the DR650 the other day. I needed a cheap bike lift and found this one at Harbor Freight. This is Pittsburgh Tools Motorcycle / Motocross / Dual Sport / Pit Bike lift.
In the video I talk a little about the lift, assembly and give a quick demonstration. I discovered after the fact that my DR650 exceeds the manufacturers suggested weight limit by about 20 pounds. With that said, if you’re considering this lift for a heavy bike like a DR650 or Kawasaki KLR you might want to spend a little more money for something with a heavier weight limit.
If you have a smaller and lighter bike, in my humble opinion, this was a pretty decent motorcycle lift for under $50 USD. It worked pretty decent for my needs.
Lifting the bike up and down is a little awkward and getting the bike itself on the stand is also a bit of a task. I basically lean the bike over on the kickstand and then push the stand beneath the bike with my foot. I had to stand on the pump with my foot to get it to lift. Once it locks in place you insert a safety peg into the frame of the motorcycle lift and that holds it in place.
Price considered this isn’t the most state of the art lift you’ll ever use. It’s actually fairly primitive. Again, in the $50 price range I wasn’t expecting much. It did what it was intended to do and it did it fairly well.
There are much better motorcycle lifts out there. I actually wish I would have spent a little more. At about twice the price Harbor Freight offers a better pump lift. If I had the extra money at the time I would have opted for the more expensive lift. At $50, I really can’t complain. It did what it was supposed to do, so money well spent as far as I’m concerned!