Foxtrapper: I see the potential weaknesses. I could improve things a lot by:

- adding 1/4" or 1/2" thick steel on top of each bike-support beam and moving the rubber strips to the top of that added steel.

- Adding a bolt, nut, and steel spacer between the two "yellow" pieces where they swoop down to the central beam, so that these become ONE rather thick piece with a LOT of resistance to any sideways bending potential. Those yellow pieces already have a LOT of VERTICAL stiffness.

- Once I determine what spacing between the 2 bike support beams is ideal for my bike, I could CONNECT them with steel bars at both their ends, making it impossible for them to deflect sideways OR up-down.

- Or, I could simply make 2 entirely new support beams from large standard steel rectangular tubing. Because my Breakout has 4.5" of ground clearance, and retains 3.75" of that when titled on its sidestand, I could make new beams that are up to just under 0.75" higher overall, and still be able to slide them under the tilted bike. With tubing that is fully 4-sided, with much thicker gauge steel, with real rectangular HOLES for the central beam to pass through, the strength and stiffness of the 2 beams would be MUCH better.

Doing any of the above, ironically, would void any warranty on the lift. But then, who are we kdding: If the lift fails, the BIKE damage is much more costly to repair than the entire price of the lift. Plus, warranty replacement seems to be something a buyer really has to fight for these days anyway.

Or, I could simply instead buy the HD / OTC jack lift, and accept the known flaws and the lower lift height. I have now looked at every variant of that type of jack lift available anywhere, and in ALL cases, whether the $200 CDN versions or the more than $500 CDN versions, they are all questionable in quality (The reviews are shockingly bad), and only a few will actually slide under a bike with 4.5" of ground clearance. And very few ads seem to even MENTION the ground clearance issue, so you have to try to contact someone at the selling company who MIGHT know or mIGHT be able to find out what the ground clearance need is.

Or, I can keep searching online for the elusive "older" jack lifts (like J&S) that were apparently built to a MUCH higher quality standard, but I have not yet seen one anywhere.

Or, I could wait a few days and see if my wife's rejection "with prejudice" of the Big Blue pricing can be softened. That's possible, but not necessarily at all likely.

Jim G

 

Here's a video shot 5 years ago. Since it was only 5 years ago, it cannot be a prototype for the Big Blue, as Big Blue has been around longer than that.

Although the lift shown here is crude, with way too many welds and fasteners, there are 3 interesting features on it that differ from the Blig Blue lift:

- The 4 Delrin "saddles" for the frame tubes, which themselves help to keep the bike from sliding on the lift

- The gorgeous "safety locks" that are much nicer than the simple J hooks on the Big Blue.

- The pre-drilled holes in the mast to "lock" the lift at different heights before unloading the lifting screw


Jim G

 

This entirely unrelated video about motorcycle lifts, which is only a few months old, gets interesting after about 4 minutes, and VERY interesting as you go further into it towards the end. It includes a detailed review of the newer, inferior version of the Harbour Freight table lift that has some safety and precision shortfall issues. The guy who did the video works on customized choppers, so some specifics are very important to him.


Jim G

 

And, here's a video that shows you why those "jack" type lifts fail so quickly. It's the "reverse" leverage they are forcing the "1500 lb" hydraulic cylinder to endure. The presenter is also Canadian, and covers rather well what it's like for a Canadian to buy a U.S. product these days.


Jim G

 

A flush mount table lift is my dream project. Nothing beats the versatility, safety and ergonomics of working on a table lift.

Zach

 

Zach: You would likely therefor be intersted in THIS video in which the owner of a MC shop describes how he could have been killed as a result of a table lift being handled improperly:


Sounds like Handy Lifts had earlier, unbeknownst to him, identified and corrected a subtle product liability issue in their older lifts

Jim G

 

Thius next video shows a LOT of important details about the Big blue lift, and the following things specifically caught my attention:

- The "beams' that are available to buy to lift specifically the Honda Goldwing DCT (auto transmission version), which is a VERY heavy bike. The beams are made of surprisingly "thin" metal, which is apparently more than enough to do the job without sagging or bending. Maybe those beams that Foxtrapper and I both thought looked a little flimsy ARE more than adequate in the real world, especially for a bike like my Breakout, that weighs WAY less than the Goldwing.

- The apparent resistance to all but very, very minor movement once the bike is in the air, at FULL 30" height, even without having been strapped down for the video

- The "guard" for the lifting screw now apparently provided with the lift, to keep you from accidentally touching the screw and getting grease onto you or your clothing

- The compact size of the entire lift as shipped before assembly

- The video presenter's much better an deasier to follow description of the assembly process than the factory provides


Impressive.

Jim G

 

I don't consider operator error when I'm making a purchase decision. If I did I would never have bought my first motorcycle. The guy in the video clearly owned that the lift failed because of an operator error. I really don't think Handy saw this as a product liability issue, rather an improvement opportunity. Not all product revisions come about based on liability risk.

Zach

 

More precisely, it was MOVING CREW error in lifting the lift incorrectly during the move to the new shop, compounded only by the operators failure to know, or anticipate the possibility of, incorrect lifting by non-users not familiar with that specific lift's vulnerability when lifted incorrectly.

To me, it sound slike the company that bought Handy Lift had stronger safety knowledge.

Jim G

 

My cheap Jack lift has built in safety arms that prevent the jack from collapsing if the hydraulic cylinder were to fail. Perhaps I have been lucky but this lift has served me well for at least 15 years and countless projects.