Juts picked up a used Harbor freight Table lift for the bike.....Only issue is I don't have enough space in the shed to keep both the bike and the lift so I figured I'd keep the bike on the lift. Do any of you do this and could there be any issues?

Also what do you do for the added foot space needed on each side tto sit on the bike and back it of the lift?

 

Your questions are exactly why I don't have one of these lifts.
As you have found the foot space takes up is quite a bit.

If you use it to park on you will have to place it obviously far enough in your shed to be able to ride up on it and still have enough room to jack it up so you'll lose some floor space.

Then you've got the issue with the sides are short and the lift is about 7" off the ground so getting a steady footing isn't easy.

I've search high and low trying to justify getting one of these lifts but I just can't figure out what I would use it for enough to give up the floor space that is needed.
BTW I have a 3 car garage, but even at that floor space real-estate is a premium.

I have a Sears yellow jack and a Redlines dolly that work very well for me and can be hung on the wall out of the way when not needed.
That being said, you've stated you've already have the lift so what can you do to best utilize the floor space?

As for parking on it; other than the needed length of floor space there's no reason why you can just ride up on it and park.

To make it easier, you would need to swap out the POS front wheel clamp for a wheel chock.
HF sells one for around $60 that with a little modification appears to work well.

With a wheel chock you can just ride up on it and put the front wheel in the chock and hop off.
There would be no need to strap it down if all you doing is parking on it.

I have a Condor Pitstop, but the cost of that is probable too much just for the use of a parking wheel chock.
Those who have the HF chock seem to feel it works well.

As for the short sides, just go out and buy you a couple of 2X10 boards and some 2X4s.
Use the 2X4s to add height to the two 2X10's so that you widen the side to side footprint of the lift by 20".
Then if you need to you can just slide the 2X10s out of the way.

Search YouTube and you'll find many videos of what I suggested above.

 

I also have an HF table. I will park one of my bike on it when I need some additional floor space in the shop but normally don't. I also work on lawn & Garden tractors so I used a piece of 3/4 " plywood on top and an HF chock in the front on mine. I have excellent footing on mine. Also when not in use, it will double as a large work bench when I have a large project and my normal work bench is to small.

I would not trade my lift table for anything. It is so nice bringing the work up to my level and not having to bend over or get on the floor.

 

I put one of mine on the lift during winter storage for space preservation. My lift has side extensions, no problem getting on and off. Make sure it's tied down.

 

Park mine on th lift all the time. I have the HF wheel stand/chock attached to the stand. I drive up the lift, into the stand, dismount and walk away. http://t.harborfreight.com/1800-lb-c...ock-61670.html

 

I replaced the crappy fron wheel chock wit this on from HF....do you think I still need to tie it down just to keep the bike on it while not riding ??

http://www.harborfreight.com/1800-lb...ock-61670.html

 

I park mine on my lift (Weaver) during the winter to save space. Haven't had any issues.

 

J&S Jack, not a table lift for me.

Love it. My bike is on the lift most of the time when I'm not riding.

 

The bike I keep in the Bay Area is stored on a Handy Lift. I tie it down because when the big earthquake hit us in 1989 two of my bikes fell over. I don't want that to happen again. A table lift makes working on bike so much easier, OP.

 

I park mine on the lift all the time, mine has side extensions though.
You could easily make some extension using a couple of 2X12's, and some pipe.
Not sure if your lift has the side holes for the extension on it, but you could figure something out for the brackets to hold the 2x12's.
I would feel pretty sketchy riding it up on the lift with no extensions..