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Last December during the Xmas holiday (Darn Pagan Rituals), I was out in the OC.

Being it the giving time of year, I gave a call to Kendon Industries about picking up a Sport Bike Lift.  The nice lady on the phone told me they were having a scratch and dent sale, and to run on over to their Anaheim, California office on La Palma Ave.

Never to be one to pass up a good sale, the wife and I went over to check out the deals.  Within 30min of being at their office, I was the proud owner of one lightly blemished lift at a substantial discount… Psst, don’t share it around but it was over 50% off retail, and I did not pay any shipping fees either.

Ok, so I hauled my new Bike Lift home at a price that is just a few dollars more than a Harbor Freight special.  Since the pagan holiday, I have used this lift a number of times.  You just can not imagine how great it is to have the bike up in the air to service, tinker and in general work on.  Lifting the bike in the air is easy to do with just the push of a handle.  While the unit can be raised manually, you can also raise it up using an air compressor.  The bike rolls into a channel and the front wheel is held by a wheel chock.  Their are 4 tie down points to keep the bike stable while it is up in the air.   Overall it is a great little bike lift that has an extra special feature.

The bonus of the Kendon Lift is, when I am done with it, it all folds up and stands upright in a corner of my garage.  Folding the Kendon lift is a bit like folding an origami crane, but it is not to difficult.  Pieces fold in, things flip up, you pull out pins and pull things apart.  In general it is so easy even a caveman could do it, or a road racer.  That is the killer feature, when you are done with the lift, you fold it up and put it away.  If you are garage space limited like myself, this is a great feature.

Ok, the quick review.

The Good:

• Bike lift folds up and out of the way
• Two ways to lift the bike in the air, by hand or by air.
• Easy to load bike and secured by straps
• Small and compact, works well in tight spaces.

The Bad:

• The lift has little tool holding space, you can buy “wings” for it at an extra cost, but then you have to store the wings as well.
• Not able to remove the front or rear wheels while the bike is on the lift.  Since the lift is only as wide as the bike, you are limited to how to hold it up.  The “Accessory” bike jack can be used, but again another expense.
• Have to tie the bike down, no clamping front wheel chock.

The Ugly:

• Folding it up requires parts to be taken off and put away.
• Expensive, if you don’t get a scratch and dent.