Folks, I have been trying to contact the staff at Keith Products in Pennsylvania, using all the available options including phoning from Australia where I live. I want a dirt napper motorcycle lifter made by them. I have had no success at all. Does anyone know if they are still operating and taking orders as, they are currently out of stock of that item apparently. Can anyone shed light on their circumstances currently? Perhaps they are slow to respond? Thanks Smoky.

Not sure what their status is, other than their website says out of stock, and add your name to be on the wait list.

BUT: I have the Eastbound motorcycle winch / jack, and I think it's excellent: https://eastbound.shop/product-info/...otowinch-info/
I also have their tire changing kit with bead breaker, which shares a couple components with the winch, and axle nut wrenches that integrate with the system, thus lightening the load. They've really designed the whole works well, and the quality is premium, made in the Netherlands.

I carry it on all my bikes now. Highly Recommended.


(Full disclosure: I was very interested in this when someone on the HUBB mentioned this a year or so ago, and contacted Noel, the owner of Eastbound, about the system. Turns out he's a big fan of the HUBB, and has been a member since 2005! I ultimately received a free set, with no strings attached, and am VERY impressed.)

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Grant, the info. posted about the motorcycle lifter from the Netherlands gives me another option. I’ve never heard of this brand. I’ll look it up. Thanks very much. A great help. Smoky.

Just been having a look at the videos of how to use both companies products and very ingenious / effective they are. It strikes me though that there's something off kilter somewhere when you need a winch to pick up your (nominally at least) off road motorcycle. I don't suppose any of us are snowflakes so it can only be the industry inflating their products to the point where they now weigh more than a small car from yesteryear.

Or it's handy for when you're tired / cold / sick to the point where you're one step from passing out and you just need to get to somewhere to stay ... which is when you're most likely to make stupid mistakes that result in dropping a bike.

The other solution, of course, is the Ed March route of having a bike that weighs nothing, but that's not everyone's cup of tea.

Yup, it’s always going to be the 2mph fall when you’re tired that’ll do it. I’ve been there many times. Everyone drops their bike from time to time - it’s in the nature of using an essentially unstable machine. It’s not so much that that I’m remarking on but that these things have become so big, so unwieldy and so heavy that a simple task like picking them up is becoming beyond human capacity. Each generation seems to get just that little bit heavier (although as that statement could equally apply to owners maybe it just all cancels out!).

I know why the manufacturers have done this - all road traffic has got bigger / faster / more powerful over the years and bikes have to keep up, but while your double size 4x4 has four (bigger) wheels to hold up the extra mass, motorcycles still only have two legs.

Even though I have a number of small bikes that I ride regularly I’d be the first to admit they are vulnerable on the roads (that’s U.K. roads, yours may vary). They’re underpowered for white van Amazon man / psycho Audi driver / Max Power in his Golf, or even tailgating Granny. 20bhp 15k rpm step throughs may be fun but they’re not practical everyday bikes, and the ones that are have weight as a by product. You can’t even chop lumps off them any more like in the past because of tampering rules.

Just a bit of a whinge really because the thought of having to take a winch along on a trip to pick the bike up would have seemed like a joke until recently. To pull it out of a bog or a ditch, yes I’d pack one for that, but not just to get it back on it’s wheels after you forgot to put the stand down at Starbucks.

Or maybe, one is not quite ready to go gently into that good dark night just yet.
Personally, I find that my bike gets heavier with every passing year and I for one am not yet ready to give it all up and take up lawn bowls.

__________________
Hear the challenge, learn the lesson, pay the cost.

Yeah I'd been riding the DRZ400 since spring, and got on the 1200 for the first time in 6 months recently - that thing has been eating like a pig!! Couldn't believe how heavy it is, yet I've ridden it in gnarly off-road single track and thought it was "ok" - never "great" - but certainly rideable. Not so sure now...

I'm reminded why I always recommend small bikes to learn to ride, especially off-road, and especially before riding a big bike off-road.

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com