TESTED: Sealey Hydraulic Bike Lift and Ramp

When you’re working on motorcycles, you need the right sort of kit. Sealey has a range of new gear that takes the home mechanic to a higher (and safer level), including this brilliant Hydraulic Bike Lift and Ramp.

Sealey does a large range of lifts that are ideal for the home mechanic (and professional mechanics, too) but our needs were quite specific. Because a large amount of the motorcycles we work on need paddock stands – and we wanted a mechanical pump-action lift instead of an engine-driven hydraulic lift that requires a power-source – we wanted to try out the MC454.

Able to take a huge 450kg in safety, the lift is plenty long and wide enough for almost any motorcycle you can think of. A front wheel clamp and four metal hoops make securing the bike easy, even single-handedly.

We used the bike on a variety of modern and big bikes from the 1980s/90s and couldn’t fault the lift at all. One foot pump lever to lift it up, another foot lever to open the valve and slowly descend the lift makes the whole thing very easy to operate too. A thick safety bar keeps you safe when the lift is up and there’s wind-down supports at the rear of the ramp to level everything up. There’s three working heights of 405mm, 555mm and 660mm.

The on/off ramp part detaches simply too and with it in place, we found we could easily fit the bike onto a paddock stand to make getting the back wheel in and out very straightforward.

All steel construction means this lift is wonderfully sturdy. It’s not cheap, but you do get what you’re paying for with this.

It’s the best motorcycle work ramp and lift I’ve used and at no point of doing some quite major things like dry-building a superbike project did I think once about the ramp – which tells you a lot about how stable and secure the MC454 is.

Hydraulic bike lift and ramp: MC454

RRP: £899.94

Star rating: 9/10

Weight: 139.90kg

Capacity: 450kg

Minimum/maximum height: 195mm/660mm

Platform width/length: 660mm/2515mm

Maximum load length: 1825mm

Contact: www.sealey.co.uk

Words: Tony Carter / Photography: Gary D Chapman