PRODUCT REVIEWSBlack Widow Aluminum
12-foot, 4-Beam
Folding Arched Ramp
by Carl ParkerSome riders insist on riding their bikes everywhere, but the world
of small dual-sports is seeing an increasing number of riders
putting their bikes on hitches, trailers or trucks and heading out
to their favorite rally or riding spot packed to the gills with all the
creature comforts for a fun weekend.
Getting bikes onto a truck bed is a complicated exercise for one
person. The challenge gets even more difficult on large or lifted
trucks which require longer ramps. Most ramps are too narrow to
accompany a bike up the ramp, often requiring more than one
person, with the bike making it up the ramp under its own steam.
If a ramp is wide enough to walk next to the bike, or be
straddled while going up, it is a much easier process for a single
person. We turned to DiscountRamps, a prolific, affordable ramp
company to see what they had to fit the bill. For about $570 you
can get a 40-inch wide, 12-foot long folding ramp that would, in
theory, make single-person loading easy.
To test it, we chose one of the biggest bikes we had around, a
2015 KTM 1190 Adventure R. Weighing in at over 500 lb., it doesn’t
come close to touching the 1,500 lb. combined maximum weight
the 4-beam ramp can handle. But would it be wide enough to
straddle the bike up?
After several attempts to load on a GMC 2500 with riders of
various inseam lengths, we found that even with 40 inches oframp, duck-walking the 1190 up onto a truck bed was
not all that feasible. We could, however, easily stand
next to a bike of that size and walk it up without too
much difficulty. If you had the confidence, you could
ride the bike up, but we wouldn’t recommend that
based on videos we’ve seen of others trying similar
stunts.
The ramp is a three-piece modular system which is
nice because it splits into sections depending upon
your needs. That’s a lot of aluminum for the price,
although there are some trade-offs. First, the fully
assembled ramp is quite heavy and requires two
people to position properly. Second, when the ramp is
not being used, it’s a little on the large side to stow in
most truck beds without being broken down.
Strength, in this case, is not an issue, but there
are a couple of improvements which would make
it an even better value. Adding a long hinge pin to
bind the ramps together at the hinge point across
all three sections would not only add strength to the
assembled unit but also reduce the flexing at the
seams. It would also make folding it much easier.
Also, having a more secure way to lock the sections16 July/August 2019