Racor Ceiling-Mounted Bike Lift #PBH-1R

I bought this to make more space in the shed that we use for storage of the family's four bikes. It works, but it is not easy for the average 5th grader to use.

Application: Lift a 28 pound bike high enough to put another similar road bike underneath it. Make this easy enough that a 5th grader can do it.

Result: 5th grader can accomplish this, but it is difficult enough that both she and her mother complain about it. Thus, the 3 stars. This unit makes the job possible, but not easy.

Issues:
1. The rope in this version has been changed from a "cheap, cotton rope" as quoted from another review to a sturdy synthetic rope that doesn't seem to fray, but is hard for some of my family to grip onto. Inexplicably, this seemingly more slippery rope seems to have significant drag running through the pulleys.
2. The rope and hooks are difficult to move when there is no weight on the hooks. That is, if the hooks are accidentally pulled towards the ceiling and you want to lower them to hoist a bike off the ground, it's hard for my kids to pull the hooks down because the mechanism that holds the rope up when it has the bike on it grabs and won't let go. Getting it to let out slack requires some patience and my team doesn't have any.

That said, I can use it and get it to work every time, but it just isn't "slick" in use. In fact, since the ceiling in the shed is low enough, I don't use the hoist a a hoist, I just pick the bike up and put it on or off the hooks manually.

So, why three stars? I can get it to work (with some effort), and it is very cost effective compared to higher quality solutions.

The bike does not stay level when you pull it up or down, a little awkward.

We are very happy with the Racor Ceiling mount bike lift. It was easy to install, is strong, and easy to operate.
Very good product.

As a female I put this bike lift up myself. The only problems I had was with my stud finder on our textured ceiling in our garage. I did follow another viewer's suggestion and buy screws from Menards rather than use the ones included in the kit. I bought 5 of these and all of our ropes were fine, no frays. I would recommend measuring your ceiling to make sure your car will fit under when your bike is raised because I was surprised with our high garage ceiling how low the bike is (I can barely walk under it). The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars was because of the cheap quality of the screws, but heck for $17 and free shipping I can afford to buy some better screws. I LOVE MY FLOOR SPACE!!

The product does an excellent job. I have 10' ceilings in my garage and the lift works perfect for both my my Cannondale road bike and my wife's Trek Hybrid bike.