Black Widow Aluminum 12-foot, 4-Beam Folding Arched Ramp Review
Some 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 a single 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.com, 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 KTM 950 Super Enduro. Weighing in at over 418 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 of ramp, duck-walking the 950 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 sections together would be great. The included linking blocks are strong enough and do the job well, but allow the ramp sections to slide in transverse directions. As a result, the hinges become misaligned and folding the unit can be difficult.
Overall, the construction of the Black Widow 12-foot folding ramp is very good. There’s no question about the amount of weight it can support, and with an arched 12-foot runway, getting nearly anything up on a tall truck bed is much easier. The ramp’s modular nature means it can be used for a wide variety of tasks and you can assemble sections as they’re needed.
Unfortunately, as a solo-loading solution, the overall weight of the assembled pieces keeps it from being as practical as we’d hoped. The upshot is nearly every type of motorcycle, ATV or side-by-side can be loaded with relative ease. For the price it’s hard to beat, although a few little tweaks would make it a bulletproof, handy tool to have around the shop or garage for all kinds of powersports needs.
MSRP: $575
Where to Buy:
PROS:
• Length is great for loading almost anything even onto very high beds
• Modular system allows you to use whatever sections of the ramp you need
• Individual sections are very manageable considering the length
CONS:
• Heavy as a solo loading piece when all sections are assembled (over 100 lb.)
• A single hinge pin across all sections would make it stronger and easier to use
• Linking blocks could better secure the sections from sliding