I’ve been putting together a plan for my CB750F restoration project and the first thing I needed to figure out was how I was going to work on the bike without destroying my back. I’m 43. Getting down on the floor to wrench on something for hours is not the move. So buying a used motorcycle lift jumped to the top of the list pretty quickly. What followed was one of those Facebook Marketplace experiences that every guy who’s spent time on that app will immediately recognize.
I’d already done my research on lifts. The Pittsburgh Motorcycle Lift from Harbor Freight
gets talked about a lot in the circles I run in. The main knock on it is the hydraulic bottle jack setup – every pump raises the table a fraction of an inch, so you’re doing a lot of foot work to get it up to height. But for the money, most guys say it’s hard to beat. I ordered one through the Pottstown Harbor Freight store since they don’t stock large items like that. Five to six weeks out, early June pickup. Fine. In the meantime I kept an eye on Facebook Marketplace the way I always do.
Table of Contents
The Facebook Marketplace Find
I get up early for work. Like, ridiculously early. And while I’m waiting for the tea kettle to boil – green tea in the morning, coffee later – I scroll Facebook Marketplace just to see what’s out there. I’m not usually buying anything. I just like to look.
So one morning I’m scrolling and I spot a clean Harbor Freight lift. The guy wanted $300 for it and it included the upgraded wheel chock. Same lift I ordered. Same wheel chock I ordered. And he wanted $300, which would have saved me a couple hundred bucks over buying new. I reached out immediately. “Hey, if it’s still available, I’ll take it. Just let me know when I can come get it.”
He got back to me fast. Still available. Any day after 5:00. Done.
Logistics Mode
Here’s where it gets real. A motorcycle lift doesn’t fit in a Toyota Rav4. So I had to call in a favor for my dad’s truck, figure out who was running my kids to their after-school stuff, and block out a chunk of the evening. The item was listed in Allentown – 40, maybe 45 minutes from me. Not far, but enough that you need to actually plan it out.
I asked the seller one thing: the lift looks like it’s in good shape, I’d imagine there are no leaks in the hydraulic system, right? He never responded to that. I noted it and moved on because everything else seemed fine.
My dad agreed to come along since I’d need help loading and unloading. Kids were covered. The plan was solid.
Side note: He gave me an Easton, PA address for pickup. That is more like an 80 minute drive.
On the Way There
5:00 comes around. I drop my daughter at dance class, come home, hop in my dad’s truck and we’re rolling. I shoot the seller a message letting him know I’m on my way, running a little later than I thought, should be there between 6:00 and 6:30.
We’re on the road and my dad asks which way the GPS is taking us. I grab my phone to check. And while I’m looking at the directions, I see a message from the seller.
I figured it was him saying he’d see me soon.
It was not.
“Sorry, sold it to another guy. He’ll be here in 15 minutes.”
I’m not going to lie, I was pretty annoyed. You told me I had it. I coordinated a truck, covered my kids, and I’m literally on the road. And you sold it to someone else while I was in transit. That’s a bad look.
What Can You Do
There’s nothing to do in that situation. I’m not going to fight with a stranger on Facebook Messenger. We were over an hour away from the guy at that point so we weren’t beating anyone there. My dad summed it up pretty well: “Lot of that going around on Facebook these days.” He’d had something similar happen to him recently.
We pulled into a gas station, turned around, and headed back.
The Silver Lining
We ended up back at my place with two hours we weren’t expecting to have. I asked my dad if he wanted to sit down for a cigar since we were supposed to be out running around anyway. He did. We talked about the CB750F – what it’s probably going to need, some of the things we might do with it, bikes in general. Good conversation.
What I’d Do Differently
If you’re buying a used motorcycle lift on Facebook Marketplace, a few things I’d keep in mind after going through this:
Ask upfront whether the seller will hold it for a confirmed buyer. Not everyone will, but it’s worth asking directly before you start making arrangements. Maybe if I’d have done a little more hand-holding in the ~10 hours between when I agreed to buy and when I actually left the house, he wouldn’t have sold it to someone else.
If someone doesn’t respond to a condition question – like my hydraulic leak question – that’s worth a follow-up before you commit to driving out there.
And if the logistics are complicated (truck, distance, scheduling around kids), it might be worth waiting until you’re close to leaving before locking in the time. At least that way if something falls through you haven’t already set everything else in motion.
The Harbor Freight lift order is still active. I’ll be picking it up in early June and it’ll be one of the first things going into the garage for the CB750F project. I’ll have more on that as the restoration gets underway.
Ride With Me
If you want to follow along with the CB750F restoration and everything else going on at WaltInPA, subscribe to the WaltInPA YouTube channel for more riding content. If you know somebody who’s gone through the Facebook Marketplace runaround trying to find a lift or parts, share this post with them. And if you want to talk bikes, wrenching, or anything else, come hang out in the WaltInPA Discord where good people talk about riding.
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