Atlas AML-1500XL Extended Motorcycle Lift Review: Built for the Biggest Bikes

Standard motorcycle tables run 44 to 56 inches long. That covers sport bikes, standards and most cruisers. It does not cover the touring and bagger segment, which has grown into the largest share of the heavyweight market: a Harley Road Glide has a 64 inch wheelbase, a Gold Wing about 67 inches, an Indian Roadmaster about 65.7 inches. On a 48 inch deck those bikes have a rear tire hanging past the main surface, and on a 52 inch deck the margin is a few inches.

The Atlas AML-1500XL is built for those bikes. Published specs: a 1,500 lb capacity, a 60 by 26 inch heavy-gauge steel deck, a hydraulic foot pump, an 8 to 35 inch height range, dual lock bars with a hydraulic check valve, an integrated loading ramp, six reinforced tie-down points, 220 lb assembled weight and a two-year limited warranty. Price is around $699.

Atlas is a Greg Smith Equipment brand better known for two-post and four-post car lifts, and the AML-1500XL is its heavy-duty motorcycle table above the 1,000 lb AML-1000. It is a foot-pump table at an air-hydraulic price, and the sections below explain why the deck length is what the money buys.

The number to compare with deck length is wheelbase plus a few inches at each end for the contact patches. A 60 inch deck carries a 64 inch wheelbase with the front tire against the chock and the rear contact patch about 4 inches from the deck end, fully on the main surface. That is a Road Glide, Street Glide, Road King or Indian Chieftain. A Gold Wing at 67 inches is at the edge; a 70 inch raked custom overhangs by 10 inches, which is 12 inches better than a 48 inch deck.

The 26 inch width matters for trikes and for wide baggers. A Tri Glide's rear track is about 40 inches, so the rear tires overhang a 26 inch deck on both sides and the frame is what the table supports; that is workable with the six tie-downs and a 1,500 lb rating, but a Tri Glide at about 1,200 lb is at 80 percent of the rating and the BendPak ML-2000 at 2,000 lb is the safer table. Lighter trike conversions on a Softail base are a better match for the AML-1500XL.

For two-wheeled touring bikes, 1,500 lb is comfortable to about 1,000 lb, which covers all of them.

Two things about this table are built specifically around heavy bikes. The first is the integrated loading ramp. Most tables ship without one, and riders improvise with boards or buy a short ramp; pushing an 850 lb bagger up a steep improvised ramp onto an 8 inch deck is the point in the process where bikes get dropped. The AML-1500XL's ramp is part of the table, with a shallow angle and a textured surface, and it stows against the deck when not in use.

The second is the tie-down arrangement. Six reinforced anchor points, three per side, let a rider strap a long bike at the triple clamp and at the rear frame rather than only at the bars. On a 900 lb bike with the rear wheel off, that second pair of straps is the difference between a stable platform and a nervous one.

The foot pump is the one specification that reads as a compromise at $699. Raising 900 lb by foot is a few dozen strokes with real effort at the top of the stroke. For a rider who lifts a bagger every weekend, it is a reason to look at the Challenger CML-1500; for one who lifts it a few times a season, it is not.

The deck is 60 by 26 inches, but the table's footprint is larger. The base frame extends past the deck, the ramp adds length when deployed, and the foot pedal sits outside the frame. Plan on about 6 feet of floor length with the ramp stowed and 8 feet with it deployed, 2.5 feet of width, and 2 feet of working room on each side. That is a 7 by 5 foot patch of level concrete at minimum, and about 8 by 6 feet to work comfortably. In a two-car garage that is most of one bay.

At 220 lb the AML-1500XL is a two-person build; the cons list on this page allows about 2.5 hours, and the installation rating is marked difficult because the ramp, the dual lock bars and the long deck all need alignment. Once built it does not move.

The 8 to 35 inch range matches the Dannmar DML-1200 and Greg Smith GS-ML1200. A dressed touring bike at full rise has its windshield near 8 feet, which matters only in garages with overhead storage.

The BendPak ML-1500 Pro at around $899: 1,500 lb, a 56 by 26 inch deck, 7 to 37 inches, air-hydraulic, dual lock bars, check valve and tie-downs, 275 lb, three-year warranty. For $200 more it has 4 inches less deck length, the same width, an air pump and a longer warranty. For a bike with a 64 inch wheelbase the BendPak's 56 inches is enough and the air pump is worth the $200. For a 67 inch Gold Wing or a raked custom, the Atlas's extra 4 inches are the point.

The Challenger CML-1500 at around $699: 1,500 lb, a 54 by 25 inch deck, 7 to 37 inches, air-hydraulic, one lock bar with a check valve and tie-downs, 245 lb, three-year warranty. Same price as the Atlas, 6 inches less deck, an air pump and a longer warranty. For any bike under 62 inches of wheelbase the Challenger is the better table at the same money.

The Atlas AML-1000 at around $449 is the small sibling: 1,000 lb, 46 by 22 inches, one lock bar. It is for a different bike entirely.

Buy the AML-1500XL if the bike is a long bagger or touring model, a raked custom with a wheelbase over 66 inches, or a Softail-based trike conversion, and the shop has 7 by 5 feet of level concrete to give it. For those machines it is the only table below the ML-2000 that carries the whole bike on the deck, and the ramp and tie-downs are built for loading them.

Skip it if the wheelbase is under 62 inches. Every one of those bikes fits on the Challenger CML-1500's 54 inch deck at the same price with an air pump, or on the Triumph NML-1500's 52 inch deck for $100 less. Skip it for a full-weight Tri Glide, which should be on the ML-2000. And skip it if the garage cannot give up most of a bay; the floor is the real cost of this table.

Our recommendation: measure the wheelbase first. Over 62 inches, buy the Atlas. Under it, buy the Challenger.