Centre stand

[68C]

Hi all,

 

I fancy fitting a centre stand, have seen various types mentioned on the forum. Are these fitted permanantly to the bike or merely collapsible paddock stands that you carry with you? Some folk have noted problems with some aftermarket cross-over pipes - any advice? Finally I have been thinking about making my own permanantly fitted stand, has anyone elso done this, any drawings available?

 

Many thanks.

[John in Leeds]

Hi all,

 

I fancy fitting a centre stand, have seen various types mentioned on the forum. Are these fitted permanantly to the bike or merely collapsible paddock stands that you carry with you? Some folk have noted problems with some aftermarket cross-over pipes - any advice? Finally I have been thinking about making my own permanantly fitted stand, has anyone elso done this, any drawings available?

 

Many thanks.

 

Have a look here

 

and here

 

and here

[68C]

Many thanks John, I can see how it works now.

[RHIP]

I added a Teo Lamers c/s to my 2001 RM. I spent two afternoons trying to get it on, gave up and handed the project over to my dealer. A mechanic spent a lot of time on it, and finally got it to fit. It is somehow not designed right, in that there is NO WAY any normal human can get it up without help - the angle of the feet are wrong, and you would need to be superhuman to get it up without help. My dealer showed me the only way - you put a board behind the rear tire, then roll it onto the board as you lift - then it goes up fairly easily.

 

It absolutely is a plus for working on the bike, esp making checking the oil level much easier and more precise than the game of balancing the bike vertically against my thigh while I try to screw the oil plug in and out to get an accurate reading.

 

I am a firm believer in centerstands, and am dumbfounded that most chain-driven bikes are sold without them. My stand doesn't affect ground clearance for cornering, and I'm not removing it - but would I do it again? I doubt it.

[leafman60]

I had (have) one of the Teo centerstands that I fitted to my Daytona RS. I got it through Moto International. They have recently told me that they stopped importing them due to all the problems.

 

There were two models. One was for the early V11's and one for the later. The early model was designed for the narrower rear tire used then and the later model accommodated the later wide tire fitment.

 

I had only a few problems with mine. I'm used to having to tinker with stuff, though. I did have to fashion a shim plate and a custom anchoring link to alter the "resting" angle of the deployed stand. I also had to fabricate a lifting handle for the Daytona. There was nothing to grab.

 

Deploying a centerstand requires downward pressure on the stand's lifting tang and upward pressure on the rear of the bike. I solved the lifting part with the handle but I wondered about not having a step-down tang on the centerstand. The little footprint piece on the bottom of the stand's legs actually proved to be adequate as a deploying tang and I used it many many times.

[68C]

I ran into much the same problem making up a stand, my gash prototype was too far behind the center of gravity, probably need to be near the rear of the sump. Also placement of the lifting handle difficult due to widthe of silencer feed pipe.

 

Made me start to think along the lines of fitting/modifying a Grisso/Breva exhaust. Having the 2into 1 exiting on the left is not ideal for folk who drive on the left but was probably needed to suit the CARC. I was wondering if it would be possible to modify the crossover so that it exits on the right and so make the centre stand easier to operate as I could have a nice big lever to step on to lift it by.

 

I like centre stands, the bike is narrower in the garage, it is easier to wash and maintain, much simpler to get your luggage balanced and less risk of knocking it over, the kids can play on it!

[dark_bike]

If you mainly use it at home this might be an option.My link

 

no issues with cross-overs and easy to get the bike up, but not something you want to carry with you.

 

Tom

[AndyH]

After the lost posts episode recently, the tale of the Teo Lamers stand I bought seems to have got lost too so I'm going to resume here.

 

I've got a Mistral crossover and standard cans, an early v11 (2000) with a 160 rear tyre so all checks out for the TL stand. I paid 200 EUR for one of only two stands left there and it arrived quickly, so no complaints there.

 

When the stand arrived there were no instructions in the box, just a bag of bits and a couple of big pieces (the cross piece that bolts onto the outside of the pork chops and the stand itself). There were some really handy instructions from Greg Field that cleared up some of the mysteries of fitting the assembly but I can no longer locate them in the forums. The rest (ie assembling the stand itself), I had to deduce from pictures of the assembled stand on the TL web site. The spacers for the small red brackets are not the same width and that turned out to be important: assemble exactly as per the pics on the TL website!

 

So having taken off the exhaust, because it was easy enough to do, I offered up the parts but it was immediately clear that, in spite of the narrow rear tyre, the stand would bind on the widest edge of the tyre at full suspension extension: a possible MOT failure.

 

So off came the stand and I had to get it modified with a cut and shut indentation to clear the tyre edge: cost me £99 incl. repainting so the overall cost of the enterprise was escalating.

 

Three weeks later I took the exhaust off again and offered up the stand. This time, having fitted one of the small brackets, I had to open out the holes on the other bracket to make it fit.

 

In the end it all went on OK but this probably took me about six hours in all with the two attempts to sort out plus considerable expense.

 

Before we throw stones at Teo Lamers, remember: "No two Guzzis are the same". Even if it had been easy to fit, everything only just goes into the space available, so it's remarkable that I didn't have more hassle and that it fitted with the Mistral crossover.

 

So with later width tyres, forget it and even with narrow tyres, it required mods.

 

Now it's on though, I'm very happy with it. It's not intended for everyday use (hard to get onto the stand without assistance) but as a touring stand for tyre changes or other maintenance when I don't have access to a workshop stand. Normal paddock stands slide around on the swing arm so this is a definitely a bonus.

[dale-j]

I don't have one permanently fitted to the bike, but I have a Becker Technik service stand that mounts to the lower pivot bolts (18mm) on the pork chops.  Works very well and goes on and off easily.  Very close to the balance point so all it takes is a little lift from the front and block of wood under the sump to have both wheels safe and stable up in the air.  Unlike the factory centerstand on my brother in law's V11 Sport, the rear is high enough to remove the wheel and replace tires at both ends at once.

 

As there is not a regular need to do chain maintenance as with other bikes, I'm happy to put it on and take it off when needed for service and to rely on the sidestand.  One less thing to ground out when cornering IMO.

 

Instructions available on line for the stand are limited, and the photocopy that comes with it is not much better.  Thankfully, it's easy to figure out and MG Cycle was able to get one in stock quickly for me.

 

Steve