center stand preference?

[alan29]

How do you get your bike up on to the stand? Mine hasn't got the lever that sticks out sideways - if you get what I mean. I've tried a couple of times but am in danger of bursting a blood vessel in my head!!!

 

[KingBear]

How do you get your bike up on to the stand? Mine hasn't got the lever that sticks out sideways - if you get what I mean. I've tried a couple of times but am in danger of bursting a blood vessel in my head!!!

No need to burst a vessel or bust a nut, just learn how to do it right. Here's a little tip I posted elsewhere...

I've read many posts from people who have a hard time "lifting" their bike onto the centre stand, and they need to be taught the proper way.

1. Standing to the left side of the bike, grasp the left handgrip with your left hand, and with your right hand grasp the frame under the seat. For the Bonneville you would grasp the frame just behind the left sidecover. Do not grab the seat itself! You should be facing the side of bike, not facing forward.
2. With your right foot, lower the centre stand until it just makes contact with the parking surface. Gently rock the bike until you can feel that both sides of the stand are touching the surface evenly.
3. With your hands still firmly grasping the bike as instructed, PUT ALL OF YOUR WEIGHT DOWN ON YOUR RIGHT FOOT, FORCING THE CENTRE STAND TO ROTATE DOWN AND SETTING THE BIKE AT FULL ATTENTION.:woot:

Virtually no actual lifting is required on your part. You will find that this works best if you are wearing sturdy shoes or boots with a thick sole. If you are wearing flip-flops you are likely to do nothing but bruise the bottom of your foot. It's best to leave the side stand down when you are performing this operation as a precaution should you lose your balance. With a little practice it will become very easy.

Okay, you say your stand doesn't have a lever that sticks out sideways. That lever is not just for you to push the stand down under your bike, it actually acts as a fulcrum to lift the bike onto the stand itself. Without it I have no idea how you would get your bike up except to replace it with a proper centre stand.

 

[em_dot]

Just one other question, where does the bracket attach?

Damn, I knew you'd ask for that. The bracket comes with pics. Not sure I have them anymore. If not I'll try to get under the bike with a digital camera, if it ever stops raining...

41 degrees and raining at 8:00 AM. Made for a cold six mile run this morning. Cold and wet. The Marine Corps way!

 

[07black&red]

Semper fi!

 

[yellowrubiu]

No need to burst a vessel or bust a nut, just learn how to do it right. Here's a little tip I posted elsewhere...

KingBear, thank you for the above instructions, they are spot on :worthy:

I installed my Triumph stand today and was, well busting a nut, then I remembered this post and reread your steps. For anyone else interested, the key for me in KingBear's instructions was the bit about both legs on the stand contacting the floor. Before rereading the instructions I was not setting the bike upright enough for fear of dumping it to the right side. Once I did that and put all my weight on the right leg the bike came right up.

Any special tricks for getting it down? I'm just sitting on it and pushing forward.

 

[DIRK]

eazy to drop a bike off the stand. put right foot against the stand grab the bars with left hand seat or frame with the right and rock the bike forward. if you are unsteady put the side stand down. gives you that extra safety measure. just keep your foot out of the way. if you are going to sit on it and rock it down make sure you dont have gravel under foot. good way to fall down. also a good way to snap off the c stand bolts. you can also grab bars in both hands and rock bike forward

 

[yellowrubiu]

eazy to drop a bike off the stand. put right foot against the stand grab the bars with left hand seat or frame with the right and rock the bike forward. if you are unsteady put the side stand down. gives you that extra safety measure. just keep your foot out of the way. if you are going to sit on it and rock it down make sure you dont have gravel under foot. good way to fall down. also a good way to snap off the c stand bolts. you can also grab bars in both hands and rock bike forward

Thanks Dirk. After a few tries I figured that grabbing the bars with both hands and rocking it forward, as you suggested above, was the easiest way.

One more thing I wanted to mention was that removing the front sprocket cover made the installation of the C-bracket on the spring retainer a lot easier. After hooking the springs to the stand and the small hole on the C-bracket, I used my left hand to push the bracket towards the front from the rear while pulling with my right hand from the front of the bracket and was able to hook it without much problem.