Center stand

Peter R said:

It requires a lot of strength to put the bike on the center stand, (my age does probably not help here either).
When the bike is on the stand, the rear wheel is approx 2 inches (5cm) above the ground, and I consider shortening the center stand a little bit to alleviate this problem.
Did any of you go that route ? experiences/opinions please.

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2” off the ground seems oddly excessive. I’ve never seen one like that.
The historians can chime in, and help us with that.

bill said:

here are the measurements off of my bike. hagon shocks @ 13 inches. center stand @ 10 inches from canter of pivot bolt to bottom of pad. rear wheel is a wm2-19 with a 100-90 road rider and front is a wm2 and 90-90 road rider. the rear tire is JUST touching the pavement when on the stand so i have to use a thin board to be able to freely spin the wheel for maintenance.

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Same. 1/4” alum plate under the mainstand allows chain maintenance. ‘74 850.

I now use 3/8th plywood , the old stand I removed raised bike a good 1&1/2” off floor , making it difficult to put on stand , the new Andover CS I just installed made it much less painful to put up and rear wheel just skins floor , still can spin wheel but easier with something under stand ....

batrider said:

It's a matter of technique. Most of the force is applied to stepping on the centerstand arm. I use my left hand on the left handlebar and right hand under the rear frame loop. My rear wheel is off the ground. Centerstand is improved later type.

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Yes technique is quite important on centerstand mastery. My modern bonneville was nearly impossible to get onto CS until I found some tips from watching YouTube videos for much bigger bikes. Main secret was to grasp a frame or other solid part as down low as possible with right hand while standing right foot firmly on CS arm. Then to just straighten the bent right leg. Avoid trying to pull bike backwards. Works every time on the bonne which is much heavier than the commando. I use similar method for commando but just grab rear hoop with right hand, nothing lower needed.

I keep hearing folks on triumph forum having trouble with their CS efforts. These tips usually work for them too.

batrider said:

It's a matter of technique. Most of the force is applied to stepping on the centerstand arm. I use my left hand on the left handlebar and right hand under the rear frame loop. My rear wheel is off the ground. Centerstand is improved later type.

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I have the currently available AN center stand and I do it exactly the same way as you. I have no trouble whatever with my Norton.

Some days, I'm simply not strong enough to get my Trident on the center stand because the foot leverage is missing that the Norton stand provides. Sucks being old!

marshg246 said:

Sucks being old!

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Roger that, brother.

marshg246 said:

I have the currently available AN center stand and I do it exactly the same way as you. I have no trouble whatever with my Norton.

Some days, I'm simply not strong enough to get my Trident on the center stand because the foot leverage is missing that the Norton stand provides. Sucks being old!

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In my opinion the centre stand on Triumph triples is too far back and that's what makes the bikes difficult to lift. I have LPW lifting handles , bolted to the top shock mounts on both my T160s and it makes lifting much easier, essential if lifting the bike onto a bench'
sam

marshg246 said:

Sucks being old!

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Beats the alternative!

So far , I know of 2 bikes that went from difficult to put on the cs to easy by using the mk3 cs. Just try it.

The spring arrangement works much better on the later stand and it doesn't bounce around going down the road. The arm doesn't hit and dent the muffler either.

trident sam said:

In my opinion the centre stand on Triumph triples is too far back and that's what makes the bikes difficult to lift. I have LPW lifting handles , bolted to the top shock mounts on both my T160s and it makes lifting much easier, essential if lifting the bike onto a bench'
sam

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I'll have to get one from LPW if it helps. As you say at the moment compared to the Norton it's a right bitch. Not helped by the fact that it's as bendy as a tin can.

I found my problem of inconsistent effort needed to put my bike on the center stand. My 40 year old after market shocks were sticking in the compressed position. I took them off and found they compressed ok but would not bounce back when compressed past approx 80%. If I was strong enough to get it on the center stand the tire would be 3+ inches off the ground! The swing arm would eventually return to the extended position after a few hours on the center stand. So I put the 45 year old original shocks back on and the effort problem is solved.

Thanks for reporting back!

The curved tang on the Titanic's (73 850) appears to be from an older Interstate with the jogged pipes and level silencers, so it hangs out quite a bit. Hate the look but I appreciate the ease of getting it up on the stand.

CanukNortonNut said:

I put my foot on the foot pad holding it against the ground, grab my left-hand foot rest peg rubber with my right hand, then pull back and up while balancing the bike with the opposite hand.

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Yes it's all about method. ALL your weight should be on the stand footpad itself. Then pull up and back on the handle grips. Simple .

(my 2-cents) I think I have the Mk3 design on my august build 74 Mk2. don't know for sure, but i'm thinking it's original to the bike. while resting on the center stand, my rear wheel is approximately 1/4 inch off the ground. i'm 72, and i can manage to get it on and off the center stand without too much effort. I prefer to use the center stand, but will kick out the side stand to get off the bike.

not to go off topic, but speaking of side stands -- I read where several folks had trouble extending the side stand (while sitting on the bike) because, when in the home position, there isn't much access with side stand and your left foot. I had the same issue and came up with this simple mod. it bumps the side stand out enough so it's more, readily accessible with your left foot. my 74 Mk2 is still months away from getting on the road, and haven't tried any real world "beta" testing, but static, in the garage, I can extend the side stand, while sitting on the bike and without much effort.

don't laugh - used the KISS approach. I know it's jury-rigged and it may or may not work. in a nut shell, used a 1 inch, vibration-damping loop clamp (same as my rear grab-bar mount) and an old muffler hanger iso mount. I cut off one of the studs on the iso mount and secured the whole thing with a lock nut. it extends the side stand access by a couple inches...

FWIW, with Hagon shocks, on the center stand my Commando's rear wheel would skim the ground. If there was a slight irregularity in the surface, the tire might totally clear or it might still be on the ground and un-turnable by hand. With Ikon shocks, the wheel is comfortably clear of the ground.

Obviously, the Ikons' max extension length is a fraction shorter than the Hagons. I don't know which (if either) shock max length would correspond to the OEM shock.

It seems pretty easy to get the bike on the CS - much easier than my other two bikes with CS's - 2017 BMW R1200RS (very difficult) and 2019 Kawasaki Z900RS Cafe.