Mercury Centre Stand

When I acquired my 1969 Norton Mercury it had no centre stand. I picked one up some time ago, and it works fine. Sorry, no picture, but it is the style that has nothing sticking out on the left side to lower the stand, or to stand on to help raise the bike.
Looks like this:

Recently I picked up another stand which I think is from an Atlas. Looks like this:
Two obvious differences between the two stands is the Atlas style has rounded pads welded to the feet, and the the long arm for lowering the stand and lifting the bike with the help of your foot. It needs some repair and I haven't tried it out yet,

Any ideas which is correct for a Mercury? Or a 650 SS generally?
Does the 18" rear wheel on the Atlas vs the 19" rear wheel on the Mercury figure in this?
With that long arm the "Atlas" style weighs a whole lot more, but would it be much easier to use?

Comments please!

Are the two the same length/height?

I've got one of the ones with the arm on a project. It's got 19s and the arm makes it really easy to put up on the stand.

Never used one of the ones without the arm, but would seem to be difficult to use.

Similar in length. The "Atlas" style is about 1/4" longer/taller with the radiused pad brazed on. I think the radius makes it easier to roll on and off the stand. Looks like the pads were brazed on at the factory. The earlier stand has thin flat feet.

Mine, with the arm and the welded-on ramps, puts the rear wheel (19" x 100 avon roadrider) about 1/2" off the ground.

I have a 650SS and an Atlas both late '66, the Atlas has the stand with the arm [roll on] and is a lot easier to use, maybe they were cut off for fast cornering purposes?

The first one is more like what you see on a Wideline, maybe early Atlas? My ‘59 had what looked like pieces of pig iron brazed to the feet, I had that removed and nicer shaped pieces placed instead for better lift. It is a little bit of a pain to handle. My ‘65 Atlas has the second one with the lever and is much easier.

possm said:

I have a 650SS and an Atlas both late '66, the Atlas has the stand with the arm [roll on] and is a lot easier to use, maybe they were cut off for fast cornering purposes?

Click to expand...

I have had two '64 650SS bikes. They both had the stand without the arm and were difficult to use. I've always suspected that it had something to do with the change in the profile of tires between when the bikes were built and the early '70s when I first owned them. On the other hand i have a '62 Atlas with the stand with the arm and it is easy to use. Go figure.

Sounds like it will worthwhile repairing the "Atlas" style with the large arm on it and using that on the Mercury.
The only thing worse than a crappy center stand is no center stand at all.