who uses the center stand

I most often start my bike when its on the centre stand. I am small and when I start it on its wheels, I leave the side stand out because its a balancing act when both feet are off the ground in preparation for that big kick.

In saying that though, I do recommend everyone reinforce their centre stands as they were built for lightness, not durability. I bent a 1/2 round high tensile bar to fit inside the lower legs and cross piece on both my 71 750 and my 74 850, and tack welded them in place [ 8 tacks ], to the upper and lower sections front and back both of the lower legs.
Over 40 years ago I welded gussets to the 750 stand but the cross piece eventually broke again, and I had welded the 850 stand back together one time when I felt something dragging on the road. Not fun when you are going fast on a winding road.
The 1/2 bar doesn't look out of place. The 850 gets ridden a lot so the whole bike h as to be strong.

Dereck

Cycle Goon said:

eskasteve said:

Once you have the sidestand bolt snap just as you are finishing your kickstart down stroke you'll understand the usefulness of the center stand. It happened to me in 1973 in a jam packed scenic vista parking lot. My bike chose that time to become a one kick wonder and was running nicely as it fell on top of me. Boy do those header pipes heat up quick! Thank goodness this was before the cell phone era otherwise I'd be the featured idiot of the day on you tube.

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Man card revoked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You don't start a bike on the side stand.

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Centre stands and side stands should never be used for kick starting, but they do have their purpose, fixing flats on the side of the road, doing maintenance etc, but when my Norton was new and still in Commando form the biggest problem I had with the centre stand was scraping while hard in the corners, loose springs making the CS bounce, bolts and bushes wearing out if you use it for kick starting and the side stands have simlar problem, you should aways get use to kick start your Norton without relying on the stands, if your bike is tuned right it should start first kick every time, well mine does and its a hot motor.

Ashley

The SS clone only has a centerstand, no sidestand. It's a little inconvenient at times, but I don't mind.

I removed my sidestand years ago. You have to get off the bike to put it down anyway and mine used to rattle. The bike is a lot easier to kick and do maintenance on the centrestand.

petejohno said:

I removed my sidestand years ago. You have to get off the bike to put it down anyway and mine used to rattle.

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I can extend my 850 Mk3's side stand from the seated position quite easily and although it's more of a stretch it can also be folded again without having to get off. :?
It doesn't rattle either. :wink:

I threw my sidestand away and cut off its lugs to better tuck in the headpipe.

I only have a center stand. That little nub on the frame for the side stand scares me. I have heard many stories.
I had good reason to replace mine.

old..

New....

As I use a standard Commando frame for the race bike, when I first had 2 high pipes on it with peashooters, I
had left the side stand lug on , its was the first thing to dig into the tarmac during cornering, so off it came.
On my roadbike, I havent removed the lug, just trimmed it back a bit for header pipe clearance, footpegs and CS are the first things to make contact during spirited cornering.
Regards Mike

The first modification I ever did to my 750 in the early 70's was throw the side stand away.
When is start my 850 with the side stand out, it is there only as a safety backup if i don't get the balance right when I kick it over. I don't kick start it ON the side stand. Only a fool would do that. They are too weak.
Dereck

jimbo wrote:

And you can and will get the conversations about the rubbers in the isolastics taking a set after long periods of centerstand storage with the different Commando arrangements.

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I am curious as to why this would not happen with the side stand as well?

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The later centerstand is mounted to the gearbox/engine plate rear iso tube, the sidestand lug is directly on the frame. So the weight bearing down on the iso's is increased when the center stand is used over the sidestand.

No sidestand when I first got my 71 many years ago, did with only the mainstand until last year... when it fractured along the oblong wear hole made by the spring. I've since fitted an 850 style (longer gusset) mainstand with the shouldered bushings (have to open the holes in the 71 cradle a bit).

Side stand was repaired last year (welded on late style lug), and I love it. I welded the bracket slightly more downward than was indicated by the old britts template, as I wanted to eliminate the excessive lean that commando's seem prone to. Also wleded in a 1/8" tapered plate to the face of the lug to limit how far out the stand swings at full extension. I have no issues accessing the sidestand while sitting on the bike. And the new mainstand is easy to employ in the garage.

All that said, and based on the first piece of advice the old man gave me when I got my T120 back in the day.... I don't make a habit of kicking the bike over while on either stand... I just dont believe they're intended for that purpose, and have had to deal with busted main/side stands as a result of years of "stand starting" by PO's. The mainstand will hold up a bit longer, and I admit to starting it on the mainstand after a rebuild, or first time of the season to check things over, but after that I always kick my bikes over from the seated position, with both stands retracted

I have a '70 commando. Both stands are a little short by design. I normally use the side stand when I am parking at a destination point. I turn the front wheel to the right while parking in a position so the left side of the bike faces towards the uphill direction of the ground I'm parking on to help the bike be a bit more verticle when the side stand is deployed. It works well enough

If I deploy the centerstand at home, I usually throw a piece of 1/4" plywood under the bike because the center stand on early bikes is short. It unloads the weight on the suspension, but doesn't lift one wheel off the ground like it should. The 70's stand is also not attached to the cradle. it's attached to plates off the frame's cross member which only early model bikes have.

*That same cross member is the one that interferes with the mounting of Jim Comstock's sump plug breather... As much as I like my 70 commando because it's "different" in many subtle ways, I'd like to hear that it's better than late models in at least one way, because the list of crap that was changed to make commando's better in later years adds up to a lot. If I was in the market to buy a commando, I wouldn't be looking for a '70 model year because there's a lot more to do to them to bring them up to the later year's standards.. Most of which, I have done, but it's been a long freekin' road...

I never kick the bike over on either stand. That's a recipe for a broken stand. Also, I'm a large human and it takes all my weight to kick my bike over. I've seen guys put their foot on their kicker and push it down with their leg to start their bike... No way, on my bike. You jump up in the air, straighten your leg on the kicker and rock backward to drive the kicker down to give it enough of a blast to start it. No way could you stand on the right side of the bike and pop it over with your left foot... no effin' way...

pantah_good said:

Aesthetically, bikes just look their best on the center stand, and you can't not look at your bike after parking it.

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Aesthetically Commandos look their best at speed in twisties

I agree with David's position above on where a Commando looks best ..... as far as starting on center stand , after having both legs surgically repaired a few times each , my right leg remains the worse , for the last 16 years I have always kicked bike to life with left leg while bike stood on center stand ..... I have observed no ill effects yet to stand , occasionally I have started bike while off stand with straddle method and almost always bang my bad right knee .... might be interesting poll to see how many start with aid of center stand and those who don't , also how many stands have actually given up the ghost while being used to hold bike during the kick start process .... both sides have seemed very adamant in their views on which method is correct .... while I love my Commando dearly , I also enjoy going out to shed and starting one of the Italians on the button , no leg bashing at all ....
Craig

start my things on their center stands, I will repair the stands once in a great while if I have to.

As Jimbo correctly pointed out earlier on this forum topic, leaving your bike on the centre stand for any length of time is NOT a good idea as all the weight is transferred to the rear isolastics and the result is deformed rubbers which ultimately affect handling, etc. For long term storage, it's always best to use neither the side or centre stand; tie the bike down from the forks to the ground with straps. Personally, I just roll my bike up onto my Handy Lift and tie it down to save space in my workshop.

cNwRestomod said:

As Jimbo correctly pointed out earlier on this forum topic, leaving your bike on the centre stand for any length of time is NOT a good idea as all the weight is transferred to the rear isolastics and the result is deformed rubbers which ultimately affect handling, etc. For long term storage, it's always best to use neither the side or centre stand; tie the bike down from the forks to the ground with straps. Personally, I just roll my bike up onto my Handy Lift and tie it down to save space in my workshop.

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When tied down as you describe, think about how the weight is distributed to the wheels - for the sake of argument lets say it is 50/50.

Some of the rear wheel weight also impact the ISOs as leverage through the swing-arm to the cradle. How much? I dont know. For the sake of argument, lets say 10%.

When on the side stand, less weight would be on the rear ISOs than when on both wheels, as the side stand would be taking part of that weight and transferring it to the frame and thus both the wheels. So, you would see a reduction in the 10%. However, the load would be more on the primary side of the iSOs.

For long term storage I think the best solution has to be on an under-frame type lift with the wheels off the ground. This also protects the tires from the same deformities. And, isnt this how they do cars as well?

That's a good one, long term compression pressure on the top of the rear isolastics by way of the center stand being roughly beneath the rear isolastics, and less compression pressure on those isolastics when the bike is on its wheels, on the side stand, because most of the weight is then carried by the rear shock springs and front fork springs.

Seems logical, has anyone observed witness marks on the rubbers, or misshapen rubbers, or something else that confirms this?

Actually, thinking about it more - when in a tied down state (as opposed to in a wheel chock) the distribution would likely be much more front loaded. Rear ISOs would benefit, but the fork springs would not at all.

Again, frame bearing the weight for long term storage is likely the best? In constant use? Sidestand?

I've currently had the centre stand off the bike for a few weeks because it broke. Just waiting for the repaired stand to be powder coated. I cannot wait for it to be back on the bike. I always start the bike on the centre stand. The easiest method of starting. Maintenance is extremely annoying without it. Imagine a flat tyre out on the road without a centrestand. Easy to fix WITH but a pain in the arse without.