Homeless.....

pumps

XS650 Junkie
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Well I got an invite after the old place shut down so I thought I'd come by and hang out. I see some familiar faces uh I mean names and I look forward to meeting some new riders also. Still wrenching on the old 77'. Currently getting the swingarm blasted and powder coated. I have lots of work to do to get her ride-able again before the spring.
Hello my old friends :D and to new ones too. I know a little...mostly from more experienced members holding my hand but I have learned. I still have lots of stupid questions to ask so don't go anywhere ok? geez! :doh:

I have slid the fork tubes up into the trees and have some shorter shocks. How can I figure out how much to shorten the kickstand?
 
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G'day Pumps, glad you came along for the ride..Plenty of good crew here!

I've never lowered a bike (I'm 6'5"), but if you put both wheels on say a 1/2" thick bit of timber & the stand worked right there, would taking 1/2" off the stand work???? Well that's what I'd do, failing any better advice! :cheers:
 
Hey Pumps, Bet the 77 's looking good.:cheers:

If you know how much you have lowered it then that is how much you should shorten the Center stand

I haven't done it but for the side stand I would chock it back up to the original height as per Yamamans suggestion..

A: with the bike in the vertical measure the distance between the bottom of the kickstand to the ground...


B: remove the blocks and measure again with the bike in the vertical

Imagine a right angle triangle with the horizontal on top and with the kick stand as the angle subtract B from A then mark the answer up the vertical of the right angle then mark a line horizontal from that mark and that should give you the amount to remove from the side stand..........Will have to use a square or bevel to work out the angle of your side stand for the right angle triangle
 
Hi guys! And TC my Ninja riding compadre! I like your ideas gents even though I was a failure at geometry. When I get the rear wheel back on her I'll give it a stab.
 
pumps I have some thinner plate that makes a good "foot" for the side stand. About half as thick as the stock if you're interested.
 
Thank you for the offer. It will be a bit as things go, swing arm must be completed, rear wheel polishing needs completing etc. You know how that goes. I might be down south here in the not too distant future. Daughter has her eye on a 50cc Honda Metropolitan scooter for sale near Springfield somewhere. Something to ride around the UMKC campus. She is making the deal, I am just the consultant and transporter!
 
So are you going to shorten the sidestand or just bend it out some to make up for the drop? You can't just shorten the stand the same amount as the drop and expect to keep the same lean angle. It might be close but you need to do a little math or just use trial and error.

So using my little MS paint drawing.. (at work so I can't use photoshop :laugh:)

sidestandlean01.PNG
(click to enlarge)

Let's just say the bike leans over at a 20 degree angle from center (70 degrees from the ground). If you lower the bike 2" (remove two inches from the tire contact patch to the sidestand pivot) then the side stand pivot point will only drop 1.88 inches due to the 20 degree angle.

Since the sidestand is at a different angle than the lean of the bike, lets say 45 degrees, you'd need to take off 2.66 inches to have keep the same lean angle of the bike.

The problem with that is the distance from the sidestand contact patch and the tire contact patch (along the ground) just got 2.56 inches closer. That means a less stable bike when it's sitting on the sidestand. That's why it might be a better idea to bend (change the angle of) the sidestand to keep the bike at the same lean angle and still keep the wide sidestand to tire contact patch distance. How much you need to change the angle of the sidestand (bend it out) depends on the length of the side stand. But you can't use the actual length of the sidestand, because the pivot as shown in the picture above is imaginary since no sidestand that I've ever seen mounts to the centerline of the bike. Imagine in the image below that the green line is distance between the lower rails on the bike and the stand is mounted to the left rail (aren't they all?).

sidestandlean02.PNG
(click to enlarge)

So you'll need to take than into consideration when calculating everything. There are also a few other things that could be taken into consideration such as how the suspension was changed to achieve the drop and how that affects the static sag, etc., but I'm not smart enough to figure all that out and it might not matter that much anyway.

So instead of doing all that math, after you drop the bike, I'd just heat up the sidestand with a torch and keep bending it out until you get the lean angle you want. Then again, maybe removing an inch or two from the distance between the sidestand and the tire contact patch wouldn't be that big of a deal so shortening the stand might work just fine :shrug:
 
- when bending take care you still have clearances
- if shortening you may get away with adding a larger foot, extended outwards-may need bracing
 
Hey pumps!
I've got the same issue. I'm keeping my eye out for a set of extended tubes, no more than 2 inches over stock to make up the difference. Till then I just look for uneven ground when using the side stand.
But I do have a spare side stand, hmm
 
Hello Pump's, Gordo here. Glad you found us, I've been over here for a little while now, and I like this site. No crybaby shit,& if it doe's start, Travis will shut them out. A good philosiphy if you ask me.Got tired of all that on the other site. Allot fo the old crew is here, & they are a good lot .
 
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