Side stand is killing me!

David Toll

Reliving my youth?
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Laid up once again! Done my left knee, left buttock, left foot and the same elbow as last time. 'C'est ne pas possible," you may well scoff. Is the man a total incompetent? Inexperienced? Inattentive?? Physically disadvantaged??? In point of fact, I've been a regular motorcyclist since I purchased my first bike, (a Honda MT125), at 16 but I am currently the victim of a surreptitious and life-threatening plot perpetrated by the late '70's designers of the XS650 SE. I am, of course, referring to their kickstand design. In their commendable focus on rider safety, those designers developed a kick stand that tends to spring from the lowered to the raised position at the slightest indication that the rider is intending to mount or move the motorcycle. Even looking at my SE makes me nervous in case the stand chooses to snap up and deliver my pride and joy to the asphalt. My last three motorcycle incidents have occurred in this manner. Yesterday, after a rigorous 4 hour ride over the Tomewin ranges, most of it in the rain, I pulled into the carpark of my local for a celebratory libation. Kicked on the side stand on a level slightly uphill parking spot, checked she was in gear, moved my left foot from the peg to the ground and was beginning to swing my right leg over when the stand snapped up and everything dropped like a bag of sh*t. Just like last time. There must be some mod I can make to ensure that the old girl will stand up. A weaker spring will allow it to flop around like a dick in a shirt sleeve. Maybe some sort of locking washer system can be fitted or perhaps weld a coupe of flanges on the leg and frame that ride up over one another to give the assembly some resistance? I'm developing a twitch when I think about parking my bike. Any suggestions beyond being more careful to have the weight on the stand?
Cheers
 
Awww man David, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry to hear you got injured, there’s nothing more sickening than feeling your bike go over, especially on top of you! My ‘77 has a trigger happy kickstand also. Any time I move the bike it always snaps up, and I have to be careful to park on level ground or with the bike nose up a little so the bike wants to roll back against the kickstand. Boy I’ll tell you wanting to ride these old bikes sometimes feels like a desire for punishment! Feel better soon buddy! :thumbsup:
 
Sorry to hear of your mishap David. Hope you and the bike will be on the mend quickly. My side stand is pretty good. Once the bike’s weight is on it, quite a bit of force is needed to make it fold up. The aftermarket center stand is a different story. Once the bike is on that stand if you sneeze facing it from 25 ft away, I swear it will just about pop off of the stand. I really should look at modifying that. Now that I’ve read of your mishap I’ll inspect my side stand closely tomorrow. Perhaps I’ve just bern lucky do far.
 
Once you heal up David, give us some good pics of the stand in the down position.... if it'll stay that way long enough. :rolleyes:
Specifically, the pivot and spring ends. As Arctic said, it needs more "over center" to it. Some good pics should show us what needs doin'.
I'll add that none of my XS's have had this problem... there's gotta be a fix.
 
I quite like the later stand style and both of mine work great. In fact, I consider it one of the nicest sidestands I've ever had on any bike. But be aware, some of the stand parts diagrams are drawn wrong. They show the spring pivot post set below the pivot and bolt .....

https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/y...0d/stand-footrest-brake-pedal-xs650d-e-e00650

It should be flipped around so the spring post is above the pivot and bolt .....

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I'm not sure if it matters but since every diagram shows it this way, I always install the spring with the loose hook that rotates inside the coil facing up .....

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:agree:
I'll add in; the bolt/pivot area may have become horribly worn out from lack of lube and vibration! it may need need to be built up reshaped repaired. Note 5t has added a zerk to the area.
plus whatever the XS650 stands are quite good and I've dealt with some bad ones, the Yamaha Vision a case in point. That one fixed with some material removed from the stop so the stand went a bit further forward and further past the spring's center point................ but not til after it flopped n busted up a brand new fairing and metallic red paint job whilst I was going to get a camera to record it's new found beauty. :banghead::banghead::banghead:
 
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:agree:
I'll add in; the bolt/pivot area may have become horribly worn out from lack of lube and vibration! it may need need to be built up reshaped repaired. Note 5t has added a zerk to the area.
plus whatever the XS650 stands are quite good and I've dealt with some bad ones, the Yamaha Vision a case in point. That one fixed with some material removed from the stop so the stand went a bit further forward and further past the spring's center point................ but not til after it flopped n busted up a brand new fairing and metallic red paint job whilst I was going to get a camera to record it's new found beauty. :banghead::banghead::banghead:
Not because of the side stand, but last year while getting ready to take pictures for the 2021 calendar vote, I leaned over a bit too far to look at the choke and the bike ended up on its side. Broken mirror, scuffed engine case. Lucky I had a spare mirror and the means to quickly polish the case again.
 
Thank you gentlemen for your interest and advice. I'm having trouble getting down to the thing at the moment but there are certainly some excellent suggestions here for me to follow - as usual. I'll fix it or I can get a new one for around $20 (US).
Cheers
 
Yes, do inspect your install. Make sure the spring post and spring are both the right way around. Both of mine lock in the down position quite well.
 
Just checked my stand this afternoon and it “flips” out way past center so I’m thinking it would take quite a bit of force to push it off the stand (knocks on wood).
 
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There can be a different setup on XS650 SE .s
There was 2 springs in both my 2 bikes
I always believed it was a safety feature that the kickstand sprung up .. raising the bike from it
Seen people notice it at the first left turn on other bikes
Cant find any picture right now
But to put bike on the side stand one had to put the foot on in pushing it forward to be sure it landed on it
Then when raising bike it up Plong stand fell up
So a few years ago at left turn in roundabouts and so there was a sound and it was one of the springs to weak
so the stand was hanging down a bit.
I put in a lot of work to get it to work ,lubricating. and shifting washers
Shifting in parts from another stand
I don't give up that easy but I ended up with the rule --- " If You cant fix F*ck it "
I cant exactly remember what I did but I did remove one spring and perhaps washers and excenters
Got rid of the hanging down and rid of the automatically folding kickstand.
More like a usual standard kickstand
I has happened I have forgot to pull it in ..after start.
But I don't open up before some warmup driving so this far I have noticed the scraping and taken it in
 
I need to zerk my center stand, but keep putting it off. 5twins has loads of good zerk ideas...:hump:

Edit: So I got some enthusiasm together and tackled the centerstand, but the Virago cannot take a Zerk due to its design. So instead greased it well with Molyslip and fitted new bolts of the correct length. Then I spotted the mess the road salt has been doing to my exhausts.
Does it ever stop?.....:hellno: But is it fun?.....:hump:
 
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Yes, do inspect your install. Make sure the spring post and spring are both the right way around. Both of mine lock in the down position quite well.
I concur. The side stand was “sensitive” to folding up. I checked: and turned the spring-in-spring up so that end hooked on the stud. Also straightened a rather bashed slotted stud thingy. Put it all back together in correct configuration and much improved! (I also ground a little off the face of the stop to increase the leg angle but I don’t think that made much difference over just doing some maintenance.)
 
David, sorry to hear about the incident - hope you feel better soon.

The side-stand on my XS makes me nervous. So, I'm extra careful every time. Usually get off the bike first, then as I deploy the stand I check that the bike won't end up leaning too far or not enough. Then, like Glennpm, I test pull the bike back.

The reason it makes me nervous, unless I turn the handlebars full left, the bike is kind of wobbly on the side-stand. A hand on the saddle can make the bike wobble around the stand to the point the bars swing around. I think turning the bars left works by giving a bit more lean. Parking in an unfamiliar place, I always try to have the bike slightly uphill. In fact, I often end up doing a micro analysis of the area around the bike looking for tiny level changes that will enable or prevent getting the right lean. And I carry a small piece of wood in my jacket pocket, which is sometimes needed to get the bike stable.

Reading that back, I'm thinking I must be nuts. Doesn't take as long as it sounds written out but I ain't happy to walk away till I feel the bike is steady.
 
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