Centerstand

So one of my first challenges was getting the center stand back on. Some people don't like center stands. They can hang down too much and they usually weigh a lot.

But if I'm to stuff another bike in my garage I can't afford to have a bike that leans on it's side stand. I thought I was very fortunate to find the center stand in the box of parts. Heck, it even had the mounting bolts and springs nicely zipped tied to the stand. So I put the stand on and thought I was all good. But then I noticed that the stand wasn't going up. Going to the left side I see the left foot hitting the muffler. Well, it shouldn't do that so I pulled the stand back off. You can see from the picture that the left leg is really bent in.

So with the stand off I drove a floor jack on it and simply jacked it up. I then held the stand up to the bike to check my progress. Once I thought I had it right (or at least better) I was prepared to put the stand on with the springs. Centerstand springs are notorious for being difficult to get on. When the springs proved to be too strong for me to just pull on with my spring puller I went to Plan B. I loosely assembled the left bolt. With the left bolt able to provide leverage I could get the springs on and then pull the right side enough to get the bolt in. Then it was just a matter of tightening the bolts.

I don't think I have it perfect, the extension hits the muffler. I think it needs a little more tweaking. But I may just leave it on the bike and use the jack on it's side. But at least the center stand works. The springs are definitely strong enough to prevent the stand from coming down unintentially.