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what are the chances?

typ181r90

Superkraut
of both centerstand springs shearing off at once? I parked my bike on the centerstand when I got to work last night and didn't notice anything wrong, but when I came out this morning to ride home both springs were snapped and laying on the ground - one about 4 feet from the bike. I wound up having to tie a rag around the stand and the frame to get home and upon inspection I couldn't see anything amiss with the stand that could have caused that. It did get pretty cold, but I've ridden this bike through many winters already, maybe just bad luck? Just curious if this has happened to anybody else before, I'm going to check everything again later on once the sun comes up.
 
Call in NCIS and pull up the local traffic/bank cameras...someone would have been seen lying down on the ground with some cutters! :stick
 
What are the chances of two flat tires at the same time during a half day long ride?

Both of my valve stems starting leaking and after 200 miles I had two flat tires at the same time.

Voni
sMiling
 
I would think that the NSA or CIA may have something to do with this!

I know we are making light of this, but it probably isn't so for the original poster.

I think the arrangement has a single spring on EACH side of the centerstand. I am wondering if one had been broken for some time, but still held up the stand enough to travel. Then, the second one broke and then the stand wouldn't stay up at all and that is how the owner noticed it.

I would recommend that the poster employ Paul Drake, and Perry Mason just in case!
 
What are the chances of two flat tires at the same time during a half day long ride?

Both of my valve stems starting leaking and after 200 miles I had two flat tires at the same time.

Voni
sMiling

I am wondering if the same culprit is at work on your bike too?
 
I would think that the NSA or CIA may have something to do with this!

I know we are making light of this, but it probably isn't so for the original poster.

I think the arrangement has a single spring on EACH side of the centerstand. I am wondering if one had been broken for some time, but still held up the stand enough to travel. Then, the second one broke and then the stand wouldn't stay up at all and that is how the owner noticed it.

I would recommend that the poster employ Paul Drake, and Perry Mason just in case!

Now that it's normal hours and the sun is out I got a good look at everything. It appears that the right side centerstand mount is stripped pretty badly and there's a lot of play, the spring that was attached on that side appears newer than the one that was on the left side and maybe given the play one side snapped and the other just gave in? The right side spring broke at the point it mounts to the frame, the left side broke at the point the spring meets the stand... I dunno, when the centerstand is down there's no stress on the springs, they're only really in use to keep the stand up while riding so it just seems odd that they'd break when putting the stand down, but who knows.

I do know I'll have to repair that stripped mount and buy some new springs this weekend. I'll also have to keep a better eye on the stand area of the bike because I've never really gone over that at all or considered it a safety pre-check.
 
Now that it's normal hours and the sun is out I got a good look at everything. It appears that the right side centerstand mount is stripped pretty badly and there's a lot of play, the spring that was attached on that side appears newer than the one that was on the left side and maybe given the play one side snapped and the other just gave in? The right side spring broke at the point it mounts to the frame, the left side broke at the point the spring meets the stand... I dunno, when the centerstand is down there's no stress on the springs, they're only really in use to keep the stand up while riding so it just seems odd that they'd break when putting the stand down, but who knows.

I do know I'll have to repair that stripped mount and buy some new springs this weekend. I'll also have to keep a better eye on the stand area of the bike because I've never really gone over that at all or considered it a safety pre-check.

I just had to repair mine on my R100/7 about 2 months go. I noticed the bolts that hold the centerstand on were not pointing straight in, but were slanted. No broken springs, but I decided to take everything apart to see what was amiss. Here, the bolts had backed out, but not far enough to fall out - they couldn't as the exhaust pipes would have prevented that. However, since they were crooked they damaged slightly the first thread, My first attempt was to put in longer bolts and back up with a nut, but soon found out that the springs needed that space where I had tried the nuts. I went back to regular length bolts, but new, and cleaned out the threads so they would screw in.

Did so, attached the springs and now both are A-OK. I did notice however that the springs are at their shortest when the stand was up, not down. I used the sidestand to hold bike while I stretched springs over the frame/stand mount locations. Now, more solid than ever.

This was another one of the plethora of things that were not maintained on my bike by previous owners. All of these types of things are annoying and usually took a lot of time to fix as there were always other parts that needed to be removed to get at them.
 
My guess would be that the two springs had approximately the same number of stretches before they each failed.
 
The exhaust pipes did not prevent my centerstand from falling off...that's an R60/6. I was riding along and I heard something dragging. One side let go. The stand now hangs in my garage. I guess I'll have to get the mounting tabs welded up and drill a new hole, as they are all out of round. My mounting bolts were stripped, too. I wonder if they sell oversize bushings? My manual never stated anything about greasing or checking tightness. I used to use the center stand all the time. It's really more stable on the side stand, I think. When on the center stand, the wind would blow the bike over, or a big steel truck would pass by and the ground would shake and over my bike would go.
 
It's really more stable on the side stand, I think. When on the center stand, the wind would blow the bike over, or a big steel truck would pass by and the ground would shake and over my bike would go.

:lurk I thought it was the other way around? That's kind of weird... :dunno
 
:lurk I thought it was the other way around? That's kind of weird... :dunno

no, the truck vibration, key of E, I believe, will rotate the bike, counter-clockwise (contingent on floor slant), 180 degrees, if rumble is consistent. - Bob
 
These were huge trucks carrying big steel bands, whoa! The problem was that my bike was out of tune (heck, the timing has never been adjusted to this day) and my handlebars went into a tank slap mode from the enharmonic vibrations, and started doing hemidemisemiquavers (in spite of the steering damper). In the end, the bike ended up on a flat note, accidentally, but it just needed a pick up to set things aright...
 
My guess would be that the two springs had approximately the same number of stretches before they each failed.

I always thought that the left spring worked more often than the right spring because it was closer to the mount/dismount position - darn !!
 
center stand springs

The springs wrap around posts, and wear. Sometimes the stand bolts back out, or otherwise loosen, and few owners check for lubrication of the stand at the spring perches and tightness of the bolts, and in some instances the spring gets fouled, and, yes, both can go at the same time.
Be sure that the fitments are square, nothing is excessively worn, and the stand perch area is lubricated. BE SURE the stand can move fully without fouling anything.
All this should be on the yearly scheduled service list.

snowbum
http://bmwmotorcycletech.info
 
I agree with Kurt, at least my bike is more stable on the centerstand unless on softer ground or gravel.

this debate has been hashed, rehashed and cornbeefhashed to death.

consider this; on c-stand, you have a very narrow isosceles triangle as your base (one wheel, & 2 contact points that are inches apart at the c-stand). on the sidestand, you have a very much larger triangle to support the bike (2 wheels, and one larger contact point of sidestnad).

there is no question whatsoever that sidestand is more secure than c-stand. the only time c-stand wins out is for doing work on the bike on solid flat ground (garage, pavement, etc), or when bike is on display (again- solid flat ground).

the only caveat acting against this is if you have a spring loaded sidestand that when weight/tension on it is released, it folds to upright position. I had a mid-90s Duc like that; remove any weight from the sidestand, and up it came! the "tweak" to remove the "sidestand up" feature was soon employed. some airheads have a similar feature, and disabling it is often done to pre-emptively avoid the windy tipover.
 
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