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what are the chances?

immutable means "unchangeable." Do you really mean that? It NEVER changes? I am wondering, then, why some of the bikes parked with sidestands fall over?

Hot soft asphalt, mud or parked in neutral would be a good reason

At the Gilette Rally after the big storm...hard ground that turned very soft and a LOT of wind...very ugly sight at sunrise:hungover
 
Have seen many bikes blow over...some in a not-so pretty line with a big gust:banghead from old habits. Our's were still standing on their 3- point perch...just sayin'.
What the heck is that sidestand for if you don't use it?:brow Just remember to put that bad boy up on the Airheads when riding off...exciting if you forget!

I agree the sidestand is there to be used, and I use it from time to time. It definitely was true that the "word" was in the old days never to park an airhead on the sidestand unless you have to. The reasons were those explained above about oil seepage. It was common to see an airhead just start up after a park on the sidestand at a restaurant to have a "puff" of oil smoke out of the left cylinder only.

I now use my sidestand on a regular basis - due to some advice from an Old-timer in my BMW club, and also due to someone on this site.

I am getting older and when I have a bag bungee corded to the back of my seat, I don't have the ability to swing my leg over the bike and the seat, and the bag as well. My "ritual" now is, I park the bike using the center stand. When I come back out, I take the bike off the centerstand, put down the sidestand, and then use it to help me "stabalize" the bike while I lift my right leg over the seat. Short riders have had this problem for years. I then start the bike, straighten it up, and make sure to have the sidestand pop up on its own by the spring. I also do the reverse when dismounting. I put the sidestand down to steady the bike while I get off, then proceed to put the bike on the centerstand.

This method is used by lots of older riders. It makes it much easier for us, and all of those vertically challenged riders as well!

However, after all this thread. I am sure people have their own preferences. This is mine. I have stated the reasons above. Primarily the oil issue is my number 1 reason.
 
BMW 101: Never park a BMW boxer on the sidestand unless only as a last resort. After 40 years, I have yet to see an old timer park the bike on the sidestand. And...have been told by many never to do that!

You have that backwards--I'm an old timer and think the only use for the center stand is maintenance and parking in your garage. Maintenance also includes correcting an empty fuel tank condition. Never used center stand anywhere else.

First principle of BMW rallying is never park next to a BMW that's on it's center stand--can you say dominos?

They give away sidestand "pucks" at rallies. I have some nice ones from Top O' the Rockies.
 
...leak oil into the lower (left side) cylinder head?
I read a tech article by Oak awhile back that mentioned airheads smoking if oil settled in the left-side combustion chamber when parked on the sidestand. He recommended when shutting the bike off but before dismounting, stay seated with the bike upright or even tilted slightly to the right, count to five (to let the hot oil drain back to the crankcase/pan from the left cylinder), and then put it on the sidestand. For what it's worth, I use whichever stand is most appropriate for the circumstance (so my springs wear evenly :laugh), but have practiced Oak's suggestion when parking on the sidestand and have yet to have any start-up smoke.
:beer
 
Balderdash! Voni has had several Airheads, several K75s and several Oilheads. In her million plus miles she has parked on the center stand exactly zero times. She has actually put her bike on the centerstand a couple of times just to see if she could, or to repair a tire. But parked - never!

Other than in the shop, I can only recall parking my bikes on the centerstand a handful of times myself.

I think the old-timers who started this legend probably had engines with bad rings and thought the smoke from a few drops of oil was somehow a sign of their impending demise. Or they wanted style points based on those nice illustrations in the old Owners Manuals which showed a stylish dismount, holding the bike with one thumb and forefinger, while putting the bike on the centerstand, all dressed in their (now) vintage one-piece German leathers. The truth is that in those days - can you say /5 - the sidestands were sufficiently self-retractingly crappy that the centerstand might have made sense.

The real answer is - do whatever you want. There are some circumstances where one or the other absolutely makes the most sense: centerstand to change a tire and sidestand with a decent foot if in the grass. In the privacy of your own garage it usually fails to matter, and for maximum style points all lined up and backed in at the curb at the Dairy Queen do what your buddies do if you must.

I agree, do what you want!
 
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The truth is that in those days - can you say /5 - the sidestands were sufficiently self-retractingly crappy that the centerstand might have made sense.

Yeah, useless they weren't... I stopped using the side stand the morning I drove off and it didn't self-retract as expected; it dug into the edge of the driveway and pitched the bike, and me, over the high side. Now equipped with a Brown's, I use the either stand as warranted by conditions at hand. And like jimmylee, I use the sidestand as "insurance" that I don't drop the machine when placing it up on the center stand.
 
The non OEM sidestand on our /6 doesn't self retract and woke me up on the first left handed sweeper:banghead

Even though not a "Airhead" in this conversation, putting the tiny bike on the centerstand on the 69S takes more effort than some LT's...it also has two sidestands. :scratch The bike is very upright on either.
 
So ... this question is from a "newbie", not to riding but new to BMWs: is that old adage true? I agree that BMW oldtimers rarely if ever park on the sidestand, but is it really true that they leak oil into the lower (left side) cylinder head? Or is it only lore? Perhaps used to be true, but no longer?

When the engine is shut off it will usually stop turning with one piston coming "up" on the compression stroke. That cylinder will have both intake and exhaust valves closed. As the engine (and the air trapped in the cylinder) cools rapidly it creates a slight vacuum in the cylinder. That vacuum can draw oil past the rings if oil has pooled behind the rings. So on an Airhead or Oilhead on the sidestand there is some probability that the down side cylinder will be the one with the valves closed. Some smoking can happen.

With any of the flop engine K bikes (75, 100, 1100, 1200) when on the sidestand there is a very high probability that one cylinder will be in the compression stroke, and thus one cylinder will have valves closed and the vacuum can draw oil past the rings. There was a reason my original K75 was named Old Smokey.

The later K engines had the ring gaps pinned so they didn't all line up at the bottom of the cylinders. Early ones were not pinned, and I don't know when/if Airhead or Oilhead rings were ever pinned to block rotation.
 
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What are the chances of pulling into a gas station to fill up and under the front tire is two crisp twenty dollar
bills stuck together?
I had to move the bike to retrieve them. :thumb
 
I'm not sure moving the bike was the best choice.

Someone else might have grabbed them while you were still moving. :)

Voni
sMiling
 
What are the chances of pulling into a gas station to fill up and under the front tire is two crisp twenty dollar
bills stuck together?
I had to move the bike to retrieve them. :thumb

If you were at a MOA National, you'd have never had a chance. :fight
 
When the engine is shut off it will usually stop turning with one piston coming "up" on the compression stroke. That cylinder will have both intake and exhaust valves closed. As the engine (and the air trapped in the cylinder) cools rapidly it creates a slight vacuum in the cylinder. That vacuum can draw oil past the rings if oil has pooled behind the rings. So on an Airhead or Oilhead on the sidestand there is some probability that the down side cylinder will be the one with the valves closed. Some smoking can happen.

With any of the flop engine K bikes (75, 100, 1100, 1200) when on the sidestand there is a very high probability that one cylinder will be in the compression stroke, and thus one cylinder will have valves closed and the vacuum can draw oil past the rings. There was a reason my original K75 was named Old Smokey.

The later K engines had the ring gaps pinned so they didn't all line up at the bottom of the cylinders. Early ones were not pinned, and I don't know when/if Airhead or Oilhead rings were ever pinned to block rotation.


Just thinking of the physics of it, it made perfectly good sense that if the cylinder was going downhill that oil could run down there, past the rings and get into the combustion chamber. The advice above also, that one "tip" the bike to the right for a 5 seconds or so, is OK, but the oil available to run into the left cylinder probably drains for more than seconds, probably 15 minutes or so.

Now...having said that, I STILL think that a person ought to do what he/she wants to do! I am not totally convinced (by the old timers who use this argument) that there is enough oil to matter anyway - getting into the left cylinder. Having said that it could happen, and probably does, is a different matter than saying that it happens enough to cause any problems.

I personally, just like to keep my bike on the center stand.
 
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