Center stand or not?

dieselyoda said:

For me, leave the steering unlocked, a little lift on the rear and walk with it.

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I would be worried about regularly stressing and eventually breaking the centerstand.

timtyler said:

I would be worried about regularly stressing and eventually breaking the centerstand.

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Any Beemer I've ever owned had crappy sidestands and I have broken a few. Stories there to tell.

Centerstands seem to be pretty robust. I've had bushings wear out but never the stand itself.

There are some bikes out there that the centerstand is PITA but from experience with the Beemers I've owned, you can pretty well be as rough as you want and I have not had any problems.

Early K bikes - K100, K75 - were known to have center stands that cracked under use. BMW modified them twice to address the problem, and finally designed a completely different cast stand for the 1100 models. BTDT more than once with a K bike stand.

deilenberger said:

BTDT more than once with a K bike stand.

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Sorry, I don't know the acronym so I don't know what you mean to say.

Been There, Done That

markaz said:

Been There, Done That

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I guess that's just me not putting the 'ol thinking cap on straight today. Makes sense now and now, I have a question; Did you actually cast new side stands?

I've got a pattern to cut sidestands on my lathe and get my buddy with a mill to finish the bike end. The rest, I weld. The bike stands a little more upright and depending, I add a 3/8" bar to prevent the dreaded asphalt plant.

These are almost exclusively for K75's and I've done about 20 or so. The tough part is getting the clutch interlock thingy they do exactly right.

I'm trying to make a pattern for an R1100RT as my sidestand planted itself so deep in the asphalt this summer that the mirror cleared the pavement by about 2". I needed a tow truck to get it out.

Suggestions???

The centerstand is useless on hot asphalt or soft ground but, every night, regardless of which bike I rode that day, I put it on the centerstand. In the morning, check the oil and tires and a quick look around.

Center Stand

I have a 2013 F700GS with factory low suspension (technically an F700GSL) and it came with a center stand.

pjmaszczak said:

I have a 2013 F700GS with factory low suspension (technically an F700GSL) and it came with a center stand.

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Well that may change everything for me then. I was going to go with the regular suspension and low seat so I could get the center stand. If I can get it low suspension with center stand from factory then I wouldn't have to butt cheek off to the left to reach the ground

Back to the dealership......

WI Sharon said:

Well that may change everything for me then. I was going to go with the regular suspension and low seat so I could get the center stand. If I can get it low suspension with center stand from factory then I wouldn't have to butt cheek off to the left to reach the ground

Back to the dealership......

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Thank you all for your replies. I ordered the center stand at the time I purchased the bike. A center stand came into the parts department a few days later, and they discovered it was a model for the lowered suspension. Today they received the correct one for my bike. So there are two models (Short and regular) of the center stand available from BMW.