2020 R Nine T /5 - Centerstand or wheel stands

Hello all: We travelled up to Minnesota and bought a 2020 R Nine T /5 this weekend. The bike doesn't have a centerstand although it seems to have the mounting points. I see there are center stands available from Wunderlich and I assume others, including perhaps BMW. The user manual that came with the bike recommends using wheel stands. Anyone have a good reason for one or the other solution. I recognize that a wheel stand isn't going to be with us on a ride. Are there any advantages of those wheel stands?

Have both, use the Wunderlich adjustable on a R12S and K12S as well on some F bikes that have no stand Advantage over PitBull stand is it allows you to remove rear wheel AND drop final drive if needed.

The PitBull that goes thru the big hole of final drive is good for most other maintenance to get bike level... tire, oil and tranny lube changes ... but you cannot lower the drive

The front PitBull we use on many models for tire changes. Lifts from bottom of
forks but on some bikes it takes bike off the center stand which at first feels odd as the weight is changed until the arm of stand contacts ground.

Our KTM’s have spools fore and aft for that style of lifting and a different stand

If you ever get a puncture of a tire on the road you may well wish you had a center stand. Rolling a bike forward and backward trying to find where the air is escaping a puncture is not fun compared to sitting and slowly turning the wheel, several times maybe, until you find it. The item that punctured the tire is often not there when you look for the air leak.

I put a center stand on the Racer last Winter. Very happy with it although it is not quite as perfectly balanced as the one on my /6.
I did a LOT of research before buying and it appears only one company manufactures this product and it is sold by multiple vendors
such as BMW and Wunderlich.
I ended up buying one from a company in France and saved a lot of money. Only down side was the long wait time.

Great feedback Paul

PGlaves said:

If you ever get a puncture of a tire on the road you may well wish you had a center stand. Rolling a bike forward and backward trying to find where the air is escaping a puncture is not fun compared to sitting and slowly turning the wheel, several times maybe, until you find it. The item that punctured the tire is often not there when you look for the air leak.

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Thanks Paul. Great point. I have had a tire/tube failure on a roadside in southern Arizona back in the day on my R75/5. I hate to think about having another one on a new /5.

Removable Centerstand

I use the Hornig Motorcycleparts companie's "Lifter". This nifty little tool lifts the machine like a centerstand with the rear wheel up in the air. The two lugs on the lifter utilize recesses machined in the oil pan. One good push on the lever and the bike is up. A centrestand without having to permanently install one. Won't help with a flat away from home. I cover that possibility with insurance. On the bright side ground and cornering clearances remain what they are from the factory, which is important to me. Of course the lifter is useful to perform rear drive oil changes. A very stable support. Heinrich

As an owner of an 18 nine t urban, with a reasonable long distance use, ( I usually average 15000 miles a year as last year with my niner) I would have to advise the attached wonderlich centerstamd. It's a bit hard to figure out the technique to lift when fully loaded as someone else said it's a bit off balance, but it's great to have the capability to lift when on the road. Whether it's checking oil level or using as a locking assist for over night parking I'm glad I added it to the add-ons on my bike. At night at a hotel, I sanake a security cable through the center stand up to my engine bars to hold it on so unless a thief cuts the cable, they will have to pick it up completely to walk away with her. Not foolproof, but just one more thing to Make it inconvenient to steal and maybe look to another possibility. Nothing will stop a professional bike thief, but may just stop the impulse thief. Besides, Gieco insurance asks when applying for insurance if the bike is chained over night In their insurance application, which I said yes to, so that's my version of chaining, since there are not real alternatives to chain the bike to at hotels. YMMV.

SGT Bill, BTW, nice to see a question about the R NineT here on this forum. Very few posts on this BMW forum on the niner. You might consider the NineT Owners group for further questions on the nine as there is quite a good group of owners there ready to help with any nineT related issues.

I love centerstands and it's one of my favorite things about my BMWs. I love that I can show up to a shop and have my rear wheel off in 5 minutes to get a tire changed (it also makes it easy to remove the front).

My vote, of course, is for center stand...