Adjustable Sidestand

[Riceburner]

Well since I live in a third world country and my selection of stuff is limited, when I wanted to change the rear tire I could only find a 140/80-17 tire; this is about 3/4" taller than OEM so the bike leans much more when using the side stand. Plus the side stand foot is a bit small for many instances, sand, mud.

I'm hoping to find a 4.60 - 17 rear tire someday and was thinking that if I extend the sidestand then it will be too long for a lower tire...

I recently located a new Machine Shop, it's owned by a Spaniard that moved here 6 years ago from South Africa where he had a professional shop for 45 years, brought most of his professional equipment, and amazing array of equipment, like nothing else I've seen here and he's great at understanding what I want to do.

SO... With the current taller tire and the possibility of a lower tire in the future, I decided to make an adjustable side stand and add a larger foot.

I got a 16mm bolt, he cut it, tapper the upper section, inserted the the bolt and then drilled a small hole in the back and pinned it so it wont move. Then tapped the lower section and added a locking nut; I can now extend or shorten the sidestand to meet what ever tire size I may have up the road.

Oh, Juan made the comment “this steel is very hard, very hard”, must have said that at least four times; Zongshen is using quality steel in this case (three hundred and seventeen thousand years from now some five year old kid playing in his back yard is going to un-earth one of these and everyone's going to saying “wow, wonder what they used this for”). High quality sidestand and sub-standard headlight switch that only lasted three months...

[SpudRider]

That's a nice, adjustable side stand. Juan does excellent work.

[detours]

Very cool! That's going to come in handy!

[rjmorel]

Excellent idea RB, I need to do this to my NC700x as it's a smidgeon too long. Making it adjustable like that is a done deal. Was the kickstand hollow or solid?
As far as Chinese metal, I remember reading back in the 80's about their high speed tool steel out lasting American HS tools because of their metallurgy learned from sword making. Seriously
rj

[Huck369]

I like it......Good work!

[Riceburner]

Originally Posted by rjmorel

Excellent idea RB, I need to do this to my NC700x as it's a smidgeon too long. Making it adjustable like that is a done deal. Was the kickstand hollow or solid?
As far as Chinese metal, I remember reading back in the 80's about their high speed tool steel out lasting American HS tools because of their metallurgy learned from sword making. Seriously
rj

It's "SOLID"...

[Eco Mouse]

The OEM side stand seems to be cast steel. It weighs an astonishing 1058g! (or 2.3 lbs)

The side stand on my Triumph is tube, the KLR was tube, I think the GS 800 was tube as well.

[Riceburner]

Originally Posted by Eco Mouse

The OEM side stand seems to be cast steel. It weighs an astonishing 1058g! (or 2.3 lbs)

The side stand on my Triumph is tube, the KLR was tube, I think the GS 800 was tube as well.

My F650's, the KLR and the heavy weight K75 had a tube also, don't know why Zongshen felt the need to use solid steel here, 317,000 years is a bit excessive as a useful life expectancy for a sidestand

[woodlandsprite]

Originally Posted by Eco Mouse

The OEM side stand seems to be cast steel. It weighs an astonishing 1058g! (or 2.3 lbs)

Yikes! that is a bit excessive!

[Eco Mouse]

I'd be willing to bet that the extra weight over time will help the spring to fail a lot sooner.

[Riceburner]

Originally Posted by Eco Mouse

I'd be willing to bet that the extra weight over time will help the spring to fail a lot sooner.

I didn't weigh it before or after, not sure how much weight was added by the bolt and nut, can't think that it's so much that it's going to affect the spring life considering the OEM solid steel was drilled out where the bolt went in.

Eco Mouse, I like your idea of the hollow tube and lighter weight .