R-100 GS sidestand

[petefromberkeley]

My stock sidestand is driving me nuts. Has anyone fitted a "normal" sidestand to a GS that they can e-mail me a picture of?

Grant, yours is good, but I don't see any close up pics of it on the section about your bike.

Thanks,

Pete

[Timo]

Try the link above for Overland Solutions, I believe this is one of the modifications that they do regularly - using Grant's design as the model. I am not aware of a simple, manufactured bolt on attachment (like the Brown side stand for other Airhead beemers). Most of the ones I have seen are welded to the frame. I am looking at building one myself at the moment, and will likely copy Grant's as well. I am trying to figure out a strong bolt on design as well, as it would be nice to be able to remove it for repair in the field.

[ChrisK]

Hi, I just got a local fabricator to knock up a copy of a surefoot side stand, its a plate that bolts to the rear engine mount and the pivot bolt of the riders footrest, the side stand mounts to this. If you got a side stand and frame bracket from a breakers yard and then fabricated the mounting bracket and welded the two together then this should work. If I had a digital camera I could mail you some pics. Will probably have one in a couple of months though so email me off the HUBB and I will get some to you.

[mcdarbyfeast]

Ernie at 'Overlandsolutions' made and fitted a sidestand to my R100GS. He made the bracket that he welded to the sidestand fit around the frame not just to a single point which made the joint very strong.

[Spanish Bob]

If you mean the flip up thing. I got a very simple, easy to fit kit from Schneider(?) in the USA. Cant remember details, but I found them through www.airheads.org. if you aren´t a member you probably should be. The technical support there is great. The kit was cheap, involves no modifications and you can put the old one back whenever you want.

[Timo]

I am happy to report that I did manage to build a simple bolt-on side stand that works fine on me R80 G/S. Anyone interested in looking at the design can email me, and I will send them pictures. The bracket uses the rear engine bolt and footrest bolt, with some substantial bracing in between. My first try just bent over when I tried to use it - hence the extra bracing! I think my stand could be improved upon, but the basic idea is sound.

I agree with the above posting that using the stock stand in a custom bracket would be the easiest way and would save making a whole new stand. Part of the issue is getting it to lock back into a postion that doesn't interfere with the muffler/ side bag/ center stand. I must say that having a stand that can be easily deployed with the heel while on the bike is a vast improvement.

[Sean Kelly]

Another vote for the Schneider bracket.

------------------
Sean

[petefromberkeley]

Just to let you know what happened. Luftmýster made a great sýdestand for the R-100RS that fýts a GS fýne. Fancy thýng wýth an ýnternal sprýng. I met a Japaneese rýder ýn Tashkent who had one and we gave ýt to a 17 year old kýd who saýd he could make one lýke ýt ýn a day. He dýd just that and charged me eleven bucks- parts and labor. I love ýt.

[Roboyobo]

I have a Surefoot stand on my GS-PD, which was very good and much more useable, until I recently got an Ohlins rear shock fitted. Now, even if i park on the level, it tends to roll forwards and off its stand. The Ohlins puts the rear up about 6cms, which puts the bike in a precarious angle. I think the answer will be to have the length of the shock, which is adjustable, shortened a bit. Although I do like the higher seat height that i now have.

However, this does give me lots of practice at picking the bike up off the ground!

[Mr. Ron]

Hello. For a while i've been contemplating a new design kick-stand for my R100gs/pd, but found a very simple answer, curtisy of Chris Walstow, R80g/s. I like the idea of a kickstand that springs back to position, and i also love the fact that it's out of the way. A heavy-loaded gs can put huge stress on the frame and any bracket attached to it, causing metal fatigue. I think this is why BMW designed it the way they did. Afterall, a sidestand breaking at the wrong time could be dangerous. The problem is trying to swing your leg overtop of your luggage without tearing your groin in two, while balancing your 600lb. beast on wobbly legs. Then i saw Chris getting off the bike while its still moving, like you would a 10 speed. Left foot stays on the peg, right leg swings over and touches down. Stop the bike with your front brake and kill switch. Deploy kick-stand and viola'! No problem! Same with take-off: Start bike and take it off the kick-stand. Engage clutch, left foot on the peg, first gear. As you start moving foreward and establish your momentum, swing your leg over and your off! No more stretched groins or the embarasment of dumping your bike. The only problem with this is when your two-up, but i guess thats a different story
Good luck!

[Timo]

The spring operated side stand is a safety feature: anyone who has riden away on their bike only to find that they forgot to retract the sidestand (hopefully realizing this before the first hard left-hand turn) can appreciate this. Many other bike have rubber feelers on the kickstand that are designed to give some pre warning of the stand being down, and hopefully catch and retract if it is. As to the weight, while a loaded GS might be heavy, there are lots of other bikes out there with more weight that use kickstands effectively, Harleys come to mind. Where the GS becomes challenging is in it's height - most large touring bikes have a lower seat height which makes the mounting much easier. I imagine that owners of the Triumph Tiger, KTM 950, Africa Twin and other such bikes have similar problems.
I've watched Chris perform his 'moving mount/ dismount' and it does look pretty slick. I thought part of need for this is that his G/S is jacked way up with longer travel forks and shock. The seat height must be well over 36 inches!
My main issue with the stock GS stand is not that it is auto-retracting, but that it can't be reached (by me) from the seat. The design of Grant's (which is mounted near the foot peg) could easily be made auto-retracting as well, simply by repositioning the spring so it doesn't lock open, if you wanted to retain that feature. It is also fairly easy to make a stronger kickstand that will just bolt on it that position, using the rear engine mount bolt and the foot peg bolt. I think that it is a solvable problem.

[Antti]

I also got tired to original sidestand in my Gs... Quite typical I think. So I made new one, it is originally from some japanese bike. It only needed some metal work, sandblasting and paint... Works fine!

Heres some pics where it can be seen.

http://airfoto.fujikuvat.fi/album/sh...=32815&from=25

[Paul Narramore]

Antti

I think your sidestand looks very neat but I can't quite make out what the bracket looks like. Is there any chance of a better pic of it with the sidestand removed? Is this bracket homemade or did it come with the sidestand? Can you recall which Japanese motorbike the sidestand came from?

Perhaps you might like to e-mail me off line - pn31146@fsmail.net

[Antti]

Paul,

theres mail for you.

[This message has been edited by Antti (edited 15 January 2005).]