Hello

I have had my DR650 for about 6 months and done 1 two week trip to the South Island. One of the things I was very aware of, especially when the bike was loaded, was the need to park the bike carefully. The side stand seems to be quite long and the bike is very upright when parked. I also found the bike quite high (I am 5'11") and this is made worse when using an Airhawk seat (they are really great). I had to hop on and off the bike.

I went to the dealer this week and they have lowered the bike for me - it has two settings - but this makes the problem with the side stand even worse. Now the bike is really upright. It doesn't seem to have affected the handling though. The dealer tells me I have two options - either buy a new side stand (at NZD190 it seems a bit harsh) or take the side stand off and cut a piece out and weld the join.

Are there any other options?

Thanks

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Peter

http://peter-onamission.blogspot.com

Hi Peter.
I have once heated the side-stand in two places to put a dog-leg in it. This did two things: effectively made it shorter AND placed the foot further away from the bike, making a wider footprint. The only problem can be if the stand protrudes too far away from the bike when it's back up. You can catch your leg on it when you walk around the bike, especially when it's on it's centre stand.

It worked fine in my case.

Cheers mate,

Nigel in Rangiora

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The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with . -- 2200 BC Egyptian inscription

Hi
I had the same problem on my 07 DR650, so i cut an inch and three quarters out of it bent it slightly, welded a plate to the foot and welded it back together. 1 hour problem sorted. Skip

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Do the best you can with what you have,
A stranger in a strange land now heading North South East West to.....

Hi Peter,
I would cut, shorten then weld a larger foot on the stand.

cheers Joe

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"I reject your reality and substitute my own!" -Adam John Savage- MythBusters

Hi Peter,

I too experienced the same problem when I loaded down my DR, so I did most others did and chopped an inch off the bottom and welded a steel plate to the end, which aided when putting the stand down in soft ground:


Rick, my riding buddy, welding the steel plate to the shortened stand.


Sprayed painted it black and it looks really good and it was definitely needed on my recent trip to Alaska

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J A Y | Riding a 98 Suzuki DR650
Current ride thru Latin Am and Africa > Jammin thru the Global South

Part of the 'offical' lowering operation is replacing the original black side stand with a shorter one (silver).