Sidestand Lean

[Celtic67]

Hi all,

This is my first post here, having found this forum after buying a 1995 KLE500. Sorry to leap straight in with a question.

When the bike's on the sidestand, it seems to lean too far over so I wanted to check to see if this is normal. Other possibilities that I can think of are that the rear might be jacked up or it might have the wrong sidestand.

This shows the bike on the sidestand. Getting on is easy enough, but getting it upright can be tricky. Hopefully it shows the extra lean. Sorry about the towel, why do we all cover our number plates for photos?



This seems more like it, but it's stood on a 30mm block of wood.



This is the sidestand. It looks the same as images of others, but I don't know if other models have similar but shorter ones. Measuring towards the back, it's around 240mm from the bottom of the foot to around the centre of the fixing bolt.

[Celtic67]

I had the side panels off over the weekend to do a bit of rust-proofing for the winter and look at the suspension. I've found that the bike has a Hagon shock fitted, set like this:



I know that I need to undo the grub screw before adjusting this, but does anyone have any thoughts on the current setting and adjustment? It looks like it's roughly in the middle and I think I need to move the adjustment ring upwards to lower the seat, but not too much as it'll make it too soft. Is that right?

I've got a C-spanner, but can't get in from enough angles to turn the adjustment ring. I can move it a bit, but can't then get the spanner on from any other angle. Looks like I need to drift it. It's going to take a good while to move it far, so I wanted to be sure I was adjusting in the right direction.

I've checked the suspension tie rods and think they're standard, so I don't think they've been changed to raise the seat. It's tricky to measure them in place, but they seem to be 165mm long, with around 140mm between the centres of the holes.

I'm 5'10" and on tip-toes when I stop at lights. Maybe that's just normal, but some comments suggest the bike sits quite low as standard.