My center stand is sticking

[Husker Red]

When I roll the bike of the center stand, the stand does not fully return to it's upright position. I've wd-40'd it with no improvement. Is there a grease zerk there I'm missing? Any suggestions?

 

Mike

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

The load-bearing surfaces are sealed from ambient by O-rings; your WD-40 spray job will not reach them.

 

You need to remove the c-stand.

 

Use vise-grips to unhook the springs.

 

Small allen wrench to take out the small screw from each side.

 

two big allen wrenches (10mm?) to remove the large-diameter load-bearing pins that keep the stand on the bike. Left and right pins are connected thru the engine by a long threaded rod; that's why you need two wrenches.

 

On my bike, there is a different sized spacer on each side; keep track of which side your spacers belong on.

 

Clean the inside of the stand, and the outside of the load-bearing pins. Regrease with bearing grease. Replace O-rings if they are damaged (new ones can be found in plumbing section of hardware store), as these will help make your grease job last.

 

Reassemble, and your stand should be friction-free.

 

Oh yeah: put the bike on its sidestand before you start.

[Uggles]

Oh yeah: put the bike on its sidestand before you start.

 

I was wonderin' when that was gunna happen!!

[Husker Red]

Mitch - Thanks for the excellent info. I'm leaving town for a couple of days but I'll do that as soon as I get back. Tomorrow morning I'm hoping to give some fish a sore lip!

 

Thanks again,

Mike

[BMT]

I agree that this is the 'proper' way to do a good job, but I find that an application of aerosol chain lube to the pivot points is useful as a first aid measure. It's more tenacious than WD-40, being a proper grease and reasonably waterproof, too.

[Laura]

Go to a bicycle shop and get yourself a chain luber kit. For about $20.00 you get a little gun and with a needle nose a tube of lube. The needle nose fits perfectly in the little lube hole for the sidestand. Been there, done that. Works like a charm.

[Tom P]

Go to a bicycle shop and get yourself a chain luber kit. For about $20.00 you get a little gun and with a needle nose a tube of lube. The needle nose fits perfectly in the little lube hole for the sidestand. Been there, done that. Works like a charm.

 

Laura, sidestand was sticking a bit, looked for the lube hole and could not locate it, so just sprayed the pivoting joints...didn't do much good. Where would I find the lube hole? About what size hole am I looking for?

 

Thanks.

 

(look forward to meeting you next week)

[Laura]

Tom, not sure if the 1100RT has the same sidestand config as the 1150RT. If it is, put the sidestand down and look for a little pinhole. It's a small hole in a little indentation. Clean off any gunk so the hole is clear before lubing.

 

Look forward to meeting you next week also. Hopefully the skies will be all rained out by then. We've gotten over 10 inches between today and yesterday already. My backyard is like a wet gushy sponge.

[Bill Dennes]

You can drill holes and install zerk fittings while you have the centerstand off. Mine point roughly down when the stand is all the way up.

 

From then on, the lube is a one-minute task.

[Graham UK]

Mitch,

I tried all of the above last winter, made no difference at all.

Any springs that can be replaced? But saying that, they had really good tension.

Thanks,

Graham

[DavidEBSmith]

Why you want to lube your centerstand:

 

This morning I got on the bike and started rolling backwards out of the garage. I noticed the centerstand hadn't fully come up, so I pushed it with my left foot. It popped all the way up, at which point I noticed that the zipper pull at the bottom of my Aerostich pants had gotten caught between the centerstand and the bike frame. The way it was caught, I couldn't move my left foot enough to lower the centerstand to release my leg, I couldn't reach the sidestand, and I couldn't put my left foot down. I struggled for a really long time to get my foot loose, which (as you might have guessed) I finally did. So lube your centerstand so you're not stuck helplessly in your garage on one foot.

[Husker Red]

Here's the update: Following Mitch's instructions I removed the centerstand, cleaned all the parts and re-greased it. Getting the springs off was tougher than I expected until I put the bike on the centerstand. In the down position the springs have the least tension. After removing the springs I put it back on the sidestand.

 

The center pin was really sticky and everything was gummed up. I didn't have to use a wrench on both ends of the pin to keep it from spinning because it was stuck in the left side pretty good. I had a hard time pulling that one out.

 

I cleaned and greased everything. Reassembly was easy and the whole job took well under an hour. Adding zerks at this time would have been a good idea, but I don't have a drill press which would probably be the right tool for that job.

 

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Here's a few pictures to help the next person.

 

Mike

 

Right side view before I started:

 

Parts after disassembly:

 

Closeup of the center pin before I cleaned it.

[wolcott]

Tom P: On the r1100rt, get a flashlight and rag in hand-wipe down your side stand nice and clean. See the big allen bolt that holds on the side stand? Turn on the flashlight and look at that allen bolt, and right around to the side is a little hole about 1/16" (very small)-I just went out and looked at it myself and cleaned mine off to find it!

[OlGeezer]

You can drill holes and install zerk fittings while you have the centerstand off. Mine point roughly down when the stand is all the way up.

 

From then on, the lube is a one-minute task.

 

Bill -

What size Zerk fittings did you install?

Thanks,

Bill