My CBR 250R would be perfect for me if ...

I used to love center stands, now I'm thankful most bikes don't have them.

Most bikes (perhaps not all) are more apt to be blown/knocked over on the center stand than the side stand. Ours doesn't lean over far enough really on the side stand for it to be incredibly stable either.. but... thing is, when you use the side stand, your 3 contact points are very far apart and there is some lean to the bike, which helps prevent it from being 'blown over'. When you use the center, two of those contact points end up very close together and no more lean.

Plus, it reduces ground clearance, increases weight, and many riders, even on a bike like ours, don't understand how to get the bike up onto it safely. *shrug*

When I was riding my KLR, there were so many people who said they wanted a center stand, a company started making them. But on that bike, there was no way for the stand to fold backwards without causing suspension clearance issues, so they made it so it folded forward. Many a KLR rider has been catapulted off their aftermarket-center-stand-equipped bikes now because something caught the stand and pulled it down. No thanks!

How do I do it? I love tools, especially specialty tools. But I've never owned front/rear stands for any motorcycle. (I do have an ATV jack, which is incredibly helpful with many bikes, but fairings would have to be removed to use it with the CBR). I do things in creative ways, instead....



Notice the placement of the claw hammer? The back tire is off the ground because of that. This method doesn't work quite as well on the CBR.

Here's a pic of the vulcan with the back tire up... this one was a bit more challenging. jsonder, wasn't this sort of center stand your idea, I stole from another forum?



Worked great.

Not sure what I'll do for the CBR yet, I did my claw hammer method, which worked but was tricky, when I lubed the chain. Maybe it's time I just break down and build some real stands.

Well, that's a good point...

And no two models are made alike. The only bike I've ever had that fell on the side stand was my KLR, because it was prone to roll forward, and it had a strong spring on the side stand. One time it fell on me because i left it in neutral to fill up, ever so slight downhill grade at the pump, and a big wind gust came up from behind. I'd turned around to deal with the pump, and next thing I knew, there was a bike on top of me.

I used to park all my center stand-equipped bikes on center, especially in the garage (now that's much more efficient use of shop space.) but I've had far more problems personally with center stands.

Then again, maybe someone was messing with me? I wonder if there's anything about a center-stand lifted bike that is more inviting to someone who wants to touch someone else's property?

Edit, also, the bit I mentioned about newer riders (or could be argued smaller riders) having trouble getting a bike up or down from a side stand stems back to a few sketchy incidents with the center stand my on Katana 750 back in the early 90's. I weighed all of 130-135 lbs soaking wet at the time, and the bike was quite a bit more than I was used to wrestling.

*Shrug* My experience... YMMV... I'd rather save the weight, expense, etc... going forward.

Definitely. And as always, to each their own. My point in the post was to show there are other ways to get around maintaining the bike even if you're poor (like I kinda was at the time) and can't afford specialty shop tools or something. :shrug:

I'll lay off the "Center stands are less stable" thing from now on, I guess... but does still seem to me that they would be, from looking at the arrangement of contact points, and some poor opinion on my part from various issues rather early in my on-road career. I had nothing BUT center stand on the scooter I started out with- and it ended up laying down many times while unattended. Then again, high school, scooter, some bus rider probably was jealous they didn't have their own wheels and pushed it over.


Edit: oh, and to get this pushed a bit more onto Wynne's intended topic...

I'd be a bit happier with the bike if it wasn't so portly. The thing weighs about as much as its bigger brothers and cousins, and has so much less power. Unfortunately, it's mostly the frame, I think, that makes it so heavy. Not really talking about power to weight ratio, per se... because that can be cured with more power too. I'm happy with its power and economy, just wish it wasn't such a pig.

I think that's funny to say, because so many say this thing is too light... but, context is king- I'm used to riding really light weight enduro bikes which also have lots of power. Not saying the bike FEELS heavy, it's incredibly well balanced, and I wouldn't want to change that one bit...

But the short list for mods to make this bike a lil more what I want - that list is driven almost entirely by weight savings at the moment.