Warning Side Stand

iboldguy · Jul 14, 2008

I was about to leave on a weekend road trip, it was pissing rain, bike was in the driveway, I was in the garage putting on my helmet and the bike fell over.

Apparent cause: the stand looked like it was down, but was not fully down. You have to make sure you kick it fully forward or it will make you sorry. I would think engineers who can design a bike like this could design a freaken side stand. It should be down or up with no in between allowed. :angry2:

SkooterG · Jul 14, 2008

Ya know, I was just thinking the other day how we hadn't seen this topic come up in a looooong time. I guess we were overdue.

Yes, the FJR requires that you engage brain and take the miniscule amount of effort required to *ensure* the sidestand is all the way forward before letting bike down. EVERY TIME. Otherwise, BAD things will happen.

Perhaps it could be a better design, but in 5 years and 147,000 miles, I have never had one *sidestand malfunction*.

twowheelnut · Jul 14, 2008

SkooterG said:
Perhaps it could be a better design, but in 5 years and 147,000 miles, I have never had one *sidestand malfunction*.

Yes you did. I just wasn't your bike with the ailment.

charismaticmegafauna · Jul 14, 2008

iboldguy said:
<snip>....I would think engineers who can design a bike like this could design a freaken side stand. It should be down or up with no in between allowed. :angry2:

They can -- but, they're Harley-Davidson engineers; And, while they can design a sidestand, they can't design a bike like the FJR.

The H-D side-stand (Jiffy-Stand, "Indian" talk) has been around 'forever' and (the H-D stand) has a tab that locks into a slot when the weight of the bike is on it -- when the bike is picked-up off the side-stand the tab comes out of the locking slot and the stand can retract.

This must be the world's longest/most-expensive patent ever... for no other manufacturer to ever use such a design?

zenwhipper · Jul 14, 2008

iboldguy said:
I was about to leave on a weekend road trip, it was pissing rain, bike was in the driveway, I was in the garage putting on my helmet and the bike fell over.
Apparent cause: the stand looked like it was down, but was not fully down. You have to make sure you kick it fully forward or it will make you sorry. I would think engineers who can design a bike like this could design a freaken side stand. It should be down or up with no in between allowed. :angry2:

I know one day I will get biten by this too. Yes, I noticed you always need to kick the thing to make sure its all the way down/forward. I have thought about adding an aux spring somehow to add more oomph to help solve the issue. But have never looked into it.

Scott

sin_loki · Jul 14, 2008

charismaticmegafauna said:
They can -- but, they're Harley-Davidson engineers; And, while they can design a sidestand, they can't design a bike like the FJR.The H-D side-stand (Jiffy-Stand, "Indian" talk) has been around 'forever' and (the H-D stand) has a tab that locks into a slot when the weight of the bike is on it -- when the bike is picked-up off the side-stand the tab comes out of the locking slot and the stand can retract.

This must be the world's longest/most-expensive patent ever... for no other manufacturer to ever use such a design?

that's because most of a HD life is sitting on that stand......

beemerdons · Jul 14, 2008

twowheelnut said:
SkooterG said:

Perhaps it could be a better design, but in 5 years and 147,000 miles, I have never had one *sidestand malfunction*.

Click to expand...

Yes you did. I just wasn't your bike with the ailment.

You are sharp, TWN! When SkooterG threw that slider and it didn't break away from the plate, I was batting it over the fence!

YukonG · Jul 14, 2008

SkooterG said:
...but in 5 years and 147,000 miles, I have never had one *sidestand malfunction*.

Off-topic (and I could probably search long enough to figure it out),

but is all of that on 1 FJR?

twowheelnut · Jul 14, 2008

YukonG said:
SkooterG said:

...but in 5 years and 147,000 miles, I have never had one *sidestand malfunction*.

Click to expand...

Off-topic (and I could probably search long enough to figure it out),

but is all of that on 1 FJR?

Yes, but that does not include air miles.

:lol:

pawtracks · Jul 14, 2008

YukonG said:
SkooterG said:

...but in 5 years and 147,000 miles, I have never had one *sidestand malfunction*.

Click to expand...

Off-topic (and I could probably search long enough to figure it out),

but is all of that on 1 FJR?

One set of brakes, probably three front tires...

cctxfjr · Jul 14, 2008

charismaticmegafauna said:
iboldguy said:

<snip>....I would think engineers who can design a bike like this could design a freaken side stand. It should be down or up with no in between allowed. :angry2:

Click to expand...

They can -- but, they're Harley-Davidson engineers; And, while they can design a sidestand, they can't design a bike like the FJR.

The H-D side-stand (Jiffy-Stand, "Indian" talk) has been around 'forever' and (the H-D stand) has a tab that locks into a slot when the weight of the bike is on it -- when the bike is picked-up off the side-stand the tab comes out of the locking slot and the stand can retract.

This must be the world's longest/most-expensive patent ever... for no other manufacturer to ever use such a design?

my BMW also has a locking side stand-push down and back with weight off to release-I was always careful with my FJR when parking as it didnt take much to go wrong and have the stand fold back. Thats a cheap fix they should correct at the OEM.

Herkypilot · Jul 14, 2008

Hint: keep forward pressure on the stand with your left heal until you put the weight of the bike on the stand. Do this every time you get off the bike! Be careful not to "Kick" the stand down as that has a tendency to bounce partially back resulting in the side of the bike meeting pavement.

blakebird · Jul 14, 2008

iboldguy said:
I was about to leave on a weekend road trip, it was pissing rain, bike was in the driveway, I was in the garage putting on my helmet and the bike fell over.
Apparent cause: the stand looked like it was down, but was not fully down. You have to make sure you kick it fully forward or it will make you sorry. I would think engineers who can design a bike like this could design a freaken side stand. It should be down or up with no in between allowed. :angry2:

I'm going to guess you've never owned a Ducati if you think the FJR's stand is lacking... :lol:

Constant Mesh · Jul 14, 2008

No, you let it fall over.

bikerkash · Jul 14, 2008

HD does seem to have a better side stand but there is no lock out so you can drive off with the stand down and BAD things can happen. I've always tried to make it a point to leave the bike in gear when I turn it off and rock it forward to be sure it's in gear then I put the side stand down. It seems like all of us tend to make mistakes when we get in a hurry at least that's when mine occur most often.

Powerman · Jul 14, 2008

You usually only do that one time!

weekend rider · Jul 14, 2008

Repeat after me, we must take charge of our own actions and not let the bike fall down and do not blame the egineer

he or she had nothing to do with putting the bike side stand down .........................

Subcritical · Jul 15, 2008

Once I learned how to put the bike up on the centerstand myself, I very, very rarely use the kickstand.

Centerstand all the way, baby!

GunMD · Jul 15, 2008

Two words:

Operator error.

Warning Side Stand

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