Centre stand or bike lift

Not too sure how much the centre stand costs but these are brilliant especially if you have a bike with a single sided swing arm these are so much easier to clean the bike and oil the chain ect.
Superbike Stand - Abba Stands, UK

 

No worries I know some of the old T3's can be converted by adding a lug that fits onto the stand so there should be no reason why this doesn't work with yours :upyeah:

 

I have a Norman Hyde stand for the America.

The footboards hit the deck before the stand does.

It makes it significantly easier to properly clean and lube the chain but .......

It's very very difficult to get the bike on the stand. I had a couple of mates to help me as I couldn't do it by myself when I was in France recently.

At home I have a wedge of wood I put under the rear wheel and roll it up the wedge but simply trying to lift the thing is almost impossible.

Very poor placement of the stand pivots. A Triumph issue I think rather than a Norman Hyde design problem.

 

The bike lift gets my vote....



The bike is very stable when lifted & you get a lot more lift than you would with a centre stand. My lift can get the wheels a good 12" off the ground!

 

Despite the issues I'd still recommend the centre stand. If you're touring it makes life so much easier. Trying to clean and oil the chain properly without a centre stand is a real pain.

It's worth pointing out that I had a mate here yesterday who scoffed at my difficulties and proceeded to put it on the centre stand. Not easily but it went! Weaklings'r'us.......

I guess if you have a garage (I don't) and aren't bothered about touring then the bike lift is a useful tool.

 

Do you have the lifting handle to aid putting the bike on the centre stand?

I use to have a centre stand & handle on my America. I just use to push the centre stand to the ground, hold handlebars straight with my left hand, stand on the arm of the centre stand whilst pulling on the lifting handle with my right hand & let the leverage of my body weight just pop the bike up on the stand. Always done it like that with bikes that had centre stands & never had a problem?

 

Funnily enough when I bought it from Norman Hyde they asked if I wanted a lifting handle and I said no as I have pannier frames fitted and could use those. Perhaps I should have gone with the handle as well!

Never had the problem with any other bike. The GS was a doddle to put on the stand as was the Tiger and the various Guzzis and Hondas I've owned so there is something not quite right with this one.

Another issue for me (apart from being a wimp) is that I had heated grips fitted and they weren't fitted too well as the left hand grip comes off if you pull it too hard (like when you're trying to put it on the centre stand).

Hmm, perhaps, I have been less than generous about the stand....

I still wouldn't want to be without it though :wink:

 

Harvey .... I have heard of lowering the bars but that is getting a bit carried away :biggrin:

 

Hi, I bought a stand for my Speedmaster through eBay, cost about £80 and came with a grab handle.

Took about half an hour to fit. It is a bit back end biased and takes quite a pull to get the bike up.

I did strip the forks out to treat the lower leg alloy corrosion and taking the weight of the wheel off allowed it to drop onto the back wheel.

Conclusion. Very happy with stand although I have not tried a lift on this bike, I did however find a lift a bit dodgy on a previous green lane machine, but you could lift it higher, if you dare.....