Paddock Stand
 

A few of you have recommended getting a paddock stand for doing routine maintenance jobs. Are the stands fairly universal ( can they be used for any bike ) or are there stands that are specific to SV's,

Can anyone recommend where to get them, what to look for when buying one and what is a fair price to pay

You only really need a rear one to start with.
Most paddock stands have "cups" which fit under the swing arm and so are fairly universal.

You can also get stands with hooks, which fit to reels or bobbins (see picture) which you screw into the swingarm.

http://upload5.postimage.org/6408/bobbins.jpg

This is my own personal preference, I have oversize R&G bobbins on mine which allegedly protect the swing arm if you crash.

Most big bikeshops sell them, as do the big online places such as Busters or M&P. Or there's allways eBay.

You can pay anything upwards from £15 for a stand and about £5-10 for some bobbins.

HTH

2nd the R&G "cotton" reels. Make's it easier if you're on your own too.

E-Bay for good 2nd hand's worth a try.

Andy

a good tip for putting a bike on a pillock stand is to leave the grab rail on the bike so you can use it to keep a grip on your pride and joy when your lifting her on and off the stand, seat cowels look good without the grab rail but you are chancing dropping you bike with nothing really to hold on to.

2nd that too. :D


Oh, and when your taking it off the stand for the 1st time, you'll need to gently ease it to the left and back onto the side-stand which you have of course put down (or even better never put up).

Not that I nearly made this mistake..well OK I did, but stopped it in time. :oops:

is that your tyre Tricky? - it's impressive 8)

Yes, after a trackday at Mallory earlier in in the year, its actually suprisingly easy to melt them like that.

I've got one of the cheapo Bike It ones... it's basically fallen apart, all the bolt holes ovalled so it got very sloppy, and one of the hooks is really bent now. But to be fair, it's been used an awful lot and it's still usable. Going to get me a Harris or NWS one though I think.

How to not drop your bike when taking it off a paddock stand, even when you're on crutches and not allowed to put weight on one leg.

1) Make sure bike is in gear and sidestand is down. You can, if you're paranoid, put some bungees on to hold the stand forwards.

2) Very slowly lower bike off stand. I like to do this from right behond the bike for maximum control. Keep it standing vertical with your weight on the handle, so that even though the wheel's on the ground the stand's keeping it balanced. This is where most people go wrong, they dump the bike off the stand and it all happens too fast. Slow and controlled... It takes very little weight to keep the bike balanced at this point.

3) Keeping weight on the stand with your right hand, move to the left of the bike and get your body against the tail section, and left hand round the bike. You should be completely in control of it at this point. Take weight off stand, and remove it if you can. If it feels like it's going to overbalance- it shouldn't, but to err is human ;) - then bring it towards you, don't let it fall away.

4) Lower onto sidestand.

There's absolutely no strength needed to use a rear stand, it's all just being slow and careful. You can muscle it if you want, but this way works better IMO. If I can do it at 10 stone with one leg, anyone can! And remember, if the bike's going to fall make it fall to the left, onto the stand! At the least, it'll slow the descent.

ive got a normal cup paddock stand, authough ive seen an abba stand in use, and they look the nuts.

they basically screw in your swingarm near the engine, and lift it.

I got rid of my paddock stands & invested in an ABBA stand. Costs bit more than (about £85) but is much easier to work with.

See HERE for the company website.