1980 Jota Centre Stand

GrahamE

GrahamE

New member
Location
Isle of Lewis
Good Evening All,
Well its been a shitty day today
Had to do an emergency evacuation of my garage this morning
We got hit with a bit of a gale last night and the roof didn't really survive.
The end result is that the bike is now residing downstairs in the house, much to wife's disgust, whilst I sort the roof.

So, the bikes been on the lift since last November, with a 2" block of wood under the stand to give free movement of the wheels.

When I bought the bike many moons ago, the front forks were 3cm proud of the stanchion, so during the re-furb I dropped the forks back into the correct position and adjusted the centre stand such that it is just off the vertical to account for the slight increase in height.

The bike is not putting much weight on the stand, and is very unstable, the wind nearly pushed it over.
All being well I'll be back in the garage next week, I'll clamp/strap it onto the lift so I can see what's going on with the stand.
I hope its just the stand bolts that are worn, however is there anything else I should look at ?

Also I can highly recommend Kraken Spicy Rum after a day of mega wind chill, and a roaring peat fire!
 
Hi Graham,

I have a 1980 Jota, which sits the bike fine. I wonder if you have the right length centre stand and/or rear shocks  fitted?

Are you able to post a photo?

Sorry to hear about damage.

Andy
 
Hi Graham, I'll check against mine in the morning. Hopefully someone more knowledgable here can advise sooner. Too vertical and looks to be too short off hand.
 
I'm not that knowledgeable and I have been wrong before, but is it possible that you have Marzocchi forks and stanchions instead of Ceriani? Might explain why they poked through 3cm as I believe the Marzo's are longer.

Perhaps you need a longer centre stand.
 
Graham, the stand looks correct for your bike, AFAIK the Ceriani forked centre stands did not have the bosses and the adjuster bolts, the stand does look too vertical for stability though. One thing you might consider, albeit a long shot, but has someone put RGS stanchions (or complete forks) on your bike in the past? Might be worth measuring up the length from axle centre to top of the stanchion and see if anyone can confirm either way if you have the correct fork length for a 1980 Jota.

ATB

Ian
 
Had some problems with centre stands on 3CL before Cam came to the rescue with a 225mm stand (measured from the base to centre of pivot).

I think they are 205mm (which it looks like you have) and 225mm which you may need...

Someone should have the longer version with any luck...
 
Hi Graham

I've adjusted centre stand lengths on a couple of my bikes. I took 20mm out of the stand on my Bevel Ducati because it was giving me hoisting it up onto the stupidly high stand.

I also had to lengthen the Jota's stand by about the same amount because it was like yours.

In your case, it's a simple matter of cutting the feet off and welding extension pieces in the legs on each side. If you don't have the gear to do it yourself, someone near you will have (even if you have to pay them).

Cam
 
Looks like I will have to re-size the photo I took - bear with me. There is a greater angle on my stand as set.

I have measured from the centre of the bolt to the floor as 8 1/2" (216mm). That is with Marzochhi forks flush at the tree and Koni Dial-a-rides on the rear.

As has been previously mentioned, you might have a stand for Ceriani forks, or possibly had a stand for Marzochhi forks cut down in its previous life.

I hope that this helps?

Andy
 
If it's a Ceriani length stand try and swop it for the longer Marzocchi one. The shorter ones seem hard to get hold of these days and they did have adjusting bolts on them on the '76 models I think.
 
Morning Folks,

Done some measuring

Center stand - 225 mm - center of bolt to base
Fork length - 865 mm - axle bolt to top

So it looks like a mod to the center stand I reckon, I hope the 865 is the standard length of 38mm Marzocchi's !

And just to add to the discussion, regarding handling, I would like to keep the forks within the stanchions, so in theory the bike is slightly head high now
Will I notice much come Spring time ?

Thanks for all the replies by the way
G
 
I just measured 812mm from the axel centre to the top of the forks, so you have forks from something else fitted, which explains the vertical setting of the stand on tip-toe.

The good news is that you will have a commanding view of the road ahead, come the Spring.
 
Been away for the weekend but just back so measured the RGS fork length from axle centre to top face of stanchion and it's around 835mm, so little wonder you're having problems. Not sure what the forks you have there are from but the problem doesn't look to be the centre stand.

Cheers,

Ian
 
Graham, to get a workable solution with what you've got you could try and pick up a pair of RGS series clip-ons and push the stanchions through till you have the "correct" fork length below the bottom yoke for your bike. You would be limited to handlebar height above or below the bottom yoke though. Might not bring approval from the rivet counters but it would get you going till you established what you need to replace on your current fork arrangement and find the parts at a price you are happy with....... Just a thought.

Ian
 
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