Centrestand Problem

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Grant

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The 3C I just bought has a Marzocchi-compatible cenrestand and as such is a right royal PITA to lift the bike on to. In addition one of the legs is bent so the bike takes a hefty dive to the right as it rolls off the stand. Not good for the blood pressure!

So, I now have a shiny, shiny black one from Wolfgang and fitted it this morning. It does not have the adjuster bolts of the Marzo one, rather relying on 2 welded blocks to determine the full stop when the bike is lifted on to it.

Right, done all that, but...
The bike is not settling down fully on the stand stops, as it has about 1cm gap between these welded stops and the brackets they are supposed to butt up against.
The bike immediately springs off the stand if I don't cover the front brake after rolling it on the stand, and this is on a flat garage floor. I have tried forcing it further back to the stops but it resists.
It is all getting a bit too much to try to do all this while balancing the bike upright, and more than once the bike has almost crashed to the floor... Not good, with newly refurbed clocks, new paintwork and so on.

Can anyone tell me what I am missing here? I will need a second pair of hands to go further into it, but I was hoping someone may be able to shed some light on this fucking mystery.

Just to make it perfect I have already sawn off the foot tang on the centrestand to allow the Jim Bush sidestand mod to work unhindered, so I can't even send it back or sell it  now...

Anyone???
 
 Is the spring hooking up on the pivot bolt?

 Best to lay the bike over on its side and have a look, common for the mounts on the frame to be twisted and bent.


    Keith
 
I parked it on a slope outside and had a close look underneath it.
As far as I can see the problem seems to be with the shape of the stand where it meets the frame, or probably more likely the frame where it meets the stand.
The spring is well clear of the mounting bolt on the right hand side. I even slackened off the fixing bolts in case they were binding towards the end of travel of the stand.
Nada.
I will whip off the battery, bodywork, seat etc and lay it over, probably tomorrow. I have a wooden stool that is perfect for the job. Just rest the solid mounted footpeg on it and it is quite stable.
 
Grant,

I wonder if the frame has been modified to take the later stand?  If so, could the new stand be adapted to take the adjusting bolts (I am sure you have thought of it though...).

Cheers Pete
 
Pete, it is a freshly painted stand from Wolfgang so it would be a shame to muck with it. Saying that I cut the foot tang off it this morning...

Even if the adjuster bolts were present they would not be able to touch the stops on the frame.

The stand is too upright and the bike would just fall off it on level ground.

I don't think the frame has been deliberately modified but it may have gotten chewed up a bit in that area.
I will investigate over the weekend and report back. I am sure it is nothing a Dremel can't fix.

Here is the bike sitting on the stand, on a slope outside the garage this afternoon.
 

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Grant, if you compare the one you took off to the new one it should be easy to see any differences at the pivot end. I would have thought they would be dimensionally identical at the top with the Marzocchi type having slightly longer legs. I'm surprised that the new one wont move through its full arc. Never seen one sit up like that before.
 
Not sure I can help, but I had issues with my stand (79 Jota) i.e clanging on collector (causing it to crack), not retracting fully, bouncing about etc. Mentioned this in passing to yon Keith when the bike was popping up for more interesting work...only to receive the most unexpected immediate diagnosis  that I had the wrong downpipes and collector ??? This on a bike which has won concours prizes in the days when I could be bothered to keep it clean :D Now sorted and re-bushed, also new tag welded on frame I think so it has 2 springs rather than 1 (I think later bikes have 2?) . Blimey, he also re-bushed the rear sets which used to rattle about...er,I thought they were just like that, but now they are superb.
I have the side stand kit fitted and the tang removed(in fact it was gone when I got the bike presumably to aid ground clearance) It can be a little tricky getting your foot under there to get the thing on the c/stand, especially now I am fighting 2 springs...
Hope you can sort yours..
Nick7
 
Grant said:
The 3C I just bought has a Marzocchi-compatible cenrestand and as such is a right royal PITA to lift the bike on to. In addition one of the legs is bent so the bike takes a hefty dive to the right as it rolls off the stand. Not good for the blood pressure!

So, I now have a shiny, shiny black one from Wolfgang and fitted it this morning. It does not have the adjuster bolts of the Marzo one, rather relying on 2 welded blocks to determine the full stop when the bike is lifted on to it.

Right, done all that, but...
The bike is not settling down fully on the stand stops, as it has about 1cm gap between these welded stops and the brackets they are supposed to butt up against.
The bike immediately springs off the stand if I don't cover the front brake after rolling it on the stand, and this is on a flat garage floor. I have tried forcing it further back to the stops but it resists.
It is all getting a bit too much to try to do all this while balancing the bike upright, and more than once the bike has almost crashed to the floor... Not good, with newly refurbed clocks, new paintwork and so on.

Can anyone tell me what I am missing here? I will need a second pair of hands to go further into it, but I was hoping someone may be able to shed some light on this fucking mystery.

Just to make it perfect I have already sawn off the foot tang on the centrestand to allow the Jim Bush sidestand mod to work unhindered, so I can't even send it back or sell it  now...

Anyone???
Click to expand...

I took my mainstand off Grant so that Jim's sidestand could be operated unhindered. That sidesand is now a jewel of usefulness. I'll keep the mainstand as it's original kit but the bike is better without it. It has full clearance when leaning into bends ( used to ground ) The bike is lighter and looks beautiful with the mainstand off. When I adjust the chain I do it with a buddy sat on the bike. The only downside has been oiling the chain..but I just bought a Tutora chain oiler to take care of that
 
Joe, I want a centrestand on it. I took the centrestand and frame brackets off the POP frame. Both POP and the 3C have Jim's sidestand kit on them. But I want to take the front wheel off the 3C, so a wee bit difficult with a sidestand-only.

I never had issues with centrestand dragging on corners. Sure they dragged, but that didn't faze me. I just think of sticky out bits as lean indicators, then work around them.
 
When I had the mainstand on mine it was behaving a little like yours. I had enough adjustment to back it off  significantly and then she sat back very nicely on the stand.

If you put a photo on maybe somebody bright could throw some light on it for you

cheers

joe
 
Eventually the stand tang wears through and falls off. I do remember one occasion when the bike was sliding along for a fair distance on its front wheel and the centre stand with the rear wheel clear of the road but it all seemed very graceful at the time. This happened exiting a sweeping roundabout near Carnforth Lancs but it used to ground all the time anyway.
 
Joe, there is no adjustment on this stand. It does not have the adjusting bolts as per the Marzocchi type stand.
What you see is what you get.

It is just not rolling all the way to the welded-on stops for some reason.

I will explore more over the weekend.
 
Grant,

Have you tried loosening the mounting bolts while the stand is loaded?  Park the bike uphill, or put a chock under the front wheel or a zip-tie around the front brake lever to prevent it rolling off.  Perhaps the holes in the frame lugs are a bit worn, allowing the bolts to tighten in a different position than they are meant to....  Any extra welding on the frame lugs where the stand bears against?  Maybe the DPO had a sagging stand and attempted to cure it with a bead of weld on the lugs.

piet
 
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