Dimension

V

Vince

Hero member
What with a few suspension mods I have done I now find my Kawsarki sidestand a bit short. I found a place that makes adjustable length side stands to suit and bought it. And then I read there made to be mainly SHORTER as their main business is lowering links that need shorter side stands not longer. I am away from my bike for at least 3 weeks and am keen to know what the usual length the typical Kawasaki side stands are from there pivot bolt centre to there foot. I am hoping I don't need to mod this gadget, its doable easily enough so not a huge drama. It does have a foot twice as big as std so at least its saved me one future job.So I am hoping this new stand extends 20mm longer that standard, but I don't know what the standard length is.
 
I wouldn't go on what is 'typical'.
I have a few Kawa sidestands and they can be quite different in length. I recommend you wait and measure your own one.
 
Might depend what Kawasaki model it's off. I have a ZZR1200 stand on my Jota, and a ZZR600 stand on my MHR Ducati. Neither stand leg has been cut and shut which is unusual for me. They were both pretty much perfect as they were for the bikes I have them on.
The 1200 stand is 240mm from centre of pivot bolt head to the heel of the foot. The same measurement on the 600 stand is 225.
 
Thanks for that, I have a 1200 Kawsaki stand on my 3c, and I think it needs maybe another 15 or 20mm to be perfect. This adjustable stand goes from 220mm down to 175mm in 10mm increments, looks like it will need 45mm added to it. Happily, there is room for 55mm to slide up further into the outer bit so that allows a bit more overlap to maintain its strength when fully extended. That gives me something to think about till I can measure the stand I have. BTW that's some considerable difference in Kawi stands and worth knowing when buys these to fit.
 
I have the former but not the later or the skill to use it. But I have modded just about all of the stands I do have. Maybe one day I will go back to the shorter rear shocks and will need a shorter stand again. We were talking about the need for a club assessable MIG a while ago, there are a few who have the skills about so I hear.
 
OK, now it makes sense. If you're changing shocks all the time, I can understand why you'd want an adjustable length stand. But if it's too short on its longest setting then you'll need to make the whole thing longer. Presumably it'll be simple surgery like cutting the foot off, adding a bit of metal to the leg and welding the foot back on. 

Work out how much you need to extend it, then take it to someone with a welder (Marty, Chris, Brett ? ?)

If you were in Tassie you could bring it around to my place  ::)
 
The easiest way to lengthen it is to but weld the solid steel inner section to an extension, its appox 15mm thick and its the topend of the bit where I think the weld is best. It needs approx 45mm added, I was thinking of drilling a 7mm hole in its centre and making a stepped insert on the end plug and then welding it together, maybe get it TIGed. So its socketed a bit.I know the forces are at there max where the weld is doing it this way but the foot is like an Art Deco bit, curved and scoliped, its just to pretty to muck with. I use a pro welder for this stuff and will ask for his advise, he works with a Tool Maker as well. Cluley blokes. I don't expect much of a bending moment as these stands are pretty vertical when used.
 
For anything highly stressed like that I do a full thickness weld. Basically a butt joint with  the ends ground so there's a V between the two parts.  Fill the V with weld and you end up with a full penetration joint. Solid metal right through. Actually, if it's ground out both sides it's more like an X than a V.

I welded a busted Ducati 900SS kick-starter lever that way a few years ago and it's still holding together. It was busted through the shaft at the swivel.
Couple of pics below show what I mean. Last shot is the finished job ground back to shape. The groove is for the cotter pin that retains the lever in the pivot. It originally had a square profile groove that went all the way around the shaft. An un-necessary stress concentrator that was bound to snap like a carrot. The thing only swivels 90? so there's no need for the groove to go full circle.
 

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I know that I am an argumentative bastard at present, but the place where the weld will be under the least stress is at the foot end of the stand, if you are not have high confidence in your welding ability, do the mod right at the tip of the foot, as Cam says preparation is everything, there is no need for a plug internally, the strongest weld will be a butt weld in the tube, with the weld to full penetration into the bore, this can be done with MIG or TIG or oxy/acet, for the very skilled a stick welder could be of use, but as with any small bore pipe, the weld happens very fast if you use this method, this is really is a TIG or oxy acet job, and if done properly the weld will be as strong or stronger than the tube. personally I am finding the steel tubular Kawasaki side stand a little inferior for the weight of TOG, I have cut and shut it to ensure that it folds nice and closely to the bike and gives me the angle that I want, but the welding does have a "softening" effect and I have had to warm it and re bend it a couple of times as the lean angle has slowly increased, not helped by ship workers who come behind you after you have left the bike strapped down and tighten the ratchets a click or three, they are not supposed to strap the bike for you (your responsibility and hence no liability for the ship) and therefore should not touch it after you have left, they are only there to assist (apparently). If it could be proven that they have done this, then liability shifts to them, I have marked with a felt pen the ratchet position, two dots  (done this twice) and they have both times changed when I was not there.
CLEM
 
by the way Cam, that kickstarter root run should have zero weave, and then the next run should be two stringers with minimum weave, then you should have gone for a brew and come back to do a Texas weave to cap it, and of course what you do on one side you must quickly do on the other in order to attempt at keeping it straight,
what me picky???
CLEM
 
I hope that Kickstarter went straight back into its vault after its fix. I once bought one, SS Bevel kickstarter, to repay a mate for some work on my bike. He needed it to swing past his rear sets on his GT Bevel. I think it was $450 back then. Apparently worth thousands these days if you could find it. Clem, it was the exact opposite on the Tassie Ferry, they had a team of blokes strap all the bikes down using Canyon Dancers, those tie-downs with sleaves that go over your bar grips and carry down to tie off points on the deck. Seemed to work ok, I have tried them on my trailer and didn't like them at all in that case
 
CLEMTOG said:
by the way Cam, that kickstarter root run should have zero weave, and then the next run should be two stringers with minimum weave, then you should have gone for a brew and come back to do a Texas weave to cap it, and of course what you do on one side you must quickly do on the other in order to attempt at keeping it straight,
what me picky???
CLEM
Click to expand...

:D  What weave? It's just my unsteady hand.

I don't remember how many runs it took to fill the V on each side. I just kept going until there was enough metal to grind it back to the original diameter. All done with a stick welder and vigorous wire brushing between each run to remove any traces of slag.

Vince said:
I hope that Kickstarter went straight back into its vault after its fix.
Click to expand...

The bloke I did the job for had already ordered a new kick-start lever before I told him the old one was fixable. I forget what it cost him, but I know it was a hell of a lot.

When he got my repaired lever back he fitted that to the bike rather than the new one (because it was stronger than the original). I think the new one went into a safety deposit box at his bank  :D

 
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