Power Center Stand

This has been at the back of my mind since I got this bike last year.  Mind you, I dont have that much of an issue getting the bike up on the center stand, but sometimes if I am trying to move it off while sitting on the bike, it can be a pain.

I'm not the first to think of this either.  I google searched it and it was a question raised back in 2008 on the other, now defunct silverwing board:  http://silverwing.org/cgi-bin/topic_show.pl?tid=2866

Electric actuators seem to be available at a reasonable price that run off 12v. They come in various lengths of movement from 2" up to 18".  I haven't looked underneath to take any measurements or see where it could be anchored to, but I'm guessing something can be worked out.  They dont run too fast, maybe 10-12mm per second, so it would probably take 10 seconds or more to lift up or down.   Just curious if anybody has any thoughts about this or experience that would be helpful.

Yep, it was a 'feature' on Piaggio X9 500, downside is it drew so much power that the engine had to be run for 10 min's to recharge the battery after raising it onto the stand.  Depending on how yours works it may well need raised & lowered limit switches

Stupid outgrowth #1: Jeez, you could adapt that to a hinged (at the front) bash plate and have it raise the front wheel if needed.

Trying to move a 550 lb Silver Wing off it's centre/center stand while you're sitting on it would be a pain, you've added the extra weight of your own body onto that 550 lbs. So if you think about it, it's more like 700-750 lbs you're struggling to move.

It's far simpler to stand beside the Silver Wing and put the side stand down, push the scooter down off it's centre stand, lean it onto the side stand, then step across the tunnel onto it.

It has never occured to me to try and get a fat old beast like the sw off its centre stand while sitting on it!
That aside I can see and sort of electric gizmo attached to the stand ending in tears...

On my first Swing, it fell over on the right side when I stood beside it and pushed it off of the center stand. Someone on this forum suggested sitting on the bike and rock it forward to take it off of the center stand. Immediately hold the left brake as soon as the center stand folds up and both tires are on the ground. I always sit on my Swing now and have never had any problems. Use your added body weight to cause a forward motion while rocking the bike forward. Each of us have our own way that we feel is best.

Meldrew wrote:

Trying to move a 550 lb Silver Wing off it's centre/center stand while you're sitting on it would be a pain, you've added the extra weight of your own body onto that 550 lbs. So if you think about it, it's more like 700-750 lbs you're struggling to move.

It's far simpler to stand beside the Silver Wing and put the side stand down, push the scooter down off it's centre stand, lean it onto the side stand, then step across the tunnel onto it.

Well, not quite 550 lbs.  At best you would be lifting up maybe 250 to 300 lbs since the front wheel is still sitting on the ground and you could operate it with your feet on the ground to stabilize the bike.  I put this bike on its center stand today at least 4 times and I never put even 300 lbs of force on the stand with my foot.  I couldn't lift or push that much dead weight if I tried.

It may be a moot point anyway.  I did take a looksee underneath and I didn't see much in the way of metal frame that something could be attached to fore or aft. It would be a nice feature though.

I found out the hard way how quickly the SWing can get away from you. I keep the sidestand down and rock the bike off the centerstand. I keep the rear brake ready to apply as soon as the bike comes off. I made the mistake once of applying the left brake midway. The wheels need to move but just enough to allow the centerstand to snap back up.
I guess every rider has to figure out what works best for them. I don't have the inseam to push the bike off when straddling it. I am afraid the momentum of the bike would catch me in the seat of my pants and throw me off the bike !
As for the gizmo, I think it's more of a conversation starter than a useful piece of equipment, and one more thing to go wrong.
Jay.

I totally understand your reasons. As bought, I used to hate using my silverwing primarily due to the difficulties in moving her about. And the dodgey handling. So big and heavy, and getting her on/off the stand was a pain. It's not that I couldn't manage, it was just that given the choice of another bike (which I had then), I would always find reasons to use another bike.

Any way, one additional benefit of my rear suspension jack up mods was that the distance to lift the bike on/off the stand was greatly reduced, to a level on par with my 125 scooter. Currently I can get her up by standing on the stand lever with one foot (I weigh about 210lbs in bike gear), and can roll her off by either pushing the bars only or by sitting on her and pulling forwards with my feet. I normally ride without the grab rail and rack fitted, and I don't find I miss the grab rail when getting on/off the stand.

So it's not an electric system, but it is possible to greatly reduce the effort needed. The link is in my signature.

All the best, Gavin.

gavinfdavies wrote:

I totally understand your reasons. As bought, I used to hate using my silverwing primarily due to the difficulties in moving her about. And the dodgey handling. So big and heavy, and getting her on/off the stand was a pain. It's not that I couldn't manage, it was just that given the choice of another bike (which I had then), I would always find reasons to use another bike.

Any way, one additional benefit of my rear suspension jack up mods was that the distance to lift the bike on/off the stand was greatly reduced, to a level on par with my 125 scooter. Currently I can get her up by standing on the stand lever with one foot (I weigh about 210lbs in bike gear), and can roll her off by either pushing the bars only or by sitting on her and pulling forwards with my feet. I normally ride without the grab rail and rack fitted, and I don't find I miss the grab rail when getting on/off the stand.

So it's not an electric system, but it is possible to greatly reduce the effort needed. The link is in my signature.

All the best, Gavin.

I've seen your mods and I think they are quite ingenious. If/when I have lots of time and energy on my hands, I may do some tinkering. It would involve pulling the plastics off the bottom to expose the frame. More likely than not, I'll just soldier on with it. I've got mods that I want to do on my other bike, the Can Am, and of course, lots of other things around the house to fix. But it was a thought....

Another thing that you can do is to shorten the center stand.
Make it so that when you put it on stand the bike stands on 4 points (wheels and stand) instead of 2.
This won't help with maintenance, but it will help with insuring the bike doesn't tip over.

Dan

So then, after rereading your center stand post, the essence of the problem is that the center stand is too long. Could it that there was a supplier change for those center stands and one source manufactured slightly longer stands than another? And therefore some Silverwings are noticeably more difficult to raise than others.

I always leave my Silverwing on the centre stand I have never had a problem sitting on it and pushing it off the stand, I don't trust sidestands, but use it to dismount.

dspevack wrote:

Another thing that you can do is to shorten the center stand.
Make it so that when you put it on stand the bike stands on 4 points (wheels and stand) instead of 2.
This won't help with maintenance, but it will help with insuring the bike doesn't tip over.

Dan

That's how the Ride Off Stand worked on the Gold Wing 1500, some guys just cut the OEM stand, removed 3/4" of tube inserted a rod a welded the thing back together. The 3 point sidestand is really the more stable, the longer the side stand the better aka HD set up.

My impression of the side stand on this bike is, Wow, it's still standing up leaning that far over.  I'm not sure how much more over it would take before it wasn't leaning any more, but I'd rather not find out.   If I am out with the bike and parking it on anything but concrete, it goes on the center stand.

you think your's is leant?! Try mine with it's jacked up rear end! I'll try to get a pic sometime - in the mean time it kinda looks like this...

It turns out you don't actually have to remove any of the plastics to do the rear shocks. I used a ring spanner with a slight offset to rear the top bolts. It is tight though, and I've got small-ish hands. But you only need to remove the two main side panels, none off the bottom.

If all you are worried about is lean angle, simply weld a half inch thick foot to the end of the stand.

In the process you can make the foot slightly larger in diameter as well.

Dan

Would that make your Swing a 'Bigfoot'?

Putting SilverWing on CenterStand and off is simply technique!! getting it up, gripping hand rail with right hand, roll bike forward and then using the motion move bike back while stepping on stand foot rest=up she goes. Getting off do not place all your weight on seat, stand if you can, roll bike forward, as it comes off stand catch it with rear brake. Cannot do this, you probably should not be riding 2 wheeler.

Side stand---90,000 miles or so with 2 loaded SilverWings----never had one go over. I carried pad for use in soft tar, etc.

Further, SilverWings are now old---probably not worth spending money for electric device. Left stock the electrical system of the SilverWing, works fine.

I just straddle mine and rock it off the stand............easy, even with the Mrs on the back!