• well made

• reasonable price $120

• 2 hour installation

• good ground clearance for 'normal' riders

• good leverage, easy to get up, stable when up

• noisy getting down

IT'S HERE!
Ordered a SW Mo-Tec centerstand from Riderhaus on 03/19, received it on 04/23. At that time the cost was $120 including shipping from Germany. I think the actual shipping took about two weeks, since the centerstands were on backorder for almost 2 weeks. The packaging was really a cobble job, but everything arrived intact and undamaged. The enclosed instructions were completely in German - without any illustrations. Luckily, Bob & Laura at Riderhaus had emailed me their translated instructions which contained the hardware list, simple steps and a couple of illustrations. These illustrations are now available on-line at http://www.riderhaus.com. The illustration for the right side is very vague and seems to show an earlier version of the right-side bracket. The hardware package contains a extra few items: an 8mm x 30mm bolt and tiny spacer and washer - I couldn't find any use for these. The brackets themselves are thickly painted (perhaps powder-coated) quarter-inch steel. I thought it odd that the right-side bracket was painted silver, the left-side black. After mounting, you'll understand the reason: the right bracket mounts very near the SV's frame, hence the matching silver, while the left bracket mounts well underneath the frame, and hidden better in black. The stand itself is gloss black; well made with good-looking welds.

MOUNTING THE LEFT-SIDE CENTERSTAND BRACKET
The left-side bracket is attached using the two bolts that attach the sidestand to the bike. Since the original bolts will be spaced out about .25 inch, I replaced the originals with two longer 10mm x 40mm bolts and washers from the local hardware store. These should be included with the hardware kit - but aren't. Secure the bike in an upright position with a rear stand or perhaps a helper, then remove both sidestand bolts. Place the left-side centerstand bracket over the sidestand and reinstall the original bolts loosely. Get your helper a beer/sandwich as he'll need to hold the bike up until you can torque the sidestand bolts, when instructed to below.

ATTACHING THE CENTERSTAND
Insert the centerstand pivots into the loosely-attached right and left-side brackets. Slide the large washers onto the pivots and insert the cotter pins. Progressively tighten all nuts and bolts on both side brackets, then stick the little rubber stop-bumper into the hole in the right-side bracket. Now torque all nuts and bolts to the values in the service manual:

Now you get to hook up the spring! This just isn't any fun at all...the stout dual-nested spring seems to be way overkill. You'll either need a super-heavy-duty spring hook (didn't have) or an S hook from your garage door spring and that original long engine mount bolt levered against the rear wheel (padded) to hook this spring up. I suggest you try to hook the outer spring first, then the inner - rather than both at the same time.

Paul Fox wrote:
tom -- the rear wheel only comes an inch off he ground? that's not much.  if one were to park on uneven pavement, or in a dip, the wheel might not be raised at all...

Paul;  I don't think that will be a problem at all. I have a street tracker with tall 19" Goodyears - the centerstand barely lifts the wheel off the ground.  I never use the sidestand on this bike, yet haven't had an incident where the centerstand failed on any type of surface; grass, dirt, uneven pavement. In fact, on grass, the rear wheel never leaves the ground. My garage floor is pretty level, but once in a while I have to move the bike slightly, in order to spin the back wheel (those Eagles aren't known for their roundness).  The upside of the short lift is the ease that it comes up. I've got another bike (same model) with a 'shorter than stock' 16" rear tire. The same swingarm lifts this one 2.5 inches - but it's considerably harder to lever up.  I just rolled the SV out onto our really soft, wet lawn. The rear wheel is still on the ground - but the bike is stable. Just gonna have to use that piece of plywood under the swingarm (so the rear tire will spin) when I wash the bike on the lawn.
-- Tom Chapel

Paul Fox wrote: 
i just reread your centerstand review. it sounds like a better product than i had guessed. bob sims had sent me his pictures, but i guess the quality was bad. a couple question:

Yes, it's pretty nice.

do you think this clank is fixable with rubber pads? usually if a stand clanks like that when it comes up, then it may rub/wear in any case while you're riding, since it implies metal-to-metal contact. is this the case?

I've ridden some with the stand on and haven't heard any noise over moderate bumps. Looking at the stand again, I don't think it's actually DIRECT metal-to-metal. Since the large pivot shafts and the bracket holes are a fairly loose fit (both circumference-wise like piston-in-cylinder and laterally side-to-side), I'm thinking that this loose fit is where a lot of the noise is coming from. I'm going try to add either rubber washers, additional shims, or maybe 'spring' washers, to minimize side-to-side play (and perhaps put a little 'drag' into the movement). I don't know how to reduce circumference sloppiness without resorting to some type of bronze bushing.
After using it for a couple of days, I must be getting used to the clank - it doesn't seem quite as bad. Plus, with a little practice, you can deftly use your right foot to cushion the blow.

so it sounds like the centerstand really doesn't reduce clearance in any way -- am i reading this right?

..just went outside to take another look. Bike on the sidestand, me crouching 5 feet in back.

1. Imaginary line from right edge of tire tread to 'first-to-touch-down' part of stock muffler. Centerstand and brackets are well within - maybe an inch.

On 05/01/01 Tom T. wrote:
For the record, my bathroom scale says 10 pounds. Mine came in yesterday.

Paul Fox wrote:
I was able to get the inner spring on just by pulling on it (toward the rear of the bike, with the stand in the raised position) with vise-grips clamped around the hook (not on the hook -- the vise-grips were fully closed -- I don't think vise-grips clamp hard enough to keep the spring from slipping if you really grabbed it directly).  The longer spring was much harder -- I put a double loop of coat hanger wire probably 3" long (the finished loop, that is) through a hole in the end of a 2' bar I had around. I put the hook on the loop, and pulled straight back as much as I could, and from there was able to start using the bar as a lever against the vertical column of the rear stand, pulling outward on the long end of the bar, to further extend the spring. and from there I managed to work the hook into its notch.