Bike Stand(s)

["Dangerous" Dan K]

Most stands I've seen use spools. My bike does not have spools, and when I got it the seller had it on a stand that held it on pads by the swingarm. Are there advantages/disadvantages to either, or any reason I shouldn't put spools on mine and use a stand that uses spools?

Also, any reason to have 2 stands rather than just the one? I could see for having it level to change/check oil and such, but that can be done easily enough leaning it on something. Only other reason I could think of is to remove the front wheel. Do all fronts allow this, and are they a one size fits most thing?

I def. need at least a rear, since the kickstand is not going back on the bike and leaning it on my bench is going to get old fast.

Thanks,

Dan

[BluGixxer]

Spools lock on a litttle better, the ones with pads have a better chance at spreading and having "The Ghost" push your bike to the ground. Remember you get what you pay for,, cheap ones spread. also ease of putting bike in air.. Having both front and back allows you to work on your bike...front is diff from rear..

[butcher bergs]

I have a Woodcraft pad stand for the rear and haven't had issues with the pads spreading. First thing I did was adjust the pads to my desired width and then wound a bunch of electrical tape around the other end so it wouldn't eventually back out.

Another disadvantage to the pad stands is they tend to "walk" down the swing arm if you're rocking the bike around enough. I had my race bike leap off my rear stand one day and land on my street bike. Not a good thing. Then again, I'm the one that caused that scenario so chalk it up as operator error.

If you're not going to run tire warmers then you'd be able to get by with a rear stand only but it's sooooooo much nicer to have the entire bike in the air for wheel changes as well as stability purposes.

[Fitz]

I have a set of Powerstand rear stands that are nice. One is the forward style handle for ease of use. One of which comes with both spool mounts and pads. The pads are beefy, durable and lock in place width-wise with allen bolts to prevent spreading. My front stands are Woodcraft. Build quality on the Woodcraft as well as the packaging is improved over the Powerstand product.

I purchased three of the four stands through Souhegan Valley Motorsports in Milford, NH. Pricing was very competitive compared to online retailers and I saved on shipping. Trying to keep the cash flow local.

edit: It wasn't a factor when I was looking at different brands, but we have two kids. A 7 year old girl and a ~1.5 year old boy. Both of them love to clamber all over the bikes. On these stands, I literally don't give it a second thought. I can stand on one rearset and rock back and forth with all of my 190 pounds and the bike stays upright. Throw a 45 pound girl or a 25 pound boy on there and it barely gives a shake.

Fitz

[union]

If you can get a spooled stand that would be better then the pad style stand. The spool style stand are much more stable and you can move the bike around with it on the rear stand pretty easily. I wouldnt try it with a pad stand.

A front stand is also very nice to have. Its a must if you have tire warmers or if you have a bike that eats up tires. Its not much of a problem with the EX but if you move to faster bikes in the future you will want one. Youll want the kind that picks the bike up from the triple tree.

I have both pit bull and woodcraft stands. Pit bull makes a stand that will do both spools and pads. Woodcraft makes either a spool or pad style stand. They both make the pin style front stand. I personally like the woodcraft stands better. They are lighter, roll better, and I find them easier to use especially the front. The pin on the front is much easier to change out if you have other bikes. They are also a local company if thats your thing and if you get into racing youll meet the Woods

[DaSarge]

http://www.nestreetriders.com/forum/...-products.html

Boston Moto Pitbull Stands

[underhillbu]

Others on this site may say different (and I'm sure they will), but i heard good things about T-Rex Stands. They are priced right and seem to be good quality.

http://www.t-rex-racing.com

Those are the stands I plan on getting when I have the money. They also sell racing spools at a good price.

[TheIglu]

Make sure you check the width/height on any stands, spool or pad. EX's don't have normal width swingarms.

I'm using a custom EX one, I believe Big-D is running a Pitbull but it barely gets his rear tire off the ground. What are you other EX'ers running?

["Dangerous" Dan K]

Thanks for all the input so far. I'll have to measure the swingarm width on my EX today. How involved is installing spools? I assume the swingarm is beefy enough that drilling it for the spools doesn't sacrifice reliability? Are spools created equal for the most part? Anything to stay away from? Will they tell me how far in on the swingarm to put them?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to do it right, you know?

[union]

Thanks for all the input so far. I'll have to measure the swingarm width on my EX today. How involved is installing spools? I assume the swingarm is beefy enough that drilling it for the spools doesn't sacrifice reliability? Are spools created equal for the most part? Anything to stay away from? Will they tell me how far in on the swingarm to put them?

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to do it right, you know?

If there arent already holes to mount spools youre better off welding the mounts on.

["Dangerous" Dan K]

If there arent already holes to mount spools youre better off welding the mounts on.

Hm... that combined with my lack of welding skills and lack of welder might leave me using a pad style stand for now. Thanks for the heads up!

[union]

Hm... that combined with my lack of welding skills and lack of welder might leave me using a pad style stand for now. Thanks for the heads up!

I guess its time to make some friends that have some skills in welding

[jtaylor719]

With the pads, be careful about the chain lube / etc that can accumulate both on the pads and under the swingarm. This can make it super greasy and the bike will slide back onto the stand.

This has happened a few times at home, but no crashes & no big deal.
It happened at the track once when I was alone in the garage, bike was on the front stand and falling off the rear. Came VERY close to falling on me and into my buddy's bike.

I drilled holes in the swingarm and installed some threaded inserts for spools. Done deal, no welding involved. The threaded inserts install like a pop-rivet.

Spend some extra time and go with spools. If you can't make up your mind, or have multiple bikes, PitBull makes a stand that you can swap the mounts over to use either one.

["Dangerous" Dan K]

With the pads, be careful about the chain lube / etc that can accumulate both on the pads and under the swingarm. This can make it super greasy and the bike will slide back onto the stand.

This has happened a few times at home, but no crashes & no big deal.
It happened at the track once when I was alone in the garage, bike was on the front stand and falling off the rear. Came VERY close to falling on me and into my buddy's bike.

I drilled holes in the swingarm and installed some threaded inserts for spools. Done deal, no welding involved. The threaded inserts install like a pop-rivet.

Spend some extra time and go with spools. If you can't make up your mind, or have multiple bikes, PitBull makes a stand that you can swap the mounts over to use either one.

What kind of spools did you get that went on without welding? I'd rather do spools, just don't know how to weld and don't want to pay some silly price to have them welded on. If I had a buddy with a welder that'd do it for a 12 pack of guiness or something it'd be a different story. I've had the bike at my house well under 24 hours and leaning it on my bench has already been annoying twice...

The stand it was on when I got it was a real cheap one, guy said something like $50 and it was actually pretty stable and worked fine, although I did notice there was some empty space in the lower part of one of the pads like they could have used to have been an inch closer together.

I've actually got a lead on a run of the mill rear if I get spools on it, as well as someone who has a front/rear combo for sale. Of course, the front of the front/rear combo doesn't lift by the triple, which I'm reading is not what you want, and I'm not sure about width.

[The Snowman]

With the pads, be careful about the chain lube / etc that can accumulate both on the pads and under the swingarm. This can make it super greasy and the bike will slide back onto the stand.

I have the forward lever Pitbull stands for both my and my wife's CBR's. They work great. Just stay on top of the goo that may accumulate on the pads, so they don't slip on you.

[obsolete]

I have a spool stand for the SV and a pad stand for the YZF. The pad stand isn't bad but I wouldn't move the bike around on it. I push the SV from it's parking spot to its work spot on the rear stand. I wouldn't think about it on the pad stand.

["Dangerous" Dan K]

Sounds like spools are the way to go, i just need to find out if i can screw them in without risking swingarm integrity or if i need to find a welder. Thanks.

[Pittenger5]

I got a custom homemade pad stand. It works well, pain in the fucking ass to get the bike on it, but once you get the technique its no more trouble than others.

["Dangerous" Dan K]

I got a custom homemade pad stand. It works well, pain in the fucking ass to get the bike on it, but once you get the technique its no more trouble than others.

That would be easiest, since i dont weld and it does not have spools. i was able to get the bike onto it ok, i just wouldn't want the bike unstable once it's up there.

[Pittenger5]

I dunno where it came from, dude gave it to me with the bike, but this fucker is solid. But its a pad stand, and works fine. Id just go that route.

[hammadown]

I would suggest, as I think was mentioned, getting the pitbull stand that works on pads and spools. At this point, getting ready to ride for the season, I'd work on getting the bike sorted rather than spending too much effort on your stand setup. If you find you do not like using the pads, then you can mess around trying to get spools on and you've already got the stand. With an older bike that is new to you, I have a feeling there will be plenty to do to get it safely trackable, rather than parkable.

["Dangerous" Dan K]

I would suggest, as I think was mentioned, getting the pitbull stand that works on pads and spools. At this point, getting ready to ride for the season, I'd work on getting the bike sorted rather than spending too much effort on your stand setup. If you find you do not like using the pads, then you can mess around trying to get spools on and you've already got the stand. With an older bike that is new to you, I have a feeling there will be plenty to do to get it safely trackable, rather than parkable.

Thanks for the reply. I'm leaning toward going that route. The stand is adjustable to fit the narrower swingarm, right?

Surprisingly enough there is not a ton to do to this bike to get it ready to ride. It's 100% safety wired, all new fluids, new brake pads, 1 track day on the tires, etc. The throttle wasn't as snappy as I'd have liked at first, but it still returned and it was below freezing. Above freezing it seems fine. It's sort of to the point where I'm going to need to ride in order to tell what else it might need. It seemed very solid and together in the parking lot test-rides

Because of the last bike I rode and was used to (R6 with rearsets) I'm thinking I'd like a set of rearsets for it, but want to give it a try with the current pegs before I spend the $.

Of course, I still need to peel those stickers (except maybe 1) and paint it, but even that is cosmetic and not really necessary. I'm sure I'll just mess up whatever paint I get on there anyway, but I figure a race bike where I don't care is the perfect bike to learn on, and I've got a buddy willing to teach me.

Anyway, point well made. I'm not drilling out the swingarm, and am not having spools welded on anytime soon, so it looks like pad stands for me

[Pittenger5]

When youre saying its getting below freezing, make sure theres anti-freeze in it, and not just water. When racing you're required to run water.

[palanon]

Now, go sign up for Carl's track day!!

["Dangerous" Dan K]

When youre saying its getting below freezing, make sure theres anti-freeze in it, and not just water. When racing you're required to run water.

Thanks, good call. The guy said that he had coolant in there, he actually said that swapping coolant to water and adding gas was all that I'd need to do to be on the track. Still, I didn't check for myself, and I certainly should. Good call.