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GPI Industries Pro Stands and Pitbull Front Stand

  1. #1
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    GPI Industries Pro Stands and Pitbull Front Stand

    GPI Industries Pro Series Stands vs. PitBull Front Stand w/Forklift Converter

    I recently purchased a few stands. The first was the PitBull Front Stand w/Forklift Coverter, as I figured that I'll probably want to do fork service enough times in the future that spending the extra cash now is worth it. As of now, I am planning on swapping fork legs (I've got a pair with upgraded suspension to install), and this stand seemed to be what I needed for that purpose.

    Then, after signing up for a track day in early October, I realized that I'll definitely be wanting a way to service the chain after I remove the centerstand. I'd like to think about leaving the centerstand off entirely (for added cornering clearance and the weight reduction), but reinstalling it every 400 miles to lube the chain was going to be too much of a pain in the butt. After determining that shipping on a used PitBull rear stand was going to price it into the neighborhood of a new stand, I started shopping. I came across some positive reviews for the GPI Industries Pro Series stands, and the manufacturer's site seemed to suggest a reasonable product. I also figured it shouldn't be too hard to produce a workable rear stand, as it's essentially a piece of mandrel-bent steel with a couple of arms to hold the swingarm.

    I got the GPI Industries stands the day after ordering a pair ($140 shipped for front and rear; they don't list the stands individually on their site), and the Pit Bull stand showed up about three business days after I ordered it from Sportbike Track Gear (for about $200).

    Obviously, there's a huge price difference, and there's also a functionality difference; however, a PitBull front or rear stand alone would be in the same price range as the pair of GPI stands. My initial impression is that there is a corresponding difference in finish quality; the tubing on the GPI stands is a little less beefy, and the PitBull stand came with *much* better directions. The GPI stands required some assembly (installation of bike contact points and of wheels) and adjustment (for width on the bike contact points); the hardware seems lower-quality (particularly the wheels) compared to the PitBull parts.

    The GPI stands do hold the bike up and keep it stable, as does the combination of the GPI rear stand with the PitBull front stand (without the forklift converter; I haven't tried that yet). However, there is a significant difference that I didn't anticipate--the PitBull stand lifts the front of the bike several inches higher than the GPI front stand does. This would seem to make it much easier to work on the bike, although it also creates an issue if using the front stand with the bike's center stand (the bike seemed ready to lift off the centerstand when I tried putting it on the PitBull stand), although I didn't keep lifting once I thought the bike was going to end up falling over; there may be just enough clearance to pull that off.

    Edit: coming back to update this, the height difference does have an impact on usability. First, it's just that much harder get under the bike at a comfortable angle to pull an oil plug or such. Second, I can't get a rear wheel with new tire past the fender on my Ninjette. If the fender weren't there, the height would not be an issue; I suspect it also wouldn't be an issue on most sport bikes, which lack the hideous and gigantic rear fender of the Ninjette. The lack of a rear handle requires a bit more gingerness when putting the bike up than the PitBull rear stand, but also means that the stand requires less rear clearance (helpful in tight quarters, especially for off-ground bike storage).

    As noted, I will be using the forklift converter to service the fork on my Ninjette, but I haven't attempted that yet (being reluctant to take apart something that's not broken when there's good riding to be had).

    0 Not allowed! Not allowed!
    Last edited by kbroderick; 06-18-09 at 11:24 AM.

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