Centre stand driving me mad...

Yes, this is a little demoralising to ask, as I know the logic behind it, and watched it done 100 times, but I’ve recently bought a bandit 600 and was going to get it on the centre stand to give it a good clean up, and I just can’t get the bastard to work. I’ve gathered from various searches thats it’s not about lifting the bike as much as putting weight down onto the stand with your leg, but for the life of me just can’t seem to get the knack of doing it. Any clues? i’m 5’9, not built like a beast but i’m not that weak either, and it is starting to irritate me now! Cheers :smiley:

I’m the same, I just won’t buy a bike that has a centre stand now, sorted out the problem for me :slight_smile:

Get it centred, stand on it, lift at the same time with hand on rear footpeg or anywhere you can get a grip. Push down with foot, pull up and towards back of bike with hand…

You make sure it is centred and both sides of the centre stand are touching ground, else you haver a chance of lifting it onto its side!!

Even if you have alot of weight to push into the stand with your foot, you will still have to pull with your hand until you get the balance and leverage sorted out…

You could try using the stand on someone’s scooter first to get the hang of it with less weight. When I learned we did it this way.

  1. Engage the stand, put pressure on the foot plate until both parts touch the ground and the bike is stable.

  2. Put pressure on the foot plate and haul the bike up and backwards.

  3. The bike should rock back and the stand will go down and your all set.

On the CB500 I was able to get hold of the grab rail and the left bar. Once you had the hang of it, it wasn’t much effort.

This geezer shows how it’s done.

it isn’t easy…

Hold the underside of your rear subframe or seat, as far back toward the numberplate as possible

Stand on the centre stand with your right foot, press down with your leg and pull up with your right hand, as hard as you can. Don’t give up half way or you’ll drop the bike like I did with mine halfway along Route Napoleon :w00t:

+1 It’s just a matter of practice & technique… Not brute strength :wink:

Rolling the bike back slightly gives you a bit of momentum - I remember struggling with a CG125 the first time I did it and looking up to see someone no bigger than me doing his GS1200 with no trouble.

haha glad i’m not the only one to suffer with this, as a fairly experienced bike i’ve had an embarrasing few days on my drive jumping up and down on the damn thing… considering i normally appear to know what I’m doing it was a big of an ego shock… but I’ve managed it, chain lubed and all bits cleaned, not quite sure how i managed it, but now i’ve done it once at least i know it can be done, going to rest my back, legs and arms now, as much as brute force isn’t required, it seems to make the most logic when you can’t quite get it… the joke is the guy i bought it off put it on the centre stand when i went to see it, and he was selling it because he’s got a bad back!!

Get a paddock stand :slight_smile:

It is very easy once you understand that the momentum of the bike will raise it onto the stand. You should not need to lift it at all. Put your foot on the stand and make sure both feet are touching the ground. Lift your foot slightly, and roll the bike backwards whilst holding on firmly to the grab rail or frame with your right arm. Your upper arm should be close to your body which will mean the bike cannot tip away or towards you. Once the bike starts to roll, put your weight back onto the centre stand and the bike should lift itself onto the stand.

To get the bike off the stand, hold the bike in the same way, and rock it gently, as it rocks forward, use your right arm to encourage the upwards momentum to become forward momentum and the bike should roll off the stand.

Just lean …

Take your up your stance with your entire body behind the pivot point of the centre stand, making sure the centre stand is firmly grounded lean back pulling the bike back with you, DON’T LIFT.

If you’re really struggling practice with the bike facing up a slight gradient.

This has to be a wind up!!:Whistling::smiley:

Dont listen to these leg pullers.

Just put it in reverse, get it on the clutch biting point and blip the throttle.

Given that I once saw a learner pull into the Ace Cafe when doing his CBT and getting off the bike on the right hand side and spending 2-3 mins trying to find the side stand, I would say it has the possibility to be 100% true!

I had a tantrum doing my CBT because I couldn’t get the bike on the centre stand. It just wouldn’t do it!

If its any consolation, my Bandit K7’s a lil bugger to get up on the stand, took me a while to get it and I’m a relatively big bloke.

I put all my weight down on the centre stand, sometimes lifting my other foot off the floor. The bike won’t topple as long as it’s sitting squarely on the ground… don’t be afraid to give it some wellie, you’ll get it up! :Whistling:

Ha Ha Ha…

Brings back memories…

When I purchased my 1st bike … Fazer 600, I had to pick it up from Cornwall and ride it back to London… however, every time I had to stop for fuel, I was struggling to get it on the centre stand… PUSH… PULL… ROCKING … bloody thing made me lose 1kg just getting it back home…

Then at the services just outside of London… I was busting for a wazz… managaged to get it on the centre stand so fast that i was more concerned about my waterproofs not being waterproof from the inside…

Finished at the boys room and then realised I needed fuel again…

So pulled up to the pump and again…HEAVE—HO !!! Same old **** but now the services we busy with all the people from rush hour…again 4-5 attempts and looking around making sure no-one is looking at me and then 1 last push and managed to get it up… as I finished paying and walked back up to the bike, a chappy in a suit was eyeing the bike… and you know what he said…

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“I was over there in my car looking at you struggle putting you centre stand down”…(DIE OF EMBARRESSMENT)

The he showed me the “knack” of getting it on…easy…

But he also showed me that the bike had a side stand too!!! ( STARTED TO DIG A HOLE FOR MYSELF ) !

… Good times looking back…

at least you know that you have a centre stand, my mate had a complete brain fart with his 1st bike.

Just got off the bike touched the centre stand to the ground and let go. I have not seen anything like it.

We were near a burger van so I think he went into caveman mode.

Bike on floor, pick it up, eat burger, curse later.