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Which Stands Work Well?


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I am looking for some advice on motorcycle stands for racing. I finally have to bite the bullet and remove the kickstand from my bike, and start using tire warmers, therefore I need to buy stands. This is new for me. I see that there are front stands that sit under the bottom of the forks, and others that have a pin that grabs up under the nose of the bike. Which is easier to use? I don't care about being able to remove the wheel or work on the forks, I just want the easiest-to-use stand for tire warmers. I DO want a lot of leverage, so that it's easy for me to lift the bike - the Pit Bull Forklift stand seems very popular, but seems a bit high effort and rather heavy, is there a lighter, easier one?

 

I also need advice on the rear stand, I see that Pit Bull has a front-handle rear stand that looks pretty cool. I am a woman, and rather short, so the idea of being able to grab the stand and lift the bike without having to try to walk behind it while holding it upright is appealing. It also seems handy not to have that handle sticking out behind the bike in the pit area. Has anyone tried it?

 

I'm sure with practice it becomes effortless to manage whatever stand you have, but I am looking for the EASIEST option, to get me through this learning curve without dropping the bike in the garage. :) Thanks in advance!

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I know of a few with the pit bull stands and they seem to be impressed with them. I've seen the front handle ones and they do look easier to use particulary when having to do it yourself. As for the front stand I have both types and prefer the pin style, it seems to be a little sturdier. The advantage of course is that it does allow you fork removal down the road if that is something you wish to tackle later. I had the under fork leg type first and changed to the other type when I added tire warmers.

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I know of a few with the pit bull stands and they seem to be impressed with them. I've seen the front handle ones and they do look easier to use particulary when having to do it yourself. As for the front stand I have both types and prefer the pin style, it seems to be a little sturdier. The advantage of course is that it does allow you fork removal down the road if that is something you wish to tackle later. I had the under fork leg type first and changed to the other type when I added tire warmers.

Hotfoot;

I have OEM Ducati rear stands but I also bought Pit Bull front and rear stands (they're much lighter) for track events. The front stand lifts the bike under the forks allowing for front wheel removal. There is another attachment to the Pit Bull front stand that pins into the mounting studs and attaches to the lower triple tree which allows fork removal. See below:

http://www.pit-bull.com/Merchant2/merchant...de=front_stands

 

Kevin

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We've used Pit Bull, like 'em. Will mostly uses the under fork ones, but we don't use warmers. I had a harder time using the pin style on my ZX-9, hard to get the pin in and out.

 

I think they have some neat trailer stands too, so you don't have to tied the bike down, but haven't used those personally.

 

CF

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  • 4 weeks later...

I haven't used tire warmers yet but I like my Vortex rear stand. http://www.kneedraggers.com/details/Vortex...-53-VORT-1.html I don't think you can make a stand to much lighter unless its made out of titanium or something. My front stand is a Lockhart Phillips pin stand that holds the bike up by the tripple tree. http://www.kneedraggers.com/details/Lockha...nd--636297.html The front stand has A LOT of leverage the way it works it doesn't take much effort at all and I don't have much of an issue with the rear stand either (I weight 145lbs so I'm not to heavy). You can also take the handle off the rear stand which takes a good 8inchs or so off the length which sounds like something your looking for. It just uses a small push in pin at the base of the handle. The bad thing about the front stand is sense its only balanced on that one pin I would never use it without first putting the bike on the rear stand. So if you only need to lift the front end off the ground you should deffinatly use the rear stand to.

 

 

 

P.S. On the front stand where it hinges it falls over pretty easy after you take it off and put it to the side. I put it down next to my bike once and the pin end fell right on my white front wheel which put a nice scratch in it.

 

GSXR5.jpgGSXR2.jpg

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Thanks to all for the advice and ideas. Here's what I ended up doing, in case anyone else finds the info useful.

 

First I tried the really cool Pit Bull forward-handle rear stand, which I thought would be easier to use, since I could operate it from the side of the bike while still holding the handlebar. Turns out, though, it's very high effort. The handle is rather short and doesn't have much angle to it, so it takes quite a bit of force to get the bike up on the stand. I still think it's a terrific concept, but I found the standard rear-handle Pit Bull so much easier to use that I bought that instead.

 

For the front stand I got the Lockhart Phillips pin type stand that sits under the forks. I got the aluminum one, and it is incredibly light weight, cool looking, and well designed. I feels like it weighs less than half what the Pit Bull fork lift front stand weighs, and I found it to be quicker to put in place and require less effort to lift the bike. I highly recommend it, it is by far the lightest stand I've seen and has really good leverage and smooth operation.

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Hotfoot--you have also mentioned your tie down system--got any pictures or links to that?

 

CF

 

Gee, I don't know if THOSE pictures would make it through your Internet filtering system...

 

Oh, you mean the BIKE tie-downs! Right, the plastic wheel chocks. They are lightweight, reasonably priced and a clever design. One small criticism, they are a little wide for the sportbike front tire so they allow a little bit of turn to the front wheel, I'd like them better if they fit tighter. But, I LOVE the way the quick releases work, it's very easy to remove the chocks and nothing sticks up out of the floor. The manufacturer is Black&Gray, here is a link:

http://www.blackandgray.com/wchockMain.php

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It looks like you have the same front stand that I do. The only problem I had with mine was one pin was to small and the next size up was to large for the hole in my triple tree. It was a pretty soft metal though so a local machine shop took some material off of it for me easily.

 

When you said something about tie down systems I though it was something to keep the front suspension from compressing when you tie it down. I read somewhere on this forum that keeping the bike strapped down with the suspension compressed can hurt the front springs. Do they make anything like that for sportbikes? That other tie down system you were talking about sounds pretty good to ;) .

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We finally made (after years of tieing the bikes down) a system that chocks the wheels in, front and back, and then no straps are needed, and the bikes are not actually tied down.

 

Might not be that realistic for most to make such a system. If you do tie your bikes down, recommendations:

 

1. Get good quality straps. We've seen a lot of thin, cheap ones. Always use 4. I used 2 for years, never had an issue, but have seen it where one fails...

2. Chocks can be great, at least for the front wheel, some way to keep it from moving.

3. Tie the front, but just snug, not tight. We don't use ratchet straps, too much leverage.

4. Tie the rear a little firmer, it's beefier.

 

You can fatigue your springs in the front, and we used to have to replace too many fork seals per year, if the bike is tied to tightly (particularly in the front).

 

CF

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It looks like you have the same front stand that I do. The only problem I had with mine was one pin was to small and the next size up was to large for the hole in my triple tree. It was a pretty soft metal though so a local machine shop took some material off of it for me easily.

 

When you said something about tie down systems I though it was something to keep the front suspension from compressing when you tie it down. I read somewhere on this forum that keeping the bike strapped down with the suspension compressed can hurt the front springs. Do they make anything like that for sportbikes? That other tie down system you were talking about sounds pretty good to ;) .

 

We have the same brand of front stand but mine is the kind that hooks under the bottom of the front forks, not under the triple tree. The pins fit OK and I think there are different sizes available, but on this stand they are nylon, not metal. Thanks for posting the photos of your stands, that was pretty cool. Someday I'll figure out how to post pictures here. :unsure:

 

Cobie was talking about a Pit Bull restraint system that doesn't require tie-downs at all, so you don't have to compress the suspension. It's new, I think, and you can see it on the Pit Bull website. I read somewhere about someone that used them and the bikes were secure even when their trailer popped off the hitch (gulp!) which reorganized almost everything ELSE in the trailer. Seems like a cool idea, the main reason I didn't look into those more is that I wanted to be able to remove the chocks easily and leave a flat floor, and if I remember correctly there is some hardware sticking up with the Pit Bull system.

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Hotfoot--

 

Actually I was referring to our system of chocks (that Keith and Will designed and made), but glad you brought up the Pit Bull system, that looks pretty good.

 

There are other forums for you and your other tie down systems.

 

CF

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Well I don't think I can afford a new trailer anytime to soon so I'll be using a friends when he goes to the track. So it will be strapped down but not for much longer then 3 or 4 hours anyway. I will definitely keep in mind to just lightly tighten the bike down and use four straps. I like the idea of that Pit Bull restraint system so when I get my own trailer I'll have to look into that.

 

Well here is how I posted the picture. First you need to upload the image to a site like PhotoBucket.com . After the picture is uploaded you can just hover the mouse over the picture and some web addresses will come up. Copy the one that says "Direct Link" then come back to this site and click on the "Insert Image" icon thats right under the font menu. Then paste the Direct Link address into the Insert Image box. Its a lot easier to do then it was to explain this!

 

Sorry I missed the "pin type stand that sits under the forks" part somehow. I'm also sorry for kind of hi-jacking your thread.

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Well I don't think I can afford a new trailer anytime to soon so I'll be using a friends when he goes to the track. So it will be strapped down but not for much longer then 3 or 4 hours anyway. I will definitely keep in mind to just lightly tighten the bike down and use four straps. I like the idea of that Pit Bull restraint system so when I get my own trailer I'll have to look into that.

 

Well here is how I posted the picture. First you need to upload the image to a site like PhotoBucket.com . After the picture is uploaded you can just hover the mouse over the picture and some web addresses will come up. Copy the one that says "Direct Link" then come back to this site and click on the "Insert Image" icon thats right under the font menu. Then paste the Direct Link address into the Insert Image box. Its a lot easier to do then it was to explain this!

 

Sorry I missed the "pin type stand that sits under the forks" part somehow. I'm also sorry for kind of hi-jacking your thread.

 

What? No hi-jacking here, your posts are informative and helpful, no worries at all. I'm glad to see you active here on the forum, the more the merrier, and thanks for helping with photos!

 

Cool looking bike, too, by the way!

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  • 8 months later...
Thanks to all for the advice and ideas. Here's what I ended up doing, in case anyone else finds the info useful.

 

First I tried the really cool Pit Bull forward-handle rear stand, which I thought would be easier to use, since I could operate it from the side of the bike while still holding the handlebar. Turns out, though, it's very high effort. The handle is rather short and doesn't have much angle to it, so it takes quite a bit of force to get the bike up on the stand. I still think it's a terrific concept, but I found the standard rear-handle Pit Bull so much easier to use that I bought that instead.

 

For the front stand I got the Lockhart Phillips pin type stand that sits under the forks. I got the aluminum one, and it is incredibly light weight, cool looking, and well designed. I feels like it weighs less than half what the Pit Bull fork lift front stand weighs, and I found it to be quicker to put in place and require less effort to lift the bike. I highly recommend it, it is by far the lightest stand I've seen and has really good leverage and smooth operation.

 

My Busa is the first bike I've needed stands for (my '08 Yamaha FJR had a center stand) so I've been doing a lot of research on them. From what I've read the Pit-Bull stands are excellent albeit a little expensive. I was also considering the Pit-Bull forward handle rear stand but that model doesn't seem to work well for the reasons you mentioned. I did come across a company called Redline Engineering who have some nice stands which have a little better price point than the Pit-Bull stands. After talking with the owner of Redline he convinced me to get a headstock stand for the front of my bike as I will end up doing fork work sometime in the future including springs, valves, seals, etc.. For my Busa the industrial rear stand is $87 and includes an extension handle, and the front headstock stand is $120. So for a little over $200 I'll be getting a rear stand and headstock stand.

 

Here's a link to Redline for anyone who is interested.

http://www.redlinestands.com/catalog/sport...arm-stands-c-87

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Don't know the Redline stands, but we have been using Pit Bull for years, and still have the original stands, we love 'em.

 

CF

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I went with t-rex racing's front & rear set. I don't have a lot of experience with stands so my opinion is probably of limited value. I've used them a few times, mostly the rear and they seem quite stable.

 

They come in a S (single bar) or V (V bar) design, but I would say the *best* aspect of them is often you can get a front & rear set with spools for your bike for less than the price of a single Pit Bull rear.

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