Center stand redux

[dmcclure2]

So after watching all the videos, researching everywhere, I am again laid up with a foot I may be able to hobble on in a couple of days. The culprit? Center stand peg.

I get the idea, but when I put my foot on that tiny, round, sharp peg, it eats into the bottom of my foot something fierce, and I have to quit before I can get the bike up on the center stand. Boots, shoes, sandals, makes no difference. Tiny peg located just under the passenger footboard, assuring not only a busted foot but skin off the shin as well.

There has to be a better solution.

Saw references to electric center stands, no such luck.

The GL1800 has a nice, flat extension that sits on the ground...would it fit a 1200?

I know how to get the bike up, I just don't know how to do it with sensitive, flat feet.

Any thoughts?

[bluewing]

I put mine on the center stand with running shoes on, maybe you just need harder soles on your foot where when you are doing it.

[Ed Z]

Try running the air pressure up to max on the rear shocks...
Also a good lubing of the center stand pivot area works wonders too...

[scty_p]

Putting any bike up on a centre stand requires a technique rather than brute force. I'll do my best to explain it. It is a combination of upper body and lower body working together. I put my left hand on the hand grip and my right hand on the bar beside the seat. Now put the centre stand down with your right foot and "feel" with the centre stand and moving the bike side to side to see that you are holding the bike straight up. You can put your whole foot or what ever is comfortable on the centre stand peg. Then I square my body so I'm facing the front of the bike. Now at the same time, push down on the centre stand with your foot and pull up on the bar beside the seat slightly rocking your body towards the rear of the bike. Push with your leg and pull with your arm. Think of it as something you are trying to separate using your lower body and upper body. I hope that helps. Good luck! :YMPEACE:

[Granpah]

I am again laid up with a foot I may be able to hobble on in a couple of days. The culprit? Center stand peg.

... when I put my foot on that tiny, round, sharp peg, it eats into the bottom of my foot something fierce, and I have to quit before I can get the bike up on the center stand.

I know how to get the bike up, I just don't know how to do it with sensitive, flat feet.

That's terrible about your getting so injured by placing your bike on its center stand.

You have my sympathies 'cause it took me awhile -- a quite long while -- to FINALLY "get it" about getting first my Shadow VT500 (half the weight of GoldWings) and then GL1000s and finally G:1200 to lift itself onto its center stand. Yes, I wrote "lift itself" because that's how I vizualize it happening.

I don't completrely understand: the "tiny, round, sharp peg" thing "eat[ing] into the bottom of my foot something fierce". That's because I wear size 14EEE footwear and weigh about 290lbs which should cause a lot of damage to the bottom of my foot from your center stand.

First, I'd make sure your center stand is the standard (unmodified) GL1200 stand. I've mounted two GL1000s and one GL1200 and never felt any pressure under my right foot.

But if you do have the standard center stand then all I can recommend is like you teach little kids to swim in the deep end of a swimming pool, have someone on the other side of your bike helping while you're getting the hang of it.

Other than that, at a different Goldwing site (not a competitor of this one) -- concluding it's kind of center stand Zen -- just about one year ago, I wrote what I had learned plus added some online videos which you may or may not have already seen about getting a big bike on its center stand. It seemed useful to some GoldWingers.

Wishing you all the best in conquoring your center stand!

[dmcclure2]

Voila! Eureka!

Thanks for the tips. Here was my resolution. Greased the stand, since it probably has never actually been used (I know the previous owner!). Pumped up the back just a hair.

Spent 10 minutes or so practicing on a buddy's slightly smaller bike, and got the technique down there.

Went to my GL, squared it up and rocked it right up. Three years of effort, and now it just slides right up on the stand.

BTW, I have a disorder that makes my feet sensitive to breaking bones -- hence the tenderness. Breaking foot bones is never a good thing, and worse on the arch side, so I tend to nurse the feet.

I still think a slightly larger peg, or a flatter one, would work better. Or heck, a reverse gear! But then, I didn't win the Mega Millions last week, either!

Thanks again for the advice and encouragement...

Dave

[admin]

To make it even easier for you just run the back tire up on a piece of 3/4" plywood then try the center stand. Should make it much easier for you.

[dmcclure2]

Vic, that is just too funny for words!

Or to put it another way, duh-oh! Hours and hours poring through forums, watching Youtube videos and wrestling with my 1200, and your suggestion is so dirt simple I never even considered it. I will put a small piece of plywood on my garage floor tonite!

That's why I love this forum!

Dave

[admin]

Let us know how it works out for you.

[Granpah]

Congratulations Dave on "getting it"!
:YMAPPLAUSE: :YMAPPLAUSE: :YMAPPLAUSE: :YMAPPLAUSE: :YMAPPLAUSE: :YMAPPLAUSE:

I very well know first-hand how extremely frustrating it can be to wonder: "why am I the only one who can't seem to get his bike on the center stand?" :oops: Fear sets in. It took me a couple of months (yes, months!) to work it out -- then I later wondered, "what took me so long?!"