After reading various posts and threads regarding the different flavours of bike stands and their many pro's and con's, I decided to make my own version, So one quiet night shift at work, I gathered up a few odds and ends and armed with a few measurements I whiled away a couple of hours. When I fitted the Ohlins rear, I had to find a way of supporting the weight of the bike, which I did using a solid bar through the rear engine mount and a couple of axle stands. I have used this method before on my Suzuki with great success, but, however, the bike is then immobile for obvious reasons, making the choice of where to make the bike immobile, paramount so that access can be made to all areas needed. So wheels were one of the boxes the stand needed to tick, as well as good stability, reasonable compactness and of simple construction and use. So this is what I made.. Don't laugh... It's made in 2 halves that secure together at the large joint sections and clamped with M16 nuts/threaded bar for rigidity. I lift the rear of the bike with a paddock stand and put the two halves together. Once the solid bar is through the engine mount into both top points the bike is then 3 inches off the floor at the rear wheel and the bike is fully mobile. It'll carry over 250kg, so more than enough for the blade plus a fat bloke sat of the seat if needed.. It may not be the prettiest of things nor have all the shiny levers and hydraulics of some stands but it's robust and will withstand years of neglect and gathering dust between uses and never need maintaining And the cost...£28...for the wheels, as I couldn't find any small enough at work that were suitable.
Nice build. I recently changed my suspension link for an adjustable one and bought a 900mm x 13mm diameter steel suspended between two ratchet type axle stands. Total cost of steel? £10 delivered.
