Broke my kickstand spring bolt in Taos.

[..]

Saturday I was feeling like crap but decided to go for a short ride.

Headed south on Hwy 68 to go take a look at the Rio Grande river.

I had seen a side road that meandered by the river and that would eventually bring me out near the Earthship community.

https://taos.org/what-to-do/landmark-sites/earthship-biotecture/

Hwy 570 was ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLVu6Xi5guE&feature=youtu.be

Then I crossed the river bridge and the road surface changed for the worse. I've been on worse so I continued onward and uphill.

Ooops. I haven't been on anything like this before. There are lumps of old blacktop haphazardly protruding from the sandy, rocky surface. It's a new game for me "Dodge a Bump". I'm not very good at it and am bouncing like a bucking bronco.

A BIG buck bounces me off the seat and I close the throttle, hit a shallow water gully and stall with a a bang thump under the bike. Left leg strains as I fight to keep the bike upright. Dropping it to the left on this uneven surface will result in damage and the bike will be tilted downhill impossible to pick up.

I AM NOT GOING TO DROP THIS THING.

I
AM
NOT
GOING
TO
DROP
THIS
THING
RIGHT
HERE.

It's still upright.  

A river rafting guy in a pick up comes round the corner towards me. I flag him down and ask him if the road gets worse. He tells me I've covered the worse part.

He lied. More likely his ignorance of riding a behemoth on a crap road surface.

The last time I rode on a surface like this was on Moki Dugway on my ST1300.

I stop on a relatively smooth uphill section for a breather and composure moment. Great view of the river below and a few rafters.

Onwards and upwards. I flick up the kickstand and something doesn't feel right. There isn't that snug tight to the bike feel. Hmmmm?

Off I go and I do an exploratory left foot kickstand feel. Well bugger, the darn thing is a bit floppy.

What fun bouncing uphill and trying to keep the kickstand up with my left foot.

At the top of the hill it's back to blacktop. I turn right back to Taos on Hwy 64 missing out on a visit to the Earthships to the West.

Gearchange and secure kickstand. Gearchange and secure kickstand. Gearchange and secure kickstand. Gearchange and secure kickstand. Gearchange and secure kickstand. Gearchange and secure kickstand.

What a pain in the butt.

Made it back to the motel.

Text Allen/Punisher about my problem and he tells me he will help investigate and fix tomorrow after he arrives in Taos.

Thanks to someone posting on the forum about their bolt problem I had ordered a new one and had it securely stowed in my saddlebag.

I'm not thinking very well due to a head full of congestion left over from the cold and hacking cough I developed at the beginning of the journey west.

I need more medicinal relief so I take a short ride up to Walgreens. Rding back into the motel parking lot I see my kickstand spring in the parking space I was using. Both ends are undamaged. Phew.

Allen comes to my motel and his wrenching and Mitch's advice make the bolt removal and replacement a 20 minute job. I contribute by sitting on the bike and leaning it to the right to give Allen a little more access.

The spring is stretched using a small pair of pliers.

If you are riding without a replacement bolt and spring. DON'T DO IT.

I am also going to follow the advice of others and make a doohickey from a wire coat hanger so a bungee cord can be used to keep the kickstand up if needed. The wire is used so the bungee cord doesn't make contact with the hot exhaust pipe.


Part  numbers are here. Go get you some!
https://www.ronayers.com/oemparts/a/hon/506cb672f870023420a4184f/side-stand

[GiG]

So its called a “Composure Moment” now, eh 
Similar to “Medicinal Relief” 
Glad you got her sorted and safe, Paul! 

[..]

So its called a “Composure Moment” now, eh  
Similar to “Medicinal Relief”  
Glad you got her sorted and safe, Paul!  

No medicinal relief for me. I get drug tested at work.

AND the darn stuff is so strong these days. Everything I've smelt recently could get me stoned just from the vapor.

[Valkorado]

Sounds hairy!

[Oss]

Used a bungee myself to hold up my kickstand after it broke in Alabama

Good advise to carry a spare, just like friends dont let friends ride with OEM valve stems

No comment on the pic in previous post   

[Valkorado]

No comment on the pic in previous post   

Ya, I s'pose she's not swimmin' the secretarial pool!  Apologies if you were eating dinner.   

I do carry an extra spring and pin.   I like the clothes hanger or similar wire idea in case I ever need to get to somewhere  - -  or someone - - to get them on.

[baldo]

I preloaded a new spring with a handful of nickels to make it easier to install.

[Crackerborn]

While I have never had a kickstand, or lost bolt, issue on the Large Ladies, I have found carrying about 10 ft of bailing wire has solved several lost bolt issues on other brands of two wheeled conveyance that tend to rattle said items loose.

[cookiedough]

I preloaded a new spring with a handful of nickels to make it easier to install.

that is good advice done the nickel trick myself loading in about 5-6 of them to make it much, much easier to hook on. 

when I bought the 98, it had a heavy duty bungee cord wrapped all over down there did the trick but NOT permanent and dangerous but he said has been like that ever since he bought it over a year ago and has held up fine.  I guess his life did not matter much.  It held it up, but slung down another 1 inch or so from fully upright.  Was first thing I got taken care of after a week or so.

[Hook#3287]

I've done that twice in 20 years of riding Valks.

First time on a dirt road in NH and second time pulling out of a cabin driveway in North Carolina.

In NC, my nephew's son helped me search through his father's nut and bolt collection.

I found a long enough bolt and was able to mckiver a fix, cause I found the spring in the road.

I wired the spring to the bike, so if I do it again, hopefully the spring won't go missing.

Luckily, I haven't tested that yet.

[..]

I wired the spring to the bike, so if I do it again, hopefully the spring won't go missing.

I like it. Good thinking.

[..]

Having read on the forum about bike lifts causing damage to the kickstand bolt I checked mine when I did my oil change this morning.

It looks like the bike lift cross member is close to the bolt but it's a couple of inches away.