excess lean

[Eagle 1]

For sometime I have been concerned with the excess lean of my 99 Valk, especially since I dropped it once while parking on a hard gravel road. I have viewed many of the photos on "justpics" and note that they all seem to lean much less than mine and also that their kickstands contact the ground much more than mine. I have checked and found nothing loose, broken, or bent, thus I am at a lose as to just why it seems to lean so far over, and how I might correct it. I did post this information earlier but had no photos of how it leans. I am not concerned about being able to pick the bike up from the stand only that I do not wish to pick this monster off the ground again. After viewing my photos please compare it to yours and give me your assessments.
Thanks



http://vrcc.photostash.com/vrcc_36588/kickstand 2.jpg
http://vrcc.photostash.com/vrcc_36588/kickstand 1.jpg

[Bone]

The pictures won't open for me.

Did you type in .jpg and add it to the link ? If so you might try and remove using  modify

[Eagle 1]

Sorry about the photos not posting, but here they are:

[Bone]

Some have reported the cross member gets bent.

The view of the back of the bike shows a lean that would spook me too.

[Chrisj CMA]

My standard leans almost that much.  I always had the thought that I could put a washer in the mount to take up slack in the kickstand.  As it settles down on the stand there is a substantial movement of the stand that I think could be minimized by a washer.

[msb]

Sorry about the photos not posting, but here they are:

My 99 IS has always had what I considered to be an excessive lean on the stand as well ...very similar to what your photo shows here. I've had it checked at two separate dealers over the years ... nothing found amiss. I've made a chock for the stand in the garage for when it's parked so ithe bike stands a bit more upright, but have never had any issues when it's parked elsewhere. I have seen a chrome "extender boot" for the Valkyrie side stand at one time ... can't remember if it was on ebay or whatever.

[Bone]

Most of the pictures of my 98 Tourer taken of the back the bike is on a lift.
I'll check it tomorrow.

[Steve-L]

Ther bottom picture looks pretty normal to me. When your bike got dropped, did it get loaded on a flatbed and towed away? Sometimes these gorillas that drive flatbed tow trucks, use a 3 point tie down model, with a chuck in front and leaned over on the side stand and then they use ties downs with big mechanical ratchets and tie down so heavy that they bend the kickstand.

I had that happen on the one of mine that got totaled this past June.

But it's hard to tell, but it looks normal to me.

[The emperor has no clothes]

After seeing your pics I thought my kickstand doesn't do that. But I went and looked. Mine might not be 5/8" gap but it's close. It does look like yours leans more than mine by a little.

[Eagle 1]

Hi Steve-L:
No it did not need towing or hauling as it just laid over onto the crash bars, thus was able to get it back onto its wheels and continue on my way. I guess I will invest in the after market stand foot (for the VTX1800) but as I found it is just a small amount of material below the bottom of the stand I will add some extra meat there, at the present time I use a 2X4 block which gives it an almost perfect lean.

[KG]

My I/S is the same way. I park it on a 2 x 6 in the garage. I've bought the adapter for a VTX at cruiser customizing but looks like I will have to heat and bend the bottom of the stand to make it work

u

[Tfrank59]

my '98 tourer leans that much or maybe a bit more, though my sidestand foot is flat on the deck, so I'm guessing that's how Honda designed it.  I was also concerned about excessive lean (do a search and see others' similar comments), but I've concluded it's more or less supposed to be that much.

[Red Diamond]

First, dropping your bike has nothing to do with lean or damage to the kickstand. Check your shock setting, high setting means more lean, low setting less lean. For at home parking most will insert a piece of 2 x 4 under the side stand, it just looks better.

[R J]

Do you have different shocks on the rear?

If so, are they longer in length than stock?

Do you have a taller rear tire on it?

The deep lean is not going to hurt anything.    Unless you park it on SOFT HOT asphalt.    If you do that carry a electrical box cover with a string on it.     Hook one end over the mirror and place the cover under the side stand.

When ya get ready to leave, grab your string, put the cover away and ride off.

If the Phat Gurl stands up too straight, you get a flat on the rear and it will be on it's right side laying down or into what ever is parked beside it.

If you have trouble getting it up right to ride away, turn the handlebars as far right as possible.    Grab the bars and raise it up.    Much easier that way.

[Kye]

Yep, my 97 Tourer leans that far too. Like others have mentioned, I keep a piece of timber under the stand when it's in the garage that's about 1.5 inches tall.

[Hook#3287]

Recently, I saw, and I can't remember where , someone added a spacer to the bottom of their stand foot.  That would help.


Like RJ states.

I'd be concerned about using the 2x4 method.  If you were to lose tire pressure while parked, the bike could roll over to the right.

I like the " electric box cover on a string trick"

That there is some old guy experience.  Awesome!

[Bighead]

Let's  see bike is 16 almost 17 yrs old hasn't fallen over due to lean yet ?  Leave it be and don't worry about it

[Fazer]

"If you have trouble getting it up right to ride away, turn the handlebars as far right as possible.    Grab the bars and raise it up.    Much easier that way."

Thanks RJ--this is a good tip.  I park on a lateral slope and mine leans over more than on flat ground.  At the end of the day, I sometimes grunt a little getting her upright.

[Ricky-D]

As long as there is nothing bent regarding the side stand mounting assembly, you can be pretty sure that all

that has happened is the side stand axis bolt is worn and the hole in the arm is wallowed and worn. The proper

fix would be to replace the arm and the bolt to get things back to OEM specs.

***

[Chrisj CMA]

"If you have trouble getting it up right to ride away, turn the handlebars as far right as possible.    Grab the bars and raise it up.    Much easier that way."

Thanks RJ--this is a good tip.  I park on a lateral slope and mine leans over more than on flat ground.  At the end of the day, I sometimes grunt a little getting her upright.

Like I said, my Valkyrie leans quite a bit.  But, I have no trouble getting it up!

[gordonv]

What size is that car tire on the rear?

[Bighead]

Original poster has a MC tire on his.

[Lyle Laun]

My Interstate leans that far over, my standard doesn't lean quite as much.

Ricky D probably has the best idea if you actually want to do something with it.

Regards
Lyle.....

[KG]

What size is that car tire on the rear?

If your asking about mine it's a 205/60/r16 pirelli P4

[davit]

It looks about right to me.

[BF]

For sometime I have been concerned with the excess lean of my 99 Valk, especially since I dropped it once while parking on a hard gravel road. I have viewed many of the photos on "justpics" and note that they all seem to lean much less than mine and also that their kickstands contact the ground much more than mine. I have checked and found nothing loose, broken, or bent, thus I am at a lose as to just why it seems to lean so far over, and how I might correct it. I did post this information earlier but had no photos of how it leans. I am not concerned about being able to pick the bike up from the stand only that I do not wish to pick this monster off the ground again. After viewing my photos please compare it to yours and give me your assessments.
Thanks



http://vrcc.photostash.com/vrcc_36588/kickstand 2.jpg
http://vrcc.photostash.com/vrcc_36588/kickstand 1.jpg

My standard used to lean about that far over.  I used to use a 2x4 under the stand. 

I later put shorter shocks (11.5") on it and the lean problem was cured. 

Big Mike used to sell a foot adapter for the Valk.  It sold for about 80 bucks or so.  They're pretty rare these days but they have come up in the classifieds before.  Don't remember who (maybe Rivco) sells a foot adapter for the 1800 VTX.  You have to do a little Drimel work on it to make it fit, but it will work and fix some of that lean problem for you.