DIY rear stand FAIL

[CivilRock]

Last time I bought a rear stand it was a Pitbull front and rear set and it was about $300. That was about 15 years ago racing, and I still had that taste in my mouth when I decided to build one. How hard can it be?

I have all this leftover metal laying around, I'll just cut it up start welding.

Well, I spent over 3 hours last night working on this thing and it's horrible. It is solid and steady, but it's super hard to get the bike onto it, and it looks like poop. I'm a working professional, but I give my hobby time a value of $20/hr. I was so disgusted with my work when it was done I went on eBay to see what I could find.... D'oh! There's perfectly new stands for $33 shipped from California. Ordered one last night at 1am and it's already shipping. It will be here tomorrow.

I am a firm, almost stubbornly firm, believer that the DIY route is the better route. But sometimes, there's a little room for ready made products.

Nice eh? Ugh, this is so heinous. Big time FAIL.
Kevin

[salty_monk]

I had a cheap one from Harbor Freight (Aluminum) fail on me too... Dumped my skunk onto my 750 & the whole lot was only saved by my kids stroller!

[tkent02]

Was the kid in it at the time?

[jwhelan65]

Find a used Pit-Bull on craigslist....Done.

[Guest]

As long as it works and supports the bike, who cares what it looks like. It's in your garage.

[CivilRock]

As long as it works and supports the bike, who cares what it looks like. It's in your garage.

But I have to look at it. I'm usually very proud of my little fabricated creations. This one sucks.

I just went on CL again and there's a used Pitbull for $50. AAARRRRRGGGGG!!!!
I'm just p1$$ed that I wasted pretty much 4 hours building it.

I also just went out in my shed and found my front 3-clamp Pitbull stand that I didn't know I still had. I think I sold the rear with a race bike years ago.

Now I'm going to have 3 rear stands. The one I made, the $33 Ebay one, and a $50 Pitbull.

It's like one failure leads to another.

I'm just posting this for entertainment. I think it's healthy to expose your failures instead of only pure awesomeness, which is what I usually do.

-kevin

[CivilRock]

Picked up the rear stand today for $50. Didn't even barter with the guy.
Dug out my front stand and gave it a bath. It was covered in dirt and cobwebs.
After this pic, I did adjust up the front to match the rear tire height. Really cool that the 1150 triples are the same hole size as my old SV racebike.

There's something sexy about a bike up on stands. It's screaming "put some warmers on me and let's go to the track!"

-Kevin

[coldwhiteguy]

Done that too

Man, I have been there too. Nice to see I'm not the only one that takes the long route

[1_v8_merc]

Failure helps you learn. I've worked for days fabricating sometimes, only to Miss one small detail that made a Huge difference, only to realize I've just wasted my time. That's why I don't get extremely excited, I just run through each of the project from All angles...Function, Safety, and Visual(will it look goofy?)

[Griffyn]

(will it look goofy?)

This is where most of my projects drop off. But they work REALLY well. Mostly.

[CivilRock]

Failure helps you learn.

Yup. There's one area I'm not afraid to go. Sometimes I surprise myself and something turns out really well.

Like these 16mm to 14mm oil cooler line adapters. I thought for sure they'd turn out to be a mess. But it worked awesome and it cost me like $9.

[Rob S.]

Yup. There's one area I'm not afraid to go. Sometimes I surprise myself and something turns out really well.

Like these 16mm to 14mm oil cooler line adapters. I thought for sure they'd turn out to be a mess. But it worked awesome and it cost me like $9.

That sir, is a work of art. Now take the money you saved and buy yourself a new right sneaker.

Soon after I brought my baby home (without a center stand), I saw a "Trackside" rear paddock stand advertised at Cyclegear for $29.99. I went for it. They charged me $39.99, but refunded the $10.

As I was buying it, they tried to convince me it wouldn't be strong enough to support my 1100EZ, and that I should buy a more expensive one. I'm not fond of the place - a bunch of bald old men (like me, but shorter and fatter) riding touring rigs. And they call themselves "Cyclegear", but it's more like cycle clothes. Helmets and clothes - that's 90% of their stock.

Cycle gear? I don't need no stinkin' cycle gear. I got my Levi's, my Timberland's and my 30-year-old Schott leather jacket.

[Rob S.]

While we're on the subject of rear stands, how do you guys get it up there alone?

I always have one brick under the side stand, I just carefully add a brick and she's almost upright. From there it's pretty easy to lift it onto my rear "paddock" stand.

And the cheapo "Trackside" could hold a lot more than my Suzi's weight.

[CivilRock]

About the sneaker: So my wife works at Nike, and I have about 2 dozen "sample" pairs of shoes at home. (they're like prototypes). They're so cool, but I hate to get them dirty. What you're looking at is my old lawn mowing, shop shoes. And I did spill some motor oil on them that day.

About the rear stand: Although it is more risky, I hold the tail of the balanced bike with my left hand, and operate the stand with my right hand. I've done your method, but if you miss with one of the spools, or if the stand rolls forward while you're lining up the spools, it can dump the bike. You just have to go slow and work carefully. If you have the bike balanced, the spools engage the stand hooks at the same time and it's a clean lift.

After 10 seasons of racing, it's become habitual. But this 500lb GS is a little different than a 380lb racebike, and I'm also 10yrs older, and seem to only be getting older.

The best solution is to have an assistant put you up on the rear stand. Maybe get one of these jobbies from harbor freight to hold the front wheel, then lift the rear with the stand? Seems like a lot of fiddling, but could be a solution.

-Kevin

[Rob S.]

No spools on my bike. The stand lifts from the swingarm. Works okay, not always the same, usually more or less upright. Good enough for an oil check, that's why I bought it.