Side+Stands

=Overview= The V-Strom side stand does its work, holding the bike on the side. However it has two drawbacks: 1. The side stand foot has a relatively small surface. This causes the side stand to dig dip into soft material such as soil, grass or mud and can cause the motorcycle to tip over and fall on the side. This is problematic for an adventure bike that is supposed to go off-road and park in camping grounds or other surfaces which are not always solid. 2. The side stand length is considered by some as too short - therefore causing the bike to stand in an angle that makes it difficult to lift it.

=Solutions= Several after market solutions attempt to solve both the issues mentioned above. They all solve the issues in a similar way: 1. A much larger foot attaches to the OEM side stand foot 2. The extra width of the new foot adds some height to the OEM side stand

=Side Stand Schematic=

Adventure Tech ("Richland Rick") Kickstand Foot
[] []



AltRider Side Stand Foot
DL-650: (Gen1/Gen2) []



DL-1000: []

Touratech Side Stand Foot
DL-650: []

DIY Side Stand Foot
Some riders found a way to cheaply solve the OEM side stand foot problem, by adding home made additions to it.

Hockey Puck
Stromtrooper **bwringer** found an innovative solution by using a hockey puck.

This shows the hockey puck bolted to the side stand on my 2002 DL1000. Note that the puck is not quite centered so that it doesn't hit the muffler when it's retracted. That's one 6mm bolt and nut and one 5mm bolt and nut (to keep it from rotating). They're stainless steel button heads.

This shows the side stand retracted. There's a couple of years of wear. You can see the nylon locking nuts in countersunk holes.

The other side, retracted. Note that it doesn't quite contact the muffler. The bevel on the bottom is from spirited cornering...

Another angle:

The holes were drilled pretty normally -- the rubber is hard enough that it's easy to drill. Just go slow. It might be even easier if you put the hockey puck in the freezer for a while first. The bike was put on a track stand and then the holes were drilled in in the OEM side stand foot first. Then found and marked the correct position with the side stand retracted.

Hockey pucks are 1 inch (25.4mm) thick, so I used 25mm long bolts and countersunk the holes on the bottom to fit the nuts. Bwringer's bike don't have a center stand (he didn't want to give up any cornering clearance) so it is unknown whether a hockey puck interferes with a centerstand. If it does, it should be easy enough to reshape the puck a bit with woodworking tools.