center stand grounding

[chris s]

I have only been a BMW owner for one month but am really disapointed in how quickly the center stand hits the deck! I wouldn,t mind the pegs going down because they move I have the preload set at 3/4 of the way down and the rebound set at just 1/2 turn off hardest but it doesn,t give me much to play with when I put the luggage on let alone the wife can any body suggest something am I doing anything wrong like going around corners to quick! Chris

 

[richwi]

I'm by no means an expert in this area, but I do corner pretty hard. The only time I deck the center stand is when I'm cranked well over and hit a bump or dip mid corner. I do notice this more if I have a pillion of course.

You don't say what model the bike is, how old it is etc. Let us know, as I'm sure plenty more people will comment on this.

As for peg scraping - I could get to the engine bars (and did) before getting the pegs down on standard pegs....loads of room.

Regs,

Richard

 

[chris s]

Thanks, it is an August model 1150 GS so brand new up till now I,ve had VFRs and it was only when the suspention was well clapped out that this sort of thing happend, I thought that with this much ground clearence I,d be well over befor this happend! I,d be greatfull for any help as it puts the mockers on any fast corners. Chris

 

[Hedgehog]

Sounds like...

... you need to mess around with your suspension a bit more. In a corner the weight of the bike compresses the suspension lowering the bike. You can adjust this out using the preload. Takes some fine tuning.

 

[chris s]

Thanks at the moment the bike is way to hard on the rebound does this mean I can let off the rebound a bit to soften it and incress the preload!There is not to much there to play with!

 

[Hedgehog]

As you know, there's only 2 things to adjust here .... preload & rebound.

Just my opinion, but....
The rebound should feel good with the preload quite low (say half way) on normal, straight riding. Once you have that sorted start moving the preload up to sort out the cornering.... & of course the preload changes again when you add a pillion.

It should be a great handling bike. So just keep playing until it feels right. Test ride, test ride, test ride.

 

[Sean Kelly]

Seems strange I know, but two people can take the same overall amount of time to get around the same corner and yet have different lean angles.

The racer's method is to turn the bike in the shortest time possible, using large amounts of counter-steering to achieve this. As you don't waste time with the bike moving from upright to full lean you then need to lean it over less for a given speed.

I'm not sure if I've explained this well but, trust me it works very effectively. First time you bang in a load of counter-steer on the way into a corner you'll have to lift the bike up mid-corner to avoid running up the kerb!

Not sure if this applies equally on paralever bikes, but if you do touch down, closing the throttle causes the rear end to squat so that it touches down more. Conversely, opening the throttle jacks the rear end up and increases clearance. This goes against the normal response to shut the throttle and usually has to be un-learned.

If you've ever seen a bike on a dyno, you'll appreciate how much the rear shock can extend on full gas.

Reference any book or video by Keith Code for more detailed - and maybe life changing, info.

Cheers

 

[legger]

centre stand

chris ive just had the same problem with my adventure, riding two up i couldn't keep the stand of the ground especialy round the tight fast ones, one guy following me down at Baskerville a couple of weeks ago, on an evening blast out, said i lit the road up on several corners, he said there were sparks flying everywhere, anyway the problem...


i took the bike back to the dealer and they came to the conclusion i had a weak rear shocker,one week later the rear shocker was replaced under warranty, Hey presto i still had the same problem, so i did a bit of investigating myself and found that the Y piece of the remus system wasn't letting the centre stand go all the way home, so i explained to the dealer what i thought the problem was, and they cured the problem imediately, and also fitted a new centre stand foc, so i would check your centre and make sure it is running parallel with the underside of your engine and sump guard, if it is hanging down even slightly, it will scrape, Hope this helps.

Andy

 

[chris s]

Thanks Andy I,ll have a ganders at that, the dealer did look at the problem for me at the first sevice and said he would replace the shock if it proved to be the cause but said it was unlikly, he just made the rebound harder! but no joy. I,m not lucky enough yet to have a remas on but will check the placement f the stand anyway I should have looked earlier.