Side stand or Centre Stand

[Irishdude]

A fella in work was saying to me.
What ever ye do do not leave yer bike on the side stand too long, because all the oil will fill up one of the heads....
At home I usually roll the bike back towards a pole to lock it up for the night on the side stand, and the next morning when I start the bike it does kinda look like i'm burning oil from the amount of exhaust smoke that comes out for the first 5 mins of driving,
So the question is should I be leaving the bike on the side stand all night ,will it damage the bike doing so?

Thanks for any info
Irishdude

BMW r1150GS ADV.

 

[ianboydsnr]

No no damage, most do it, that is smoke for a few seconds, if left on the sidestand, my 1100rt certainly does, my 1150 gs does not, its perfectly normal and it wont ever fill the pot, no matter how long its left

 

[MattW]

As Ian says - you'll be fine using the side stand.

The worst that may happen is that depending on where the pistons come to rest and the orientation of the ring gaps, the small amount of oil which gets deposited on the inboard end of the cylinder liner may seep past the rings into the cylinder (literally a few drops). This may smoke on start-up (my 1100 does this sometimes). The oil level in the sump is no-where near high enough for it to fill the pots.

 

[Irishdude]

Thanks for the reply's
The bike is still new to me and I'm still getting used to all things about it ,
This week I had to fill the oil again since I got it and thats what got me thinking (paranoid like ) if all was ok. When I got it it had 84500 now it has 87200 or something like that.
Thanks again for the peace of mind

 

[motobiker]

You want to be VERY careful about 'topping up' Its easy to overfill - not that this will damage the bike.. but its not something you really want to do.

I noticed you said that This week I had to fill the oil again since I got it

why?


To get a proper oil level do this. After a ride.. put the bike on the side stand.. then go take your gear off have a cuppa etc. after 10 minutes or so. put the bike on the centre stand. and leave it again for 10 or more minutes. If you can see oil in the sight glass then you DON'T NEED TO TOP UP.

Ok.. so thats a bit of a palaver - but is really the only way to get an accurate oil level.

Some burn oil - all there lives. most dont.. usually oil consumption ends at around 18,000 miles like turning off a tap. But if it continues to use a little oil then thats not a sign of a fault - just a quirk of your particular bike. Your bike shouldn't really be consuming much oil by now.

I dont need to touch the oil from one change to another and my bike spends as much time on the side as the main stand.

 

[sockpuppet]

When you say fill bear in mind that between the max/min there is 500ml of oil. Its acceptable for it to use 1 litre (yes, litre) per 1000miles.

So if you've done 3k miles then putting in upto 3 litres would be seen as normal. They do stop using oil as they get older though.

 

[motobiker]

When you say fill bear in mind that between the max/min there is 500ml of oil. Its acceptable for it to use 1 litre (yes, litre) per 1000miles.

So if you've done 3k miles then putting in upto 3 litres would be seen as normal. They do stop using oil as they get older though.

you're having a laugh. A bike with 87200 (miles or even Kms) is VERY unlikely to be consuming oil at that kind of rate. In fact I would think that the oil level was simply misread.. easy enough to do when you're not used to the bike. We all know what a comedian the sight glass on these bikes can be.

How to muddy the waters eh...

 

[ianboydsnr]

theres a screw release on the left hand bottom corner of the airbox, undo this and watch oil drain out

 

[t'other dave]

If leaving the a boxer twin on a sidestand is so bad and evil why do BMW make the r1100s without a centre stand?

 

[motobiker]

If leaving the a boxer twin on a sidestand is so bad and evil why do BMW make the r1100s without a centre stand?

Is it evil? never thought it was to be honest. Its inherent to the design of the engine that a boxer on the side stand will burn a tiny amount of oil. but is that a bad thing? I doubt it. The centre stand makes work on the bike very easy (and checks). thats about all.

If I HAD to leave mine on the sidestand all the time then I would do so and not worry about it.

The owners manual (which I've just checked) has absolutely nothing to say on the matter,

 

[davegs]

Sides stands

How can all the oil run down into a pot?the sump is way lower than the barrel
anyway impossible. But don't put it on the side stand facing a downhill slope
which would be in gear obviously as the bike can ease it'self over compression roll off the stand and fall over!.
Dave gs

 

[Richard P]

To put it all into perspective - the oil burn you get from a GS left on the side stand is nothing compared to an old K series

Mine looks like a 2 stroke for the first minute or so after starting

 

[elevensies]

just lay the bike on the floor, im sure the head guards will protect it, then you wont have to worry about what stand to use

 

[Trullion]

just lay the bike on the floor, im sure the head guards will protect it, then you wont have to worry about what stand to use

Yeah, but if you do that don't forget to park on the other pot occasionally; otherwise all the oil will stay on one side. (I read this on an American site, so it must be true; same as the one about running a big end if you park on the side stand).

 

[Irishdude]

Some good reply's here lads thanks hehe.
All the same its good to know that the only thing wrong with the bike is in me head

 

[Stewart H]

Some good reply's here lads thanks hehe.
All the same its good to know that the only thing wrong with the bike is in me head

Wait until you start listening to your gearbox
Stewart

 

[Irishdude]

Since I got meself some new earplugs all the paranoid (what's that sound ) noises are gone.