theWolfTamer Chronicles: FZ1 Mod: Adjustable Kickstand

After all of the suspension work, Baby has been inadvertently lowered a little bit. It wasn't exactly planned but with my lack of inseam I like it. I resisted purposefully lowering (both of my bikes) because I didn't want to lose any ground clearance or important bits like the centerstand and if I did it I wanted it to be done the "right" way.

I like the improved suspension and the slight lowering so it was time to do something about the bike being nearly upright on the sidestand. Here's a picture of how Baby looked compared to Stella.

Note: The uprightedness is a side effect of raising the forks in the trees or the R1 Front End Swap.

A more upright bike also makes parking more of a challenge than it already is.

Fortunately the bike has never fallen over due to being more upright but I always worry about it. My first idea was to get a second stand and shorten it however that's easier thought than done. Second hand sidestands cost more than I think they should for something that might not be as advertised. Buying a new one so I'd feel comfortable about hacking my current one and have an original stand just in case will never be my idea of a wise purchase. I really didn't have the tools or even access to the some that would do the job right so I decided to get an adjustable one after studying the fiches, consulting with Cruzman, and searching the internet for the best deal.

Besides, with what I have access to right now I likely would have ended up with something like this:

"Lowered" sidestand according to the eBay listing, Ghetto according to me.

I finally quit thinking about it and bought an adjustable R1 kickstand from T-Rex Racing for around the same as some of the secondhand ones I'd seen. The purchase was motivated by the destruction of the soles of my motorcycle boots due to the old stand being tweaked or something so that it was difficult to put down. The tweak caused the kick part to dig into the boot and chew away at the heel/toe eroding the sole enough to make the heel look like the dawg chewed it and creating a hole in the toe of my 18 month old Sedici's.

The new stand arrived a couple of days after I ordered it. I rushed out to the garage to put it on only to learn that I didn't study those fiches close enough.

FZ1 Side Stand

R1 Side stand

I'm not sure how I didn't notice the the stopper part and spring holder is on the other side or that the side stand switch pusher/actuator (like all my technical terms?) screws into the stand on the part that's on the wrong side. Needless to say, I was a little deflated when I saw

FZ1 stand on the top, R1 adjustable stand on the bottom. R1 stand is facing so the top is correct when compared to the FZ1 stand putting the foot wrong--among other problems.

R6 Side Stand

If I'd been smart, I would have simply sent the thing back and ordered the R6 stand instead but it has similar problems according to the fiche, mainly the spring holder is on the front and not the back. Other than being exactly what they advertised but not suited for the FZ1, the T-Rex kickstand is a quality piece. The welds could be less obvious but no one really looks at or expects a beautiful looking sidestand. It comes with a nice colored diagram including install instructions.

I decided to keep what I had and started thinking about what I could do to make it work. First thing would be to drill the set screw access hole all the way through so that the foot could be flipped to the correct orientation. Cruzman suggested basically the same thing so I knew I was on the right track.

I dallied about that while I considered if a trip across town to use (for Cruzman to use) a drill press was warranted or if it was finally time to buy my own or something that would emulate one. One day it dawned on me that I bought a vice last year to hold stuff while I did something to it and this was stuff that needed to be held. I put the upper part of the stand in my vice, sprayed some lubricant, and drilled the hole. Then I used my rotary tool and one of the many bits that come with it to remove the burrs. I did such a good job, I had trouble telling which hole was mine and which was the one that was already there.

The hole I drilled.

The one that was already there.

I put the thing back on the bike only to discover that it wouldn't push the sidestand switch. Then I ordered the part from the r1 fiche that does the pushing hoping I could simply screw it in but once I got the part, I realized the stopper was facing 180° to the switch so screwing that thing into place wouldn't work. I stared at it for a while, trying to position the r1 part to where it should be, before I remembered I had some JB Kwik and it could be made into shapes (Thanks Grommet!).

I made a mold using aluminum foil (forgot to use WD-40 as a release agent) and filled it with JB Kwik topped off with some other epoxy I had left over so that I could make it contour to the shape of my stand.

JB Kwik sets up pretty fast.

I used the rotary tool to help remove the foil.

Once it was kinda firm, I JB Kwiked and duct taped it to the adjustable stand where it looked like it was in the same place as the stock piece.

After the duct tape was removed. Gotta love the shadow my lens makes with the flash on at these angles.

JB Kwik is supposed to be completely setup after about 6 hours. After about that long or maybe a little longer, I tried it on the bike.

It looked like it was doing what it should but I couldn't get a good pic of it.

You can barely see where the added actuator is pressing against the sidestand switch.

I thought about cleaning it up a bit but I didn't want to press my luck so I left it alone. The disappointment for this trial fitting was the kick part of the stand was in the wrong place. It was too far under the frame with the sidestand up. I didn't get a clear pic of that but you can see it in the pics to follow.

I stared at that for about an hour then tried to add things to the existing kick to make it longer but it only put it right under the footpeg rendering it useless. Finally I realized what I needed: a box wrench. I cut it off and used more JB Kwik to secure it to the foot at a much better angle that's pretty close to the location of the stock kicker but a little longer.

Really bad Cell Phone pic

Finally, about two weeks after I got the stand it's installed for a while pending the durability of my modded kicker.

Once I'm certain it will last (and it passes Cruzman's QA), I'll put a knob or something on it and disguise it so you can't tell what it used to be.

The weather is supposed to be good this week so I'll take it for a test ride and post up a real world report. I would have done that today but I woke up a little stiff from laying on the ground staring at the kick trying to figure out how to make it useful.

UPDATE: I rode it to my doctor's appointment and it did what it was supposed to. I didn't think leaving the flat end flat would be much of a problem. When I got home, I checked my boot and saw the tale tell marks from the kicker digging into the heel. I needed to add a knob or something sooner rather than later.

JB Kwik has been working well so far, why not use it to make a knob?