I Can't Stand it!!

[TechiePilot]

Ok guys and gals...
I have a problem/issue and would seriously appreciate some help. As of this weekend, my NC now has a center-stand! Great gizmo... now if only I can make it work for me. Not sure if its a technique, height or weight (me lightweight) thing... for now, the easy "fix" is to have one of my biker buddies place it on the stand for me, and then push it off when I'm done oiling the chain. They make it look effortless, and so do the few YT videos I've seen. What's a 66-incher weighing less than 140 supposed to do?

 

[calbigbird]

Try this.
1) Stand on the left side of the bike facing the bike.
2) Put your right foot on the lever that sticks out from the side of the stand.
3) With your left hand grab the left handle bar grip.
4) With your right hand grab the passenger grab rail.
5) Push down on the stand till the center stand feet touch the floor.
6) Rock the bike gently back and forth to make sure both stand feet are on the floor.
7) At the same time, push down on the center stand lever with your foot and PULL back on the passenger grab rail

I have found, most people try to pull up on the bike and wrestle the bike onto the stand. Push down on the stand lever and pull back on the bike. It should make it easier for you.


I know this is a lot of steps, but if it works for you it will become second nature and turn into one or two movements. I would suggest your have someone stand on the right side of the bike the first couple time just in case.

Good luck.

 

[Rocker66]

I had to stop and think about it due to it being an automatic action but that is exactly how I do it

 

[Cutter J. Duke]

The passenger grab handle is probably too far back a grab point, its a matter of leverage to make it come up easily, try holding the left handlebar, putting your hand under the area just below the very front of the grab handle or below back of the front seat, steeping down on the c.s. lever with the foot till it makes contact with the ground, step down while lifting up and back slightly with you right hand. Try several placements of the right hand, but lower is better than trying to lift or pull the grab handle, especially if your arm length challenged. I wish I had a center stand on this one I would do a video for you. Done correctly and with your hand in the right place it should take almost no effort to rotate it up, it may sound silly but the right hand placement is the key component in this action. I could get my Interceptor on its stand by pushing down with my foot and lifting with 3 fingers as long as I had my right hand in the correct spot, and it weighted 200 lbs more than this bike. If my hand was off by 6 inches I almost couldn't rotate it with all my weight on the center stand lever.

 

[L.B.S.]

What these fine fellows have said.

I've had some awfully brutish bikes loaded up way beyond capacity, that had a much higher percentage of weight versus strength between me and the bike, than you and your NCX, Techie. Do not despair! If were just a matter of strength alone, I could not have muscled up some of them very well at all, despite being a quite healthy near 200 pounder myself.

Technique is 90% of the battle, and imagining you are pulling the bike *backwards*, not so much *upwards*, is a good thing to go: "Ah ha!" Picture pivoting the lower stand lever down, from 3:00 to 6:00, rather than lifting the bike up.

The lower and closer to your body your right hand can be, is better. With the stand down, your right foot firmly on the lever and kind of pendulum swinging the bike backwards, while stepping down hard, should pop the bike up pretty easily. Sometimes I've had a bike skitter backwards a foot or so, doing it a bit too enthusiastically, lol.

Keep a bit of bend in your knees to begin, let your thigh muscles do their duty, straightening while you stand, push down with right foot, and pull the bike backwards. One fluid motion.

Not your lower back, right calf and right bicep, which is what can happen if you try with knees locked, stiff legged, to "dead lift" it. That's a no-no.

Be mindful of not having the bike leaning towards you or away from you, and semi teetering on just one of the stand's contact points! That makes for a very difficult procedure, and can lead to a gasp or two of eeeeek!

Keep at it, don't let it bother you. We are all here to help!

 

[Spaceteach]

Center stands are all about technique. The advice you've gotten so far is the right way to do it but this is one of those things where when you really have to keep trying until it magically works for you. The two main things are to put all your weight on the stand lever, move the bike side to side until you feel both feet of the stand on the ground and don't forget to pull back and up when you are lifting the bike.
One thing you can do to help learn the technique is to raise the bike just a little bit while you practice. If you take a couple pieces of wood (like 3/4 inch plywood or old shelving) and roll the bike onto the wood so that the front wheel is on one piece and the rear is on the other with none under the center stand, it will make it a lot easier to do. You may have to experiment with the thickness of the wood, but you get the idea. Now practice lifting the bike onto the stand. You will find that sometimes, even following the suggestions, it will be harder to do than others. Keep practicing until you get a feel for the easiest method for you. Once you have developed the feel for it, then try it with the wheels on the ground (without the wood pieces) and I'll bet you will be able to do it.

Bob

 

[dduelin]

This video is of a much heavier ST1300 but the technique I show is exactly the same. In lieu of the ST's folding grab handle I use the passenger hand rail on the NC700X. Others before have explained it better than I can. "It's all in the leg pushing down".

Placing ST1300 on centerstand - YouTube

 

[Spaceteach]

Oops, forgot to mention the easiest way to get the bike off the stand is to put down the side stand for insurance then hold the handlebar straight with the left hand while pulling forward on the bike with your right hand. It's a lot easier to pull on the bike than push on the handlebars.
I forgot to mention one other thing. If you've installed lowering links (or did anything else to lower the height of the bike), its going to be really hard to use the center stand. You may want to consider having the stand shortened if that's the case.

Bob

 

[duk2n]

As the other guys explained, it is how I do it.

If you've installed lowering links (or did anything else to lower the height of the bike), its going to be really hard to use the center stand. You may want to consider having the stand shortened if that's the case

+1, this could be the issue faced by TechiePilot

 

[gkgeiger]

Oops, forgot to mention the easiest way to get the bike off the stand is to put down the side stand for insurance then hold the handlebar straight with the left hand while pulling forward on the bike with your right hand. It's a lot easier to pull on the bike than push on the handlebars.
I forgot to mention one other thing. If you've installed lowering links (or did anything else to lower the height of the bike), its going to be really hard to use the center stand. You may want to consider having the stand shortened if that's the case.
























Bob

One note on the side stand. I usually sit on my bike and rock it off the center stand. Once I was doing this with the side stand out and when the bike came down off the center stand my foot was under the side stand. I took all the weight of the bike on the top of my foot. Not sure but I think I broke something.

 

[duk2n]

my foot was under the side stand. I took all the weight of the bike on the top of my foot. Not sure but I think I broke something.

Ouch!!!!!!

 

[Spaceteach]

gkgeiger,
Good point, I should have said while you are standing to the left of the bike, put the left hand on the handlebar and pull forward on the passenger handle or some other point on the frame with the right hand. Having the side stand down is just insurance in case the bike tries to fall toward you. FWIW I used to sit on the bike and rock forward to get it off the stand also, but I found that in my case it was really hard to do when I tried it on the Goldwing. Since then I've gotten in the habit of doing it while standing beside the bike.

Bob

 

[wozza]

Oops, forgot to mention the easiest way to get the bike off the stand is to put down the side stand for insurance then hold the handlebar straight with the left hand while pulling forward on the bike with your right hand. It's a lot easier to pull on the bike than push on the handlebars.
I forgot to mention one other thing. If you've installed lowering links (or did anything else to lower the height of the bike), its going to be really hard to use the center stand. You may want to consider having the stand shortened if that's the case.

Bob

Or you could possible order a centre stand for the NC700s from somewhere as it's 45mm shorter. Though cutting your present stand would be a cheaper option.

 

[wozza]

Ouch!!!!!!

Double Ouch even!!

 

[bamamate]

I had this problem with my Honda Hawk years ago. I weighed a whopping 125lbs plus I’m a lefty which puts me on the opposite side of the bike from where I’d want to be. Until I got the technique down pat I had a friend stand on the other side ready to catch it. One key point I finally figured out was once both feet of the stand were on the ground with some pressure against them, the bike was stable so I could put all my effort into getting the bike up. My left foot would come off the ground as I used my right leg to push upward into a standing position. Try different positions for where you grab with the right hand. Eventually it will become a fluid motion for you.

Similarly related…..since using the center stand was a pain for me, I carried a small piece of wood, 4x4x1/2 or ¼ plywood, to put under the sides stand when I needed to park on soft ground. I also used it during the heat of summer to keep the stand from sinking into asphalt parking lots.

 

[gkgeiger]

gkgeiger,
Good point, I should have said while you are standing to the left of the bike, put the left hand on the handlebar and pull forward on the passenger handle or some other point on the frame with the right hand. Having the side stand down is just insurance in case the bike tries to fall toward you. FWIW I used to sit on the bike and rock forward to get it off the stand also, but I found that in my case it was really hard to do when I tried it on the Goldwing. Since then I've gotten in the habit of doing it while standing beside the bike.



Bob

Bob,
On my RT I could sit on the bike in gear on the center stand, rock it forward and ride away.

 

[TechiePilot]

Good afternoon Team Honda. Thanks for all the suggestions. I really appreciate it. I will give them a try and report back after my R&D session. FYI, I did not have lowering links installed. Its the right height, it just sits a bit higher than most other bikes, I can balance it on the center-stand, but with my other foot off the ground, there was nowhere else to go, LOL. Just missing that last bit... Kinda reminds me of when I change tires on the car... I have to stand on the wrench handle to overcome initial torque, then all is well, and repeat the process to tighten

 

[happy]

Hi,
my 2 cents is: this is all down to technique.

Practise it with someone who is more experienced and you will "get it" eventually.
It is not really about weight of person or height (although it is ridiculous to expect a midget to do this but he probably can with the right technique, I am not saying it is you btw, just saying an extreme case example).

 

[Spaceteach]

Bob,
On my RT I could sit on the bike in gear on the center stand, rock it forward and ride away.

Gene,
That is the true and easy way to do it. They actually make ride-off stands for Goldwings and touring model Harleys that are designed for that, but in addition to being old, small, and weak, I'm also very very cheap.

Bob

 

[Spaceteach]

Good afternoon Team Honda. Thanks for all the suggestions. I really appreciate it. I will give them a try and report back after my R&D session. FYI, I did not have lowering links installed. Its the right height, it just sits a bit higher than most other bikes, I can balance it on the center-stand, but with my other foot off the ground, there was nowhere else to go, LOL. Just missing that last bit... Kinda reminds me of when I change tires on the car... I have to stand on the wrench handle to overcome initial torque, then all is well, and repeat the process to tighten

Been there, done that, got stuck at what sounds like the exact same point as you. The two things I found when it didn't want to go that last little bit were:
1. I was pulling up and pushing down too vertically. Needed to pull the bike backwards and push the stand forward a little more.
2. I was stopping in the middle of the lift. Momentum means a lot. If you really lift hard at the beginning and continue the full effort until the stand is over center, it is much easier than just trying to lift it slowly.

Back when I was a lot younger and more agile, I would start to roll the bike backwards and jam the stand down while the bike was moving to start the lift. Not exactly the smartest or most stable approach, but it worked pretty well for a 16 year old 110 pound kid with a bike that had been dropped a couple of times anyway. I kinda lived by the philosophy that to become old and wise you first have to be young and stupid. So far, I've gotten really old and I'm hoping the wise thing kicks in tomorrow.

Bob