MtnBkr47
Member
I just added a larger steel plate to the bottom of the existing Kickstand pad so my NEW bike doesn’t risk falling over into soft soil sometime. When I removed the Kickstand for rework, I noticed that all the contact and wear on the original pad was on the inside heel. Then I noticed that the knuckle joint at the top of the tube had excessive face clearances, considering they are all machine parts (.016” total clearance). The face clearance is uniform over the fork (not tapered). This large face clearance allows the Kickstand and pad to slide way outward when the bike is leaned over and end up with contact at just the inside heel. Also, it allows the bike to lean further over to a less comfortable attitude.
When I reassembled that joint, I installed a .014” thick washer shim to take up most of the clearance, and the new pad came down flat and barely slid. Since all the mating faces are machined and can probably be held to a few mils clearance, just wondering why Honda had so much clearance in that joint. It just seems you would want to pad to contact fairly flat (not dig into your surface), and also not let the bike lean too far over.
When I reassembled that joint, I installed a .014” thick washer shim to take up most of the clearance, and the new pad came down flat and barely slid. Since all the mating faces are machined and can probably be held to a few mils clearance, just wondering why Honda had so much clearance in that joint. It just seems you would want to pad to contact fairly flat (not dig into your surface), and also not let the bike lean too far over.