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Luggage and kickstands vs center stand?

I think I paid 8-10 dollars for a foot-plate shipped, took about 10 days to arrive from China. Well designed and great quality too. Red like my NC : }
 
P1040069.jpg
This is my sidestand plate metal electrical box cover, about .25 at any hardware store. I keep it in the frunk, if I need need it just drop on ground, place sidestand on it and loop string over handlebars, when ready to leave just pull up with string and put back in frunk.
 
I had a BMW fall over while on the center stand once, it was parked in my garage at my old house, this was a separate (non attached) garage the floor wasn't paved, just gravel, I went out one day to find it lying on top of my (now ex) wife's Honda twinstar. Normally I could pick it up by myself but since I couldn't get between them had to get help, a person on each end to lift. No real damage to either bike.
Another time I was at a Guzzi rally a guy pulls in to the campground, puts his bike on centerstand, turns around and his bike promptly fall over to the right.
 
I liberated a couple of them from the front of the dealer I bought my NC from... they always have a bunch lying all over their lawn for bikes they have on display throughout the day. I figured they wouldn't mind giving me one after just selling me a bike. It's actually a nice big red plastic one with the Honda logo on it.

I threw some rope and a carabiner on it so I can clip the rope to my handlebars so I don't forget it and can easily pick it up when I take the bike off the kickstand.

Sumo, can you take a picture of it?

Also, I want to try to get one of these this summer:
Ride The Highlands | Kickstand Pads
 
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In addition to the very nice anodized foot from China that's attached to my sidestand, I carry this, especially when out in the wild with my WR250R. You can set the stand on just the hinge, the plywood, or both -- which makes all that rugged terrain a lot more accessible for parking ; }

2016-08-05 10;32;35 by greenboy, on Flickr
 
MZ5 said:
Just to be clear about stability:

The kickstand (sidestand) is more stable. When the bike is on either stand, the leg(s) of the stand and the tire(s) describe a triangle. The triangle formed with the centerstand is smaller than the one formed when it's on the kickstand, and in particular the one leg of the triangle on the centerstand is super short.

Bikes blow over when they're on their centerstands. It take A LOT more wind to blow them over when they're on the kickstand.

The kickstand is more stable.
Click to expand...


Is this a proven thing or just an opinion? Yes the triangle is wider but this just seems counterintuitive to me.... Maybe I've been doing it wrong all these years but although I typically keep my bike on it's side stand if I know a big storm is coming (mine is stored outside and under a cover so it increases the "sail" factor) I try to put it up on the center stand.
 
pprior said:
Is this a proven thing or just an opinion? Yes the triangle is wider but this just seems counterintuitive to me.... Maybe I've been doing it wrong all these years but although I typically keep my bike on it's side stand if I know a big storm is coming (mine is stored outside and under a cover so it increases the "sail" factor) I try to put it up on the center stand.
Click to expand...
I think angle and terrain play a large part and sense I'm not usually parking on level concrete my center stand seams more stable to me, most of the time
 
Pee Wee Herman recommends the side stand.

CNWWzYNXAAAeFVT.jpg:large
 
Get a tri-pod and put the three legs 1-foot from eachother and then push it over. Now put them 3-feet apart and push it over. Which was easier?

Now, it will be more difficult to push the bike over from the side, but if it were pushed at an angle sideways (either forward or toward the rear), it'd be much easier to push over, especially if it's on a hill and not parallel with the slope.
 
A tripod is not the same weight distribution as a motorcycle. the angles are not the same and the weight/center of gravity is not the same. Maybe others motorcycles are different but on mine the lean angle with the kickstand down is not that much and on the other side of the lean there is NOTHING. With a center stand the rotational point is not the center mass of the motorcycle , it's off to the side. I'm not a physics major, but I know from personal experience that my motorcycle seems a lot more stable against pushover when it's on the center stand.
 
pprior said:
A tripod is not the same weight distribution as a motorcycle. the angles are not the same and the weight/center of gravity is not the same. Maybe others motorcycles are different but on mine the lean angle with the kickstand down is not that much and on the other side of the lean there is NOTHING. With a center stand the rotational point is not the center mass of the motorcycle , it's off to the side. I'm not a physics major, but I know from personal experience that my motorcycle seems a lot more stable against pushover when it's on the center stand.
Click to expand...
Get a fish scale and measure how force is required to tip the bike over using either stand.
 
pprior said:
A tripod is not the same weight distribution as a motorcycle. the angles are not the same and the weight/center of gravity is not the same. Maybe others motorcycles are different but on mine the lean angle with the kickstand down is not that much and on the other side of the lean there is NOTHING. With a center stand the rotational point is not the center mass of the motorcycle , it's off to the side. I'm not a physics major, but I know from personal experience that my motorcycle seems a lot more stable against pushover when it's on the center stand.
Click to expand...

It could be, just needs a shorter leg and weights (if you feel like going that far). Or you could do as dduelin suggested. :p

Like greenboy said, it depends. You wouldn't park your bike on a hill with the front facing down it or the kickstand on the uphill side, just like you wouldn't (or shouldn't) park it on the centerstand with it pointed downhill or perpendicular to the slope. All you'd have to do is bump the front or back of the bike the wrong way in either of those situations and you'd end up having A Bad Day[sup]tm[/sup]
 
Just wanted to weigh in. After my 12K+ miles trip around the states last year, with fully loaded bike, I have to say the centerstand was the only viable solution to me. It helps with loading/unloading/fuelling and in particular ONE day I didn't put the bike on centerstand at a stop with a magnificent view and lots of wind busts, the bike went down because of the wind, with all the weight on it. Result: cracked the handguard (event bent the metallic part a bit), and scratched the V35 side case. When leaving the bike alone, I was also feeling safer on centerstand, so that if some dumb kid climbed on the bike for fun or a stupid cager opened their door and hit the bike, it wouldn't tip over. Just think of it, tipping over means unloading all your crap to put the bike back up... Had to do it once... No fun... My recommendation: get the centerstand, use it and abuse it.
 
MZ5 said:
Just to be clear about stability:

The kickstand (sidestand) is more stable. When the bike is on either stand, the leg(s) of the stand and the tire(s) describe a triangle. The triangle formed with the centerstand is smaller than the one formed when it's on the kickstand, and in particular the one leg of the triangle on the centerstand is super short.

Bikes blow over when they're on their centerstands. It take A LOT more wind to blow them over when they're on the kickstand.

The kickstand is more stable.
Click to expand...

From experience, I can say that on centerstand, the bike is WAY MORE stable than on the kickstand, at least fully loaded. My bike tipped over on kickstand once because of the wind, never on centerstand. The kickstand is much stable if the winds blows AGAINST it, that's for sure, but otherwise I have serious doubts. This said, YMMV.
 
peergum said:
My bike tipped over on kickstand once because of the wind, never on centerstand.
Click to expand...
My bike (900 lbs) tipped over on the center stand (twice) because of the wind, never on the side stand. I'm on the coast of Maine and the winds can get a bit gnarly ;-)
 
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