WPZ
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The Missus just got herself a 2012 NC700XD and is proceeding to ride the wheels off of it. But she's relatively new to bikes and so insisted on a lowering job despite her long-leggedness. Planted feet and bent knees are reassuring to new riders.
In went a Soupy's set of links. The factory setting lowered the unladen seat height from 32 1/4" to 31 3/8" (Old carpenter- fractions of inches are homey).
I took the links down another two turns, 12 flats, plus set the fork tubes up a half-inch.
Remeasuring the seat height suggests it's down 1 1/2" or thereabouts.
So the sidestand (we used to call them "kickstands") became perilous.
I sawed the stand apart to discover the main tube's ID (inside diameter) is almost exactly 3/4", and then there's an inner reinforcing sleeve inside the upper half, with an ID of almost exactly 5/8".
What that meant is that ordinary hardware-store stock steel could work well for further inner reinforcement.
Long ago I learned cutting and welding thinwall tube that is going to be subjected to unknown stresses isn't such a hot idea. There was this GL1500 handlebar...
So I drove a piece of 3/4" OD/ 1/16" wall plain steel tube into the lower part of the stand and then cut a length of 5/8" OD solid round stock to join the two pieces. This also serves to make adjustments much easier than just welding back together.
The upper section, with the curve, accepted the solid rod with nothing more than hammering. It's practically immovable now.
Then I drilled a 5/32" hole through and through the whole thing in the lower, looser section, installed a fat cotter pin, and sent her out into the world.
My first subtraction cut was just about 1". That wasn't quite enough and the bike was still a bit tippy, enough to unnerve the operator on slopy parking spots. So I took another 1/2" off; with the saw kerfs (the metal removed by the metal-cutting blade in my recip saw) I probably took off a little more than 1 5/8" altogether. Now the bike sits at about the same angle as the GL18 and Kawasaki ZX1100E it's parked alongside with.
I drilled another cotter pin hole and put it back together, with a spritz of flat black enamel for now. If this turns out right, I'll weld the joint once and for all. With that solid rod inside, that's a good backer for even clumsy welding. I can then also fill the pin holes up and grind them off.
The kick tang needed a little bend downwards (when in the lowered position) to keep the end from being too close to the rider's boot. A two-foot piece of tubing slipped over the tang did fine for that, no heat was used.
As a test, I tipped the entire bike up on to the sidestand and bounced on it with both tires in the air. Nothing moved or bent.
Just thought I'd toss this out for someone thinking of doing this and not spending a ton on an aftermarket stand. If you work efficiently, this could be done in less than an easy hour. I spend about twenty bucks on the steel, but I had to buy two-footers and there's a lot left for other things.
Now, the centerstand. That won't be so easy. For now, I'm having her park it with the front wheel on little plywood platform that makes the front wheel a little taller, in effect. But standing it up is still pretty hard.
In went a Soupy's set of links. The factory setting lowered the unladen seat height from 32 1/4" to 31 3/8" (Old carpenter- fractions of inches are homey).
I took the links down another two turns, 12 flats, plus set the fork tubes up a half-inch.
Remeasuring the seat height suggests it's down 1 1/2" or thereabouts.
So the sidestand (we used to call them "kickstands") became perilous.
I sawed the stand apart to discover the main tube's ID (inside diameter) is almost exactly 3/4", and then there's an inner reinforcing sleeve inside the upper half, with an ID of almost exactly 5/8".
What that meant is that ordinary hardware-store stock steel could work well for further inner reinforcement.
Long ago I learned cutting and welding thinwall tube that is going to be subjected to unknown stresses isn't such a hot idea. There was this GL1500 handlebar...
So I drove a piece of 3/4" OD/ 1/16" wall plain steel tube into the lower part of the stand and then cut a length of 5/8" OD solid round stock to join the two pieces. This also serves to make adjustments much easier than just welding back together.
The upper section, with the curve, accepted the solid rod with nothing more than hammering. It's practically immovable now.
Then I drilled a 5/32" hole through and through the whole thing in the lower, looser section, installed a fat cotter pin, and sent her out into the world.
My first subtraction cut was just about 1". That wasn't quite enough and the bike was still a bit tippy, enough to unnerve the operator on slopy parking spots. So I took another 1/2" off; with the saw kerfs (the metal removed by the metal-cutting blade in my recip saw) I probably took off a little more than 1 5/8" altogether. Now the bike sits at about the same angle as the GL18 and Kawasaki ZX1100E it's parked alongside with.
I drilled another cotter pin hole and put it back together, with a spritz of flat black enamel for now. If this turns out right, I'll weld the joint once and for all. With that solid rod inside, that's a good backer for even clumsy welding. I can then also fill the pin holes up and grind them off.
The kick tang needed a little bend downwards (when in the lowered position) to keep the end from being too close to the rider's boot. A two-foot piece of tubing slipped over the tang did fine for that, no heat was used.
As a test, I tipped the entire bike up on to the sidestand and bounced on it with both tires in the air. Nothing moved or bent.
Just thought I'd toss this out for someone thinking of doing this and not spending a ton on an aftermarket stand. If you work efficiently, this could be done in less than an easy hour. I spend about twenty bucks on the steel, but I had to buy two-footers and there's a lot left for other things.
Now, the centerstand. That won't be so easy. For now, I'm having her park it with the front wheel on little plywood platform that makes the front wheel a little taller, in effect. But standing it up is still pretty hard.
