Centerstands and beta testing

The klr really needs a centerstand if your gonna go some distance on the street or mild off-road.
Choosing a good stand is or was my issue. All you have to do now a days is google anything with bike parts and you can find the good and the bad.
I know the biggest problem people talk about on-line is how after a few years the stands will bend or damage the foot peg bolts and pull the threads out of the frame. None of which I want to deal with. When I buy something it has to last till the bike gets sold or is so worn out I don't care anymore.


So a few months ago I had the opportunity to beta test a centerstand for Happytrails.com. This stand has some very nice features with height adjustment and the added foot push assist bar.
Not a big deal here but the height adjustment area would slide back and forth in the bolt holes. This would cause a change in the up and down position that would very every day. A little annoying and the bolts were fully torqued down.
All though not a big deal the inner spring was contacting the stand and will eventually make a big rust spot or rub the spring and break it.
This was the HUGE issue for me. the mounting plates were moving a lot when setting the bike up on the stand. It was so bad that when in the up position the kickstand would smack into the centerstand.
All this was caused from the mounting holes just being too large. I contacted the guys at HT and according to them it was just me with the issue. I asked them if maybe mine had the holes drilled too large but they never answered the question. That was frustrating as I would of kept the stand.




This is looking at the hinge area and it looks good now but wave washers won't last long.

Every time the kickstand was brought up or down with the foot it would knick the stand and make noise. Another annoying issue that bugged me.
I have to say that HT was very nice to me and I'm greatly happy they let me beta test the stand. All the other items I bought from them has been perfect. Too bad this missed my mark..


So I still needed a stand and I bought the SW-Motech centerstand. My buddy bought his when I tested the HT version. He had no issues with his moving and liked that it was still easy to put the bike up on the stand.

So I ordered up but had to wait a few weeks since they were backordered. It showed up about three weeks later and was beautiful and simple.



The stand is so nice and simple to install and it's pretty light compared to the HT version.


You can see above the bolts have very little clearance or slop that will make a nice solid mount.



Just a little waterproof grease to keep it from rusting and squeak free.
My only issue was the instructions that didn't tell me or come with the proper bolt lengths to use.
I had to go back and find the SW-Motech crash bar instructions to figure it out. I bought flange head 10 grade bolts, 35mm on the left and 40mm for the right.



The trick of the install was the spring which was still very simple.


They sell a tool on the twistedthrottle.com site but all thats really need is a brake drum spring installer. My buddy said he just used a large phillips screwdriver.

Going on with the stand in the up position.
Oops! You can see I crossed up the little spring with the big spring from front to back.


Spring crossed, just closer up.

Springs corrected with a small screwdriver.
Installed and looking good.

Getting it up on the stand is pretty easy and gives me about a inch of clearance to work on the back tire and chain. There is no clearance problems with the chain or kickstand. So far a week of riding and using it with no issues. Loving it!!!

Doc visit and riding

Well the Doc visit went very well and looks to be going away. Did twelve days of a medrol dose pack and I can't say it did much good. Very weird side effects and opposite of what they said it would be. It really made me not want to eat or drink much. I Think it was noticed more by the wife since I eat a lot.
The doc said I most likely irritated the nerve by repetitively pushing on it. Make sense to me since I work on cars all day and come home to work on bike. The one think I also do a ton of is was my hands at work to try and keep the customers cars clean. After trying to pay attention now to what I'm doing to the hand, I noticed I whack the handle of the sink to turn it on. It hits directly where the doc said it was being effected. Sounds crazy and I think I've done this since they put the sink in. It makes me feel kind of dumb not to realize this but I'm not totally sure that was the whole problem.
The one thing the doc made for me was a nice little custom hand guard to not push the nerve.
We formed it around a baseball bat to get the same curve as a bike grip. The plus side is I can ride and be very comfortable. The down side is I can't put on a glove to protect from a fall.
So I'm hopeful things will stay on the up and up!! :)

RD400 pipes and timing

The pipes are done and beautiful. To me their way better looking than the raw stainless look they had when new. The canisters also cleaned up and are lightly polished now. Mr. powder coater man told me to heat cycle them to let them expand slowly.

The timing unit that I have on there now is fully electronic and once its set I never need to touch it again. Right now it's set at 2MM BTDC and has a great throttle response. Really clean throttle snap with zero bog. The only thing I need to iron out is the jet setting. Stock is 115 main and all the forum guys are running 200 mains. That is a huge jump in sizes, so after the bike gets registered I'll get some road runs and plug checks. I'm guessing it will be about a 170 main in the end..

Down and out for now!!

So as a bad surprise my right hand has started to act up by hurting all around my thumb muscle. It started one morning while tying my shoes. Yes, tying the shoes. Just gave me a small twing as I pulled the laces. Didn't feel like much but after a day of work it was very much giving me pain.
Now I'm really annoyed with it after a weekend of doing nothing and hoping for a recovery.
Keep in mine I've had both my hands done for carpel tunnel almost three years ago and they have been flawless. I'm very much freaked out that I have Arthritis at only 36 years old. That would be very bad for my job of fixing cars and riding motorcycles.
We will see on June 2nd!!! Wish me luck. :)