Hitchcocks Forum

Has anyone else come to the conclusion that their Himalayan's side stand is a tad too long, and makes the bike sit a bit too upright? Having nudged mine slightly whilst squeezing past it on the left side in the shed, it fell over to the right, and took with it the shelving unit (with all its contents which landed on top of the bike) to which the front wheel was chained. We are so security conscious here in west Wales..... So there was quite a lot of clearing us to do.

I also dropped it once when parking it in some woodland to shut the gate behind me, I hadn't noticed that it was facing slightly downhill and it rolled forwards off the side stand. And it was a very slight slope, I was surprised it rolled forwards.

If one modified the side stand so it went slightly further forwards when extended, it would help with both of these problems. But the foot would then not be level, and one would have to be careful not to affect the switch it operates for the dashboard warning and the engine stop safety thing.

There was someone on ebay who offered a shortening service:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Side-Stand-s ... 7675.l2557

but I just looked and the listing has now ended it seems.

Our hosts list a not-yet available adjustable side stand for the Himalayan but, well, it's not yet available! Adjustable ones that all look very similar are listed by lots of different sellers, and are claimed to be universal and fit lots of bikes, which puts me off a bit. Has anyone else thought the side stand was a bit too long? It would be worse if the bike was heavily laden. I think I remember Noraly on Itchy Boots saying she had "Dhanno" 's side stand shortened on her S America expedition. I might be slightly bigger than Noraly but it's still quite an effort to pick the Himalayan up!

Hacksaw, welder.

Mama’s little baby loves shortnin, shortnin... showing my age!

I’m with papasmurf. If you have not got a welder yourself, you could pop the stand to an engineer who can saw out half an inch, or so and weld back up.

You probably wouldn’t need that much taking out. If you took the whole bike to an good engineer, he may even know exactly how much to remove just by looking.

I jacked up the pre load on the rear shock. Problem solved at no extra cost.

The guy I bought mine from had modded his own sidestand by filing it to allow it to move slightly more forward. I've fitted a YSS shock which is 10mm longer and has a stiffer spring (I'm 16st in riding kit ) and also lower the forks in the stanchions by 5mm so my bike seems okay on he side stand.

I have noticed though that's it's not very well located on the centre stand, doesn't seem in danger of falling off but easy to move it forward until it reaches a stop?

windmill john wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 06, 2021 12:41 pm

Mama’s little baby loves shortnin, shortnin... showing my age!

I’m with papasmurf. If you have not got a welder yourself, you could pop the stand to an engineer who can saw out half an inch, or so and weld back up.

You probably wouldn’t need that much taking out. If you took the whole bike to an good engineer, he may even know exactly how much to remove just by looking.

Just stick spacers under the tyres until it feels "rights," for you, and remove the thickness of the spacers from the side stand allowing for the angle of lean.

Or heat it up and bend it a bit.

At least you don't need a longer one. Last time I went into a motorbike shop and asked them for a long stand they kept me waiting for ages...

For some bizarre reason, reading this thread reminded me of a song sung by Henry Bellafonte and Odetta. It’s been going around in my head ever since.

“My sidestand’s too long, dear Liza, dear Liza, my sidestand’s too long, dear Liza, too long!”

“Then shorten it, dear Henry, dear Henry, then shorten it dear Henry, dear Henry, shorten it!”

“With what shall I shorten it, dear Liza.....”

Just in case you missed my previous post. I noticed this problem the day I brought the bike home. The pre load on the rear shock was one up from the softest setting, it is now set to one down from the hardest, and on my bike makes a considerable difference to the chassis height when on the side stand, and no detrimental affects to the ride quality. So it's worth a try before you go cutting wedges, bending, or shortening.

Thanks all for your suggestions, and musical reminiscences! I shall experiment, trying the least irreversible option first!