[motorcycle.com] - MO Tested: Bursig Center-Lift Motorcycle Stand

I have a love/hate relationship with this thing. For several days I hated it as I tried and failed to get its two prongs to slip gracefully and simultaneously into my old R1’s frame hole (for the upper rear engine mount) and swingarm pivot hole. The stand itself is universal, but comes with a specific side plate to fit your bike. The side plate’s very adjustable, but adjust though I might, I couldn’t get the two prongs lined up quite right to just roll the stand up to my bike and slide in effortlessly (like they do it in the video).

It didn’t help that the hardware that needs adjusting is 13mm, 18mm, 24mm … I wound up using old inch-sized wrenches that are close enough. When I did get the sideplate to line up and I lifted my bike, only the rear tire was off the ground. When I adjusted the sideplate to level out the bike, it wouldn’t fit anymore once I’d lowered the bike back to the ground and removed it. I almost dropped my precious about five times. The sidestand needs to be up the whole time, since the stand only goes on the left side. I finally wised up and leaned the bike against the garage door on its right side so I could use both hands to mess with the stand’s adjustments on the left. Amazingly, nobody clicked the garage door remote while I was doing it.


The stand comes with a specific side plate for your model bike, but you have to adjust the two pins to fit just right. (For some bikes, you have to remove an engine mounting bolt and replace it with a Bursig one.)


I was about to give up when I got hold of Patrick at BursigUSA; they’re a small enough, hands-on company to provide actual customer service: “You are aware of the fact that you might have to slightly tilt the Stand when entering the frame hole locations, correct?, emailed Patrick. “The Stand does not just roll into the frame. We always recommend to put your foot underneath the Stand and guide it into the frame hole locations.”

Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. In the videos, the stand rolls up and mates like “Dancing with the Stars.”

Sure enough, once I had the prongs in the right place, I could roll the stand up to my bike, lift and jiggle the rear wheel of the stand a bit with my right toe, and shove it right in there (especially when I lubed the prongs with a little dry Teflon lube). Push down the lifting handle, and voila, both wheels are an inch in the air, rock steady. The advantages of the Bursig stand are obvious: You can remove both wheels at once then roll your bike out of the way while new tires get mounted. If you take your bike to the track and do tire warmers, you only need one stand instead of two. Mostly if your garage space is limited, you can just pick your baby up and roll it on the four nice casters to wherever it’s out of your way. And if you’re not riding it for awhile (like my poor R1), it unweights the tires and suspension, lets you spin the wheels when you’re bored, and may cause you to become obsessive about steering head bearings.


After a few hours of frustration spread out over a week or two, we achieve lift-off. Once you figure it out, the Bursig’s pretty easy to use.


The disadvantages are: It ain’t cheap, at $549 (but the price just dropped from $665 thanks to the strong dollar), and the instructions could be a bit more helpful. Maybe I’m dense, but including the “you’ll probably need to tilt the stand slightly with your foot” part would’ve saved me a lot of time and profanity.

Now that it fits and I know the trick, the Bursig works great. The casters are fine on smooth concrete, though they might be a tad small of diameter if your floor is cobblestones or crushed seashells or something. Two of the four wheels have brakes, so your bike doesn’t roll off down the driveway into traffic Laurel & Hardy style. The thing is built in Germany, very stout if not quite beautiful (shipping weight is 32 pounds), and carries a lifetime guarantee. You’re also able to trade sideplates in for no charge, as your motorcycles come and go; otherwise, they’re $120 each.


Very nice. I’m sorry for all the nasty things I called you, Bursig stand.


For more information, contact:

www.BursigUSA.com
1365 63rd St.
Emeryville, CA 94608
(510) 595-3300

MO Tested: Bursig Center-Lift Motorcycle Stand appeared first on Motorcycle.com.

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