longer kickstands?

Are all KZ kickstands the same length? The kickstand on my 79 KZ1000E1 ST shaft is too short... the bike lays over at a 45 degree angle when on kickstand is a chore to pull upright... There is plenty of room for a kickstand that might even be 1 to 2 inches longer. I have seen the chrome aftermarket kickstands on eBay but they don't seem to say how long they are. Plus the OEM kick stand has a flat area on the bottom (helps on hot pavement) and that little arm where you can catch it to push it down. The aftermarket stand has neither of these things.

WG: My KZ1000 St has the same problem. I was thinking of putting shorter rear shocks on it.

But, I might take off the kickstand and cut it in the middle then insert both pieces into a suitable piece of pipe and weld it.

Bob

Post edited by: Bob_79KZ, at: 2007/06/21 23:55

how about just cutting 2 kickstnds one long and one short and welding them together?

Now that you mention it, I've noticed identical bikes that seem to have diff length kickstands.

I'd imagine that excessive weight is repeatedly being placed upon the kickstand, and is causing the kickstand bracket that's welded to the frame to bend slightly.
And no WG, I'm not calling you fat. :laugh:

I'm thinking a person could heat up the bracket, bend it to where it places the kickstand at a better angle, and then weld a thick enough bead on the backside of the bracket for extra support. And semi-gloss black rattle-can hides welds really nice too. :whistle:

My 650 leaned over a lot from day one. I think the mounts get welded on wrong on some frames at the factory. I welded a thicker and larger pad to the bottom of my kickstand to help a bit. With the suspension mods on my 650 now I'm sure I'm going to do something to it again.
Mark

I just put a tape on the 1000, on the back side of the stand it is 9 1/2 inches long, and it leans a lot

i usually carry around a small piece of 2x4 with me to put under the sidestand. picks the bike up somewhat. also makes that #1 carb leak less too...

I have modified stands (usually shorten when I lower a bike) before but was just looking to see if different stands were different lengths... I don't think my mount is bent... Would prefer to buy a longer stand and not fool around with welding.

excessive lean on my bike as well....the LTD stands are shorter to accomodate the smaller dia. wheel thus the Kz is longer. I noticed several issues causing this on mine....the pivot bolt hole was ovaled slightly and the mount tab bent. I ordered a repro stand from Z1 Ent. and when comparing it to the original found it to be bent outwards badly probably from some tool sitting on the bike while on the side stand or worse pivoting the bike around on the stand. these several things caused the excessive lean and just bolting up the new stand improved it 90%. I'm going to bore out the hole and fit in a hardened sleeve then bore it to the proper bolt dia. the frame tab will be ground down flat on the top side and built up on the back with weld bead then ground flat to regain the proper thickness. should be good to go with the proper stance then.

WG:

How long is the kickstand on a ST?

I just measured the kickstand on my 79kz1000 st and from the center of the mounting bolt to the bottom of the pad is 10-1/2 inches.

I think 11-1/2 would be better...for me.

Bob

The side stands on my KZ1000's and 1100 are all 10.5 inches (measured from the center of the mounting bolt to the flat pad)...none lean excessively. This suggests that ST's may have differences in how the stands are mounted on the frames?