Alright, let me tell you about something I tried the other weekend. Had my motorcycle parked, needed to do some basic chain cleaning, you know the drill. The problem was, my proper motorcycle stand was lent out to a buddy.
So, I’m standing there in the garage, looking around. My eyes land on this sturdy-looking bicycle repair stand I have. The kind that clamps onto the bike frame. And a thought popped into my head – could this maybe, just maybe, lift the back end of the motorcycle enough to spin the wheel? Seemed unlikely, but hey, I figured I’d give it a quick look.
The Attempt
First off, getting the motorcycle positioned near this bicycle stand was awkward. The bike stand is designed for maybe 30-40 pounds, max? My motorcycle, even being a lighter model, is way heavier than that. Hundreds of pounds heavier.
I looked for a place to even try and attach the clamp. The frame? Too thick. The swingarm? Didn’t seem right, plus the clamp wasn’t designed for that shape or weight.
I decided against using the clamp part. Instead, I tried to see if the base of the stand could somehow just prop up the swingarm, near the rear wheel. I very carefully tried to lean the bike and slide the stand’s resting pad underneath. It involved:
- Carefully balancing the motorcycle.
- Trying to position the bike stand under a solid point on the swingarm.
- Applying just a tiny bit of lifting pressure.
What Happened Next
Yeah, it was obvious pretty quick this wasn’t gonna fly. As soon as any real weight started transferring onto the bicycle stand, you could see it flexing. Big time flexing. The metal arms looked like they were about to bend or buckle. The whole setup felt incredibly unstable. The motorcycle wobbled precariously.
There was absolutely no way I was going to put the full weight of the bike’s rear onto that stand. It would have either collapsed the stand, dropped the bike, or both. No chance I was risking damage to the bike, or myself, for that matter.
So, I immediately and very carefully took the bicycle stand away and put the motorcycle back securely on its side stand. It was a definite ‘nope’ moment.
Lesson learned: Bicycle stands are for bicycles. Motorcycle stands are for motorcycles. They’re built completely differently because the weights involved are worlds apart. Trying to cheap out or find a shortcut here is just asking for trouble. Ended up doing the old ‘roll the bike forward a foot, lube a section, repeat’ method. Took longer, but nothing got broken!
