Does your MOT place balance the whole bike on the sidestand?

[Tempest]

My small local garage does this, and whilst it apparently does no harm, I hate it, and am sure you are not supposed to do this, so would be interested in your thoughts, or what your MOT station does?

When it comes to spinning the front and rear wheels, and also rocking the steering left and right to check steering head bearing movement, the guys lean the whole bike against them, and balance the whole bike on it's sidestand so they can get the wheels off the ground.

I cringe when I see this, as I'm sure it's not doing any good, though I suppose they been doing it for years to all bikes with only sidestands.

Your thoughts?
Does your MOT place do this?

[AMCQ46]

Yes mine does it too, and I am never that keen to watch!

[Kev L]

Mine does, but let's me do the lifting.

[Tempest]

Thanks for the replies so far.

I thought it may just be my garage. Obviously not.

It just seems so amateurish. if I was MOTing bikes, I'd imagine for bike damage and general safety I'd wish to invest in some stand type of device (paddock ish) that just lifted a fraction off the ground, and not do the balance on something idea.

I'm sure the makers never intended this to be done........ Did they ?

[MacV2]

Yep all the MOT places I've used do that.

In fact I did to one of mine yesterday to turn it round, it's an old bike shop trick. Onec you get the bike up on the balance point you can turn it round without all the pushing & shoving involved in the 27 point turn...simples.

[NZSpokes]

Yep all the MOT places I've used do that.

In fact I did to one of mine yesterday to turn it round, it's an old bike shop trick. Onec you get the bike up on the balance point you can turn it round without all the pushing & shoving involved in the 27 point turn...simples.

Well yeah, I have always done it. I also have a Bandit 1200 with full luggage and its easy to spin it round on the stand. I show my learner riders how to do it and even the light ladies can do it.

[Tempest]

Interesting replies.

So my feelings of:

1: It's not meant to be done like that.
2: The stand point (tip) was not built strong enough to take the whole weight of the bike and may bend
3: The single joint/pivot where the stand connected to the frame was never made to be strong enough for that and could bend

Are all unfounded?

[Virt]

Interesting replies.

So my feelings of:

1: It's not meant to be done like that.
2: The stand point (tip) was not built strong enough to take the whole weight of the bike and may bend
3: The single joint/pivot where the stand connected to the frame was never made to be strong enough for that and could bend

Are all unfounded?

Not sure about the long-term damage. But I've done it to my VTR tons before, and I've even done it to my V-Strom once (That's a quarter-tonne of bike, on a tiny sidestand and that was fine) and it's generally accepted as a sensible option to unload the bikes' suspension or turn it around.

However, if the sidestand does end up breaking then it's not too expensive to replace anyway. And if it breaks when your MOT station does it, I'd imagine you can make them foot the bill for any damages anyway

One google search result basically says that it depends on the bike though, not all sidestands are mounted strongly enough. I've heard no horror stories for Firestorms, so don't worry too much.

[kev64]

Saw mine do it and theyre gonna be doing again today !
They adjusted my steering head bearings on the mot last week and
I think theyre too loose , as I get a bit of brake judder now !

[popkat]

If you don't like it then don't bring it to me for an MOT

I do it on as many bikes as possible, some you can't though in which case I put it on an abba stand which takes time and is an butt to do when time is limited, or if it's a big cruiser I'll jack it underneath. with the side stand method if there's someone to assist (which there should be) they pull it up to a balance point where it doesn't put a lot of stress on anything, if no ones around then I use a trolley jack under the frame rail with a piece of wood to protect it I also do this if the bike is too heavy to lift to the balance point, the jack in this instance is just for support.

[TravisZack]

I pivot mine on the side stand every single time it goes in and out the garage. Got some confused looks at a trackday when I 180'd it in the garage. People must think you have superhuman strength til they see what's going on.

Now what about people that climb aboard using the pegs, with the bike leaning on the stand, that one makes me cringe a bit.

[Tempest]

Thanks again for all the interesting replies to my question.

Seems i fuss and worry too much, as no one else seems to be worried!

I suppose, i think.... Hey, it's 2015, with all the electronic hoists, equipment etc etc on offer, and you have a guy in a greasy garage swinging perhaps £10,000 worth of bike around on a side stand that's a "SIDE STAND"

I guess I feel, really, it's a bit of a low tech bodge, and, it's not something that really should be being done.
Let me put it this way. I would hope a high end official dealer would have "Proper equipment"

But, it seems to be the norm, for your typical garage.
Methinks I am expecting too much

[Shauned71]

Far as I know it's pretty much the norm to use the side stand. My tester don't do it but then when I go for a MOT we usually spend most our time drinking coffee and talking about the weather. I do it myself when needed... putting a bike together right now and on the weekend had to swap front ends over between 2 bikes so had both my kids out in the garden holding up a bike each while I did the job

I did a few years ago have a different guy MOT my old CBR1000... he pulled the bike up on the stand but what bugged me was he struggled to get the balance right so the bike was up and down, up and down... I was fine with it but made him understand that if he bends my stand or drops my bike then there was gonna be trouble

[MacV2]

At the end of the day Tempest the stand is designed to hold the weight of the bike. So it has to be strong enough & so does the mounting plate.

Beleive it or not I've even piroeted a Goldwing on its stand ! Center not side but same principle, tip it over find the balance point & turn.

[VTRDark]

Interesting replies.

So my feelings of:

1: It's not meant to be done like that.
2: The stand point (tip) was not built strong enough to take the whole weight of the bike and may bend
3: The single joint/pivot where the stand connected to the frame was never made to be strong enough for that and could bend

Are all unfounded?

Not at all unfounded. I feel the same but saying that I do it myslef and agree what everyone else says.

1: Well it's not designed for that purpose but then how else can it quickly and easily be done.
2: There is always that possibility of it weakening over time but then it's time to replace the stand.
3: It could weaken as it only springs outward so far so pivoting on the stand puts excess force on this. Not the same amount that one gets from simply putting the bike on the sidesatnd which it was designed for.

It doesn't help that the VTR stands are particular weak looking and one can see a slight flex in them when doing this at times. I haven had one snap yet though.

(:-})