Many years in the past, the sidestand literally fell off the bike.
Attached to the sidestand was the bracket. it had simply torn itself off the frame rail under the weight of the bike resting on it.
At the time, I had no welding equipment available, so I rode the bike over to a mates house, and we, (he), welded it back on.
Subsequently, the bike leant over a little too far. on uneven ground, or a slope, the bike had to be carefully positioned so as not to fall over.
Eventually, I welded in an extension to the sidestand which helped.
With the bike now stripped down to a bare frame, I could maybe do something about it.
While building the 250, I had made a copy of the angle which the bracket made to the frame, by placing a flat rule across the lower frame rails, and attaching a sturdy wire paperclip to it.
I could now use this reference to see how cocked the bracket is.
The first picture shows that the bracket is angled outwards by maybe 5 degrees.
the second shows that the bracket is no mounted square to the frame rail.
Both of these together result in the standard side stand being too short to properly do the job.
it has to come off and be remounted.
I got the angle grinder out before I could change my mind.
Removal of the bracket showed that when it had come off originally, it wasn’t the welding that had failed, but the sleeve around the frame rail join had ripped off.
Inspection of the bracket itself showed that I had some work to do.
Firstly, cleaning up the old snotty weld spatter.
Secondly, the spring perch looks a bit worn to me. I think it needs a new one.
The obvious thing to do is to find a new bracket and weld it on.
Bad news for me… The brackets, which have been on ebay for at least a year, have dried up, and are no longer available. The sages on the RDLCCrazy forums state that the person/persons who had commissioned the manufacture of the items have no intention of getting any more made.
The other option of robbing one off a spare frame… Well I have no such spare frame.
So it’s out with the grinder, and time to try and resurrect yet another crappy 40 year old piece of twisted metal.
(That’s a description of the bracket… not the whole bike 🙂 )
Given the attachment surface is so messed up with extraneous weld, and parts of the frame rail jacket, I’m going to have a problem figuring out how to re-shape it to fit at the correct angle on the bike….
However. Next step… Break out the MIG, and fill the hole in the frame lower rail.
Next step is to repair the side stand bracket… but wait!
A kindly soul on the RDLCCrazy forums has a new one for sale… which arrived a mere 4 days later.
It is apparently a YPVS bracket, but apart from a slight offset of the hole for the spring perch peg, it is the same.
Now it’s probably worthwhile attempting to rebuild my old one taking measurements from this new one… just so there is still a spare bracket left in the world, for someone else.
Details and pics to follow.