center stands

Will a center stand from a 74 850 fit a 72 750?

I think there were only two center stand designs. Up to 71 and 72 and above.

The pre-'71 centerstand was frame mounted. In '71 they changed the stand to one mounted on the engine cradle. With the introduction of the 850 in 1973, they slightly redesigned and re-inforced the centerstand. The '71-'73 750 stands tend to break at the crossbar. The 850 stands are stronger and interchange readily with the 750 by using the appropriate spacer. 850 spacers are stepped while 750 is straight.

Thanks

speaking of center stands: anyone have issues with the spring coming off the stand? I just got back from a ride and as I took it off the stand the spring dropped on the ground. the spring and stand are brand new and after getting some great tutorial pix from Les, I got the spring on correctly....

puzzled on Cape Cod.....

If the clamping bolt on the spring side of the cradle has too big a head it will foul the spring and make it jump out of the hole. I always skim this bolt head down on a lathe before fitting.

AHA! I had the nut on the inboard side of the cradle rather than the head of the bolt....!

will rectify that as soon as I get home from work!

thanks

kfh

I'm amused by the clean break being described between the two types of center stands. There may have been four or five and I think at least three different versions went out into the market place. As I said in an earlier post, we tested the protoypes without either center- or prop-stands because the design team "hadn't got round to it!"

I have a nasty feeling that center stand development was inflicted on the early owners. Certainly the design that was installed on the 1968 Motor Cycle Show was the very first and had never been ridden. That's the one that got so many negative remarks from the motorcycle press for grounding when they tested the "press fleet" bikes.

I left N-V in June 1968, and at that time, I think the center stand was on its third develpment iteration and they still weren't happy with it. The Commando hadn't been on sale very long at that time, so maybe the first two designs stayed in-house. I remember the April 68 version was very diffcult to deploy, unless you were built like Governor Arnie. The mechanical leverage to get the bike up on the stand was marginal, and a 130 lb wimp like me (now closer to 200# at age 68!) couldn't get it onto the stand. I probably still couldn't.

We got a side stand at about the 6-month point in the testing and that made stopping for a break on the test runs a bit less difficult (no more looking for strong trees, lamp posts or street signs!)

My memory suggersts at least three evolutions of the center stand occurred after production started, but I might be mis-remembering - it is quite a while since then. Those of you that have the early production models should compare notes! I didn't keep much in the way of written history of my time at N-V (which is why there won't be a book!)

I would think that the first post-introduction redesign was probably about April 68, the second maybe in November 68 and perhaps the third one put it on the engine/gearbox cradle.

We certainly caught a lot of static in the early days about the grounding problem. The first stand was a direct transplant from the Atlas/650SS, with only minor modifications and the geometry was all wrong. It didn't get a lot of designer attention until the snide remarks in the magazines started and I think it caught the design team flat-footed.

Didn't that stand ground on the Atlas it came from Frank?

haha I weigh 160, and couldn't get mine on the center stand a few days ago for anything. I had to get someone to stand on the stand while I pushed from the front

Cookie:

My ride to work bike for several months was a company 650SS. I used to ride back roads all the way (about 40 miles) and despite being fairly agressive, I don't remember grounding the stand. My gut feel is that the design of the Featherbed frame allowed the stand to tuck in more than on the Commando, but I really can't remember for sure.

I don't think I ever rode a Commando with a center stand installed. After the bike's introcudtion at the 1968 show, our development team spent most of its time on the AJS Stormer program, with some develpment work on the P-11 also, so exposure to production Commandos was very limited. Product development once the Commando was in production became the responsibility of the Plumstead works.

I have been favoring left turns a bit on my Old Dominator frame because a few folks have told me they grounded the center stand on an Atlas. Perhaps you have to really be trying to do that, or perhaps there were different types.