Rear Paddock Stand for my Mk3

Hi Guys,

I'm trying to find a rear paddock (swingarm) stand that will work on our Commandos. The problem is the interference of the exhaust silencers, which prevents the use of the conventional stand that I use on my Victor.
Because of the geometry of my bike, using the center stand is a 2-man deal, and I often need to raise the rear wheel while working alone. What did the JPN racing folks use?

I knew these umbrella girls had a real function :lol:

Why not use a long rod or pipe and poke it trough the rear spokes, the bike would then rest on the swing arm, but come to think of it, that is still a two man job or one man and one umbrella girl or one man and TWO mbrella girls...

If this is at home, you could have some ind of front wheel chock (there are some here http://www.discountramps.com/wheel-chocks-straps.htm ), the kind you just roll into for bike trailers, then it would be a one man job.

Jean

OldBritts has a design for one model. Scroll down to the technical articles then scroll down to the article on the paddock stand. Link is here: http://www.oldbritts.com/ob_start.html

I think the stand that I use for my Manx would work too. I mounted a pair of 'spools' on the lower shock mounts using extra long lower shock bolts, then use a Pit Bull stand. I had to make a pair of extended plates to reach up to the spools, but I really like this arrangement. Since the stand picks the bike up by the shock mounts, I can remove the rear wheel while the bike is on the stand.

Here's a picture of my Manx on the Pit Bull. I think the mufflers are wide enough apart and high enough that they won't interfere on the commando.



Maybe this picture will give you a better view:

Steve,

I'm afraid my exhaust silencers would interfere. Do you know the outside distance between the vertical posts on the Pit Bull? Do you think they will fit inside of the standard Commando exhausts? The exhausts are 3" outbound of the outside of the swingarm and sit below the rear axel. At the lower shock mount, there is only 1-1/2" clearence between the nut and the inside of the silencers.

I just went out and measured the Pit Bull. It measures almost 18" at the widest point. I think the Pit Bull would work on my 71/72 model, but I'm not familiar with the Mk3. On the 71, the peashooters splay out near the rear shocks.

I'd say that with you standing over the rear of the bike, if you sight down the shocks and can't see a couple of inches of daylight, then it won't work. However, the Pit Bull is only one variation on the paddock stand concept. There are a lot of stands that are a lot narrower. The Pit Bull is just very adjustable.

You may want to fabricate your own. If it works out, others may be interested in buying copies.

I just thought of one other thing. If you look at my stand, you'll see that it also has a provision to reverse the fittings to provide a swingarm stand. You may want to consider that. I'll measure that and get back to you.

OK...

The Pit Bull width inside the vertical tubes is 14". The width measured from the outside of the tubes is 17". The height of the vertical tubes (at rest) is 12". However, as you can see from the pictures, you can turn the adjustable rest upside-down and get another inch or so of lift in the swingarm lift configuration. I'm running 19" rims, so yours should be similar.

Steve

SteveMinning said:

OldBritts has a design for one model. Scroll down to the technical articles then scroll down to the article on the paddock stand. Link is here: http://www.oldbritts.com/ob_start.html

I think the stand that I use for my Manx would work too. I mounted a pair of 'spools' on the lower shock mounts using extra long lower shock bolts, then use a Pit Bull stand. I had to make a pair of extended plates to reach up to the spools, but I really like this arrangement. Since the stand picks the bike up by the shock mounts, I can remove the rear wheel while the bike is on the stand.

Click to expand...

Try this link.

I built one similar to the oldbritts design. It works ok, but not great. Its not really an over-center design, so the bike wants to roll forward off the stand. I think next time I'll build one more like the pitbull, but for use on the swingarm.