So, I've had my 916 for almost 15 years and, after some initial problems, it's been reliable for almost a decade. And then, a couple of days ago, my side-stand snapped right off. I've read some people saying they're horrifically weak while others say they don't have any problem with them. Up until mine broke I would have said they were fine. As it was, I was parking on a slight uphill incline, the bike rolled back slightly on the stand and it just broke off without much effort at all. I guess it's just not designed to withstand loads in that direction. Also, for what it's worth, both sides of the break were perfectly clean, indicating that it was an entirely new break and not something that'd been partially broken for a while. Anyway, after looking at the prices of new stands - and also being concerned about the same thing happening again, I decided to make a replacement myself. It is, basically, a length of 3/4" steel tube curved to the same profile as the OEM stand, with a flat foot welded onto one end and a pair of steel bushes welded onto the other. My first question is a fairly simple one: has anybody ever heard of the side-stand BRACKET snapping rather than the stand itself? I'm a bit worried that now, with a stronger stand, it might be the bracket that fails next time and that won't be as cheap or easy to replace - and I'm basically just transferring the problem to a different component rather than fixing it. My second question is a bit more long-winded. Having painted up my home-made stand, a couple of mates have suggested that I should make more of them to sell. The stand comprises, basically, about £3 in metal and takes about an hour to make so it seems like they could be sold for less than half the £60-odd of an OEM item. I haven't really chatted about bikes on the internet since the Ducatisti forum folded so I don't really know whether it's something people might be interested in or not. Anybody have any thoughts on that? I realise that forums often don't like it when people make "commercial" posts but I'd like to stress that I absolutely DON'T have anything for sale yet but if I get a few people telling me it might be a worthwhile thing to do then I'll consider giving it a go. If, on the other hand, the stands really don't break that often, and most people just prefer to replace them with another OEM stand, I guess it's not worth the hassle. Thanks for any responses.
Hey Pictures would be good, we like DIY engineering. Generally people just put a 848/1098 stand on for £50 off eBay as they are much stronger with a better lean angle and a larger foot. I've not heard of a bracket breaking.
Keep an eye on the bracket fixing bolts, they have been known to come loose and ruin the threads in the casing. Not heard of the bracket breaking though. Steve
It would be interesting to see where yours broke, I had problems with mine leaning over to far so I just cut it in half and put some threaded bar into both pieces and used a couple of nuts for spacers, it is now fully adjustable. At the MOT test the inspector takes the full weight of the bike on the stand to check the bike and the stand has never given any problems. Steve
"so I just cut it in half and put some threaded bar into both pieces and used a couple of nuts for spacers" Brilliant!! Sounds a bit like my right knee, although my side stand remains in one piece.
The side stand started to shear on my 998 a couple of years ago. I first noticed that the lean angle whilst on the side stand was slowly increasing. This did seem weird because the side stand bracket looked like a cast metal item. This was cured by fitting a new bracket and a 1098 side stand - all in just over £200. Oh, a helicoiling one of the bracket bolt hole threads.
