Thanks @West Cork Paul. I have a couple of different under headstock stands so will try them first as I feel the bike is so much better supported by them. I might have to get the Metal Melting Gear out and extend the legs on one of them to use on this bike. And I'll have a look at the OBD port later. So far I've only had to get the bike off the side stand on flat ground. It's currently on it's centre stand in the garage and I'm not looking forward to getting it off again. Is/Was yours a 1200 or 1260? I believe the 1260 saddle is a few inches lower than the 1200 was, and despite my inside leg being an inch or so less than yours I can still get my feet flat on the floor.
Think yourself lucky... DMC Stoke made my old 1260 up from an regular S to an S Touring by fitting parts from their parts store... At the time I parked on a gravel drive but really struggled with the centre stand elsewhere. Ducati Coventry did the 600 mile service. I was called into the workshop to see this... DMS Stoke had fitted a centre stand off of an Enduro! I was wondering why it touched down so easily... They sent me a std 1260 stand after I complained. I couldn't be arsed to ride back to Stoke to have it fitted by them.
I managed to get an hour in the garage last night and have a play with how to get this bike in the air and stable enough to have both wheels out for a couple of hours or so. I discovered one of my front headstock stands has adjustable legs, and there is more than enough to get the front wheel off the ground, although I had to knock up a top hat spacer in my lathe for the bottom of the steering pivot as the hole in the bottom is much larger than any of the pins I have. Sat on it’s centre stand I hadn’t realised just how close it was to balancing perfectly around the stand There really is just a very small weight bias holding the front wheel down. Even with all the luggage off you can get the front to lift with just one finger pressing down on the rear end. So, as mentioned by @Edward Cunliffe if you take the front wheel out on the centre stand the rear wheel will be properly planted on the deck. I’m assuming with the back wheel out as well it will be back to being quite closely balanced. So using a front headstock stand and the centre stand is out really for peace of mind. I found a pair of paddock stand bobbins to fit to the swingarm, but the mounting lugs are recessed so I had to power the lathe back up to make some spacers and find some longer bolts. So I should be all good to whip the wheels out on Friday and get the tyres changed. I’ve got myself booked in at the one place for miles I called yesterday that had a free slot on Friday. It’s becoming a real headache getting bike tyres changed around here. Lots of places have shut or stopped doing bike tyres alongside their car business, and the few that are doing them are taking bookings for two weeks time.
Yes, for both wheels out at the same time you ideally need stands front and rear, certainly the case on the regular 1260 Mutley. As I change my own tyres, and do one at a time, I just use the headstock stand. Like yours it's adjustable for height so I can get it just right used along with the centre stand with the rear wheel kissing the ground. The only downside with this is that I have to remove/loosen the mudguard to get the front wheel out as it's not far enough off the ground. For the rear it's just the centre stand, easy peasy.
I'm going to order the same kit as you to do my own in the future, but this time I decided to get somebody to do them for me. Due to other commitments I've not ridden the bike since I got it home, and Friday afternoon this week is the only chance I'll have before Easter. I'm hoping this way I'll at least have time to give it a run round as well as changing the tyres. I need to see how it is without the knobblies. Think I'll bring the Knobblies home with me, I might get something for them on Ebay.
Not knowing what’s been fiddled with on this bike one of the things I’m going to do tomorrow is reset all the Riding modes back to factory default setting. I’ve already changed the Pin number from what the last owner changed it to before I collected it. Is there anything else I should be doing in that respect?
I know, I know Andy, as mentioned I have a few hours tomorrow afternoon when I should be able to get a chance to ride it as well as change the tyres. I'm getting really frustrated with it to be honest.
Tyres changed today and I managed to get out for a 40mile potter around. What a difference on the new tyres, you can lean it progressively into a corner rather than it suddenly tip over feeling like it's falling over. And there is no constant noise from the front tyre. Having it up on a front under-headstock paddock stand and rear paddock stand meant I could get both wheels out at the same time, but I had a real scary moment. I'd put the front wheel back in, and was working on the back one when the front stand started to bend and bike was sort of rolling forward away from me. It stopped when the front wheel hit the bottom part of the front stand. To get it off I had to lift the bike up with a trolley jack under the bash plate and wiggle the front stand out whilst trying to stop the bike falling over. And my front stand is now useless. I also swapped the riders seat for the all black one which looks much better, I'll post a pic tomorrow. However, now there is no overbearing noise from the front tyre I've realised part of what I could hear is the PUIG screen vibrating against something all the time. A finger on it's edge stops it, so I'll have to investigate that one. There is also a big vibration at some engine speeds that I've a feeling is the Evotech radiator guard resonating, so something else to look at. Whilst changing the saddle I found the Sat Nav power feed has been taken all the way from the wiring at the rear of the bike, and spliced really badly into the wiring leading to the USB socket in the under pillion seat tool tray. I've checked and the handy switched power feed under the cover at the headstock is there ready to be used, so I'll rewire that soon. I will have more time this weekend to ride the bike now, which is good, but it's because we've had to cancel our weekend away due to my Landrover throwing a wobbly today with various CanBus issues putting it into restricted performance mode. Which will have to be my priority to try and sort out somehow.
