Centre Stand Removal - Noticeable?

[Human Potato]

Hi Guys,

In the never ending quest to lighten the 2001 B12S I am considering removing the center stand.  Does anyone know how much of a weight saving this will create?  Is it noticeable when riding?

[wizzobeer]

I just had mine off and it felt like 3-4lbs, put it back on though so I can't say if you would notice.
 

[Ar-Bandit]

I've had mine off for a while now and I can't really tell the difference...I just did not need mine anymore so I threw it in a box with everything else I have takin off of it. 

[Dave 02 1200]

The weight is well below the axles and has little, if any, noticable effect on handling.

Unless your bike is track-only or you stay real close to home, and never park on warm asphalt, I would leave it on. Oh, and if you take it off, hope you never get a flat tire.

It's your decision but that's my opinion.

[willo]

Can't beat a centre stand on a day to day bike,even if just for oil changes and stuff. just my opinon. Graham

[Red01]

Can't beat a centre stand on a day to day bike,even if just for oil changes and stuff. just my opinon. Graham

+1 

[pmackie]

+2

I can't imagine doing basic maintenace, ie: chain, tires, oil change, fork oil change, etc. without the centre stand. You would need another maintenance stand of some sort.

IMHO on a bike that weighs just around 500 lbs, wet, ready to ride, and a 150lb (or more) rider, the loss of 4 pounds, low on the bike, will NOT be noticable. OTOH, if you are setting up a track day or race bike, shedding every pound you can makes sense. Extra weight DOES impact acceleration and braking, but I just shed about 6 lbs with a new slip-on. I CANNOT tell the difference.

An old book by Gary Bailey explained that the average human can't notice a difference until it's in the 5-7% range. So you should be able to notice a reduction of 25-35 lbs.

[Red01]

Unless you're already slim and trim, you'd be better off to loose the same weight from your body, where the CG is higher. 

I know, easier said than done...

[Human Potato]

Okey Dokes, the stand stays on. 

[Cruisecontrol]

It takes all of 20 seconds to reinstall for maintenance.

I took mine off ages ago when I replaced the exhaust system and the centre stand had no stop. Nowdays it is a simple matter of putting the stand in place and hand tightening two bolts and it is ready to go.

Get rid of it. They look horrible and weigh a ton.

[Pillage]

It takes all of 20 seconds to reinstall for maintenance.

I took mine off ages ago when I replaced the exhaust system and the centre stand had no stop. Nowdays it is a simple matter of putting the stand in place and hand tightening two bolts and it is ready to go.

Get rid of it. They look horrible and weigh a ton.

True, but how do you make a trail of sparks at night when being tail gated on the highway? 

[Red01]

It takes all of 20 seconds to reinstall for maintenance.

I took mine off ages ago when I replaced the exhaust system and the centre stand had no stop. Nowdays it is a simple matter of putting the stand in place and hand tightening two bolts and it is ready to go.

Get rid of it. They look horrible and weigh a ton.

That's all well and good - as long as you only need to use the stand when you're at home.
Doesn't do you any good out on the road.

I also find the C'stand is useful when parking on hot, soft asphalt.
Sure, you can throw a crushed can or similar device under the kickstand if you don't have a C'stand, but then that's just something else to carry around and/or scrounge up.

As far as looks... I never really found the black lever that distracting...
As far as weight... that's been covered above pretty well.

[Cruisecontrol]

And your bike is bog stock. So what?

I have never needed the centre stand anywhere but in my garage, for any bike, ever. We can obviously build roads that don't melt and don't seem to find it overly taxing to shove a rock under the side stand when parking on grass.

They may also look good under the stock exhaust but when that is replaced with something that actually looks good, the centre stand becomes a monstrous eyesore.

And regarding the weight, once all the unnecessary garbage bolted to the bike has been binned, then you will notice the difference.

I chose form over function and am perfectly happy as I am sure you are by dragging around useless chunks of steel.

[Red01]

You're absolutely right, it's all in what you want out of your bike. 

Mine's not exactly "bog stock" - but it's nothin' special either, probably about typical for most Bandit owners. 
I'm not trying to make mine into a streetfighter or a track weapon, so I'm not tryin' to strip off everything that's not essential.  I've never had it restrict my cornering clearance (like it can on some bikes).  One of the reasons for my choice in an aftermarket exhaust was the ability to retain my stand. I've had bikes in the past that I did remove the C'stand from to reduce weight, increase cornering clearance and/or fit an aftermarket exhaust that wouldn't work with one.  The mission for my B12 is for street riding - most of the time in all-day trips or longer.  This means the chain will need to be lubed while away from home.  Sure, you can do that w/o a C'stand, but it's easier to do with one.  So far, I've not needed to use the B12's C'stand for anything else while away from home, but I've had to replace a rear tire on a trans-contenental trip before and the C'stand sure comes in handy for that, too. 

Maybe down under they've mastered the art of making asphalt roads that don't get soft when the weather gets hot, but it seems that technology seems to have escaped the road builders of North America.

So, it's a useless couple of kilos to you, and a useful tool to me. 

[ippo]

If you want unheavy bike, bandit is not bike like you.