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Thread: MotoMFG paddock stand

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    Senior Member CaneZach's Avatar
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    MotoMFG paddock stand

    A few weeks ago, I saw the Bursig paddock stand and thought, "Wow, that's really awesome! I would really like to buy one, but $700+shipping? GTFO!" Here's the Bursig stand, for those who have never seen one:



    Sure enough, there's a very similar product made by MotoMFG, but it's made in America and it's about $350 less expensive. I do some research on it and every review is positive, so PuneyJuney and I each order a stand. All those positive reviews cam from Ducati message boards, so I should have been more attentive. Here's the MotoMFG stand and a video to show you the operation of the stand.



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OqDN4t1FzQ

    I ordered the stand on the 16th, it arrives on the 30th. It comes very well packaged, but there is some assembly required. The difference between the Bursig and the MotoMFG stand is that the Bursig stand is a one-piece design. The MotoMFG stand is a two-piece consisting of the baseplate and the lift shaft. The shaft slides into the baseplate (giggity!) and is bolted together.

    The operation of the stand is pretty simple. The lift shaft has a sliding plate that slides up the shaft, lifting your bike. Attached to the sliding plate is a bracket that has two pins on it. The two pins slide into your bike's frame and when you push down on the stand's lever, the bracket slides up. Raise the lever and the bike is lowered. The pins slide into the swingarm pivot "hole" and the upper rear engine bolt. You do need to remove the engine bolt and turn it around so the threaded part of the engine bolt is now on the shift side. You replace the engine bolt nut with a bushing that is threaded. The pin that slides into the engine bolt bushing has a locking pin that goes through a hole in the bushing and lift pin to secure the bike and ensure it doesn't fall off the pins. In the pic below, you can see the bushing and the hole in the bushing for the locking pin.



    The instructions I received were decently explained, but it was basically a single page photocopy. The copy I received wasn't lined up well when they made the copy, so half of the first words on the left side of each paragraph was cut off. It wasn't enough to make the instructions illegible, so no big deal.

    After replacing the engine bolt nut with the bushing, you need to align the pins to the bushing and swingarm pivot hole. It's a simple enough process. You take the lift bracket and just align the pins so that the bracket will slide in and out of the holes easily, then you tighten down the pins.

    With the pin alignment done, you take the lift bracket, bolt it to the lift plate, and use your stand. The bracket just bolts onto the plate that slides up and down the lift shaft by bolting it to one of the 8 or 9 threaded holes on the the lift plate. After using your stand the first time, you make adjustments using a threaded adjuster rod. Using the adjuster rod will pivot the lift bracket, so you can lift the front tire/rear tire higher or lower.



    This is where I started having issues with my stand. In the pic above, you can not only see the parts of the lift bracket and pins, but you can also see the height difference between the pins and their respective holes. In the upper center of the pic, you can see the bottom of the bushing and the swingarm pivot pin and hole is clearly visible. With the handle fully lifted, the lift bracket is at its lowest position. I'd say the pins are about 2" lower than the holes. In order to get the pins to their proper height, I have to push down on the handle to raise the lift plate. The problem with doing that is I now have diminished lifting ability because I'm not using the full lift stroke, but around half. At the end of the day, the height issue isn't necessarily a huge issue because I had adequate ground clearance. The biggest issue I had was the alignment of the pins.



    After tightening everything down, I tried lifting my bike. The back tire came up with no problem, but the front tire was still on the ground. That's where the adjuster rod comes into play. I lower the bike and use the threaded adjuster rod to pivot the bracket back. By pivoting the bracket, the bike is tilted back towards the rear tire and the front tire is raised. I go to lift my bike, but now the stand doesn't line up. I have to tilt the stand back and lift it up so I can slide the pins in.

    I called MotoMFG and they're very helpful. I would say their customer service was very good. The guy I talked to was very willing to listen to me and genuinely wanted to help. I was fully expecting him to tell me I had made a mistake somewhere. I really thought I had made some mistake in assembling the stand because it didn't work nearly as well as the video shows. Unfortunately, he basically told me, "What you're experiencing is normal for the stands. You have to tilt the stand to align everything." Well, if you watch their video, they roll the stand over and everything just lines up. The guy did say my satisfaction is guaranteed and I can send it back if I'm not happy. I told him I race on May 5th and I'll use the stand at the track before deciding if I want to keep the stand.

    Here's my problem with the stand. First off, when you watch the video, it looks like it's a great stand. Everything is aligned and there are no issues whatsoever. When you actually use it, it's not quite as easy to use. I shouldn't have to tilt my stand and/or pick it up to get the pins to align. If it works properly in the video, it should work properly when I get it home.

    Second, when I spend $375 for something, it should work properly and be able to replace the Pit Bull stands I have. Yes, I can use the pit Bulls by myself if I ever have to pit alone at the track, but the MotoMFG stand looked like it would be easier to use by myself. Since it hooks up to the bike closer to the engine, I would be able to keep the bike more stable while I manipulate the stand instead of having to hold the bike by the tail while I align the rear stand. Since I now have to tilt the MotoMFG stand and pick it up to get the pins to align, I've lost any advantage of using the MotoMFG stand over the Pit Bulls.

    Don't get me wrong, the MotoMFG is very well constructed and it's incredibly sturdy once you've lifted the bike. You can jump on and off the bike without feeling like the bike is going to tumble. I was also very happy with their customer service, even though it didn't help me.

    I think the issue may come from the stand itself. If you check out the MotoMFG site, they are very Ducati dominant. It looks like MotoMFG makes a ton of prducts for Ducatis and I'm sure they work very well, but I race a GSXR. Their video shows them using the stand on a Ducati 848. If the stand is designed with Ducati specs in mind (height of anchor points, angle of bracket and pins, etc.), then it works perfectly for Ducatis. When you try to get it to work with a different bike, you basically go back to the drawing board. Sure, the design of the stand remains the same, but the height and angles are going to be different. I don't know if they took some measurements and thought, "Well, the distances aren't too far off, so I'm sure we don't have to change anything, just move the lift bracket do a different hole and use the adjuster rod to get the pins into position," but I expected everything to work perfectly. Instead, I'm about 90% certain I'm sending this stand back. In short, if you own a Ducati, I'd say go for it! The stand does everything it's supposed to do and it does it well. If you own a different bike, be prepared for disappointment.
    Last edited by CaneZach; Sat Apr 28th, 2012 at 06:00 PM.

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