Himalayan - side stand

The side stand on the Himalayan is bloody awful and Royal Enfield should be ashamed of it. This is even more true as the bike is not the easiest bike to put on the centre stand.

On my BMW R65LS, for comparison the stands are no issue. The side stand holds the bike securely, and it is easy to get the bike onto and off the centre stand.  In addition if either wheel is taken off, the bike tips to rest on the other one. 

As standard, on a flat surface, on the side stand,  the Himalyan leans in about 5 degrees. It's really not enough.   The usual remedy is to shorten the stand by around 1cm which increases the lean angle to around 10 degrees.

10 degrees is still not much of an angle.  The problem is not with the length of the stand, but more with the angle it comes out at.  The ideal would be a longer stand touching the ground further away from the bike and giving a lean angle of 12 to 15 degrees.

But the bracket that the side stand is is welded to the frame, so basically owners are stuck with it.

If  the side stand is made shorter then the point where it meets the ground becomes closer, and the danger of it tipping over to the left (in essence pole vaulting over the stand) is raised. This will happen when the centre of gravity of the bike, which is quite high on a Himalayan goes to the left of the point where the stand touches the ground.

A better solution is to bend the stand.  A bend to move the bottom of the stand outwards by around 2 inches will give a lean angle of 15 degrees, while moving the point of contact with ground outwards by about 1.7 inches. Very practical, but it would look really silly.

The wire bracket which enables the stand to be pushed down while astride the bike could be dispensed with which would mean the stand is just sticking out of the bike the same amount as now.  But it would still look silly.

Also as the bike leans further it will but more strain on the side stand, which may tend to bend it some more!  It would depend on the thickness of metal that the stand is made of.

Those people who have dropped the suspension on the bike by 20cm using drop links have a bigger problem. If the stand is shortened then the point it contacts the ground becomes even closer to the bike.

If I decide to keep the bike I may buy another stand and try bending it to see if it does look silly.  But I'll probably just live with it until I sell it.