Lightweight centre stand

... was a much lighter item. The 2 level system depended on a rotating bell crank type arrangement. The FB I had was missing the centre stand so I had to adapt one from another bike. This is the drawing which shows the commonality of frame with the Norton lightweights but detail on the stand is hard to pick out. I've attached as a pdf as well.frame%20drawing.pdf

Hi John and Ian, 
A fascinating piece of the Norton Lightweight's ancestry!   I have only the most basic knowledge of FB's but it sounds as though they were quite innovative and well thought through for budget lightweights of their time.  The only partial answer I have found to the hopelessly inadequate and annoying Norton Lightweight centre stand problems was to replace my Navigator's early centre stand with the later one fitted to the Electra with the cranked arm on the near side for your foot to add leverage as you lift it onto the stand.  The NOC shop has them (part number 24682)for sale for £120 before VAT which is expensive but as I find it makes it far easier to get the bike onto its stand I felt it was money well spent.   In my experience it isn't perfect - mine needed the weld improved where the arm is attached to the stand and the 'ledge' around the pivot point which acts as a stop to frame better defined with careful use of my trusty angle grinder!   With a bit of fettling it has proved robust and reasonably effective in use on both bikes.  However, the geometry of the stand and lever isn't as good as on my 500 cc Royal Enfield Bullet which is far easier to lift onto its stand despite being 20lbs heavier!   A well placed and robust lifting handle on the Bullet (rather like the one on the De Luxe Nortons) is an added bonus which makes the job so much easier!  .......another example of the lack of development and funding that made the Lightweight Norton's such an 'almost but not quite' success back in the day!   Nick

When I was rebuilding mine I had extensive discussions on the very helpful FB forum but never managed to get the right parts for it.

Nick - I bought the Club's stand but was most unimpressed by the fact that the stand legs were just about vertical when the foot pedal was touching the ground. I returned it and modified my original stand by welding a curved foot from a Triumph stand to it. Sacrilege I grant you but what better use for a Triumph than to mend a Norton!

The foot pedal now rests about 1/2" off the floor when the stand is deployed, with the legs well over centre. I agree that the stand - even with a foot pedal - is nowhere near as good as it could be. My Commando was a doddle in comparison even fully loaded and even the hefty Triumph Tiger 955i went onto the stand with little more than my weight on the lever.

Having said that my BSA/Suzuki hybrid is even harder to get on the stand than the Electra, although I think I may have the wrong item fitted as it lifts the back wheel about 3" off the deck.

This is the NOC stand showing the angle:

I can see why you sent it back Ian, the foot pedal geometry is completely wrong.   Attached is a photo of a later stand from the club shop with the foot pedal at the right angle that I have fitted to my Navigator which matches the one on my Electra.   I can get both onto the centre stand with a very firm push with my foot and a strong pull on the rear mudguard support without too much physical damage!   It lifts the rear wheel about 2" off the floor.   Actually they are a great improvement on the awful original stand so I don't begrudge the cost.   It sounds your Triumph foot pedal solution is even better.   Did you have any problems welding it to the cast iron stand leg?  

... I would have been happier with that. Welding went OK - and I'm one of the world's worst welders - and I think the original stand is mild steel not cast. In any case the weld (old style stick arc weld) seemed to do the trick and it hasn't broken yet. It does look pretty horrible however, but as in normal use it's well tucked away that's fine.

This is it in action (note the natty little rubber):