Paddock stand

Hi Phillip, I fear that your stand is well worn. On any commando the stand will lift the rear wheel about 1 inch clear of the ground,  and this is particularly important for the mk3 as you're supposed to be able to pull the rear wheel out !!

I would check if the stand top lugs are worn, or even worse if its cut into the gear box cradle , as it sits there and vibrates its way through the metal. But all is not lost because you can build up these two areas with weld and grind flat to suit.

Ps, to get the front wheel out, put it on the centre stand and place a block if wood or car jack under the front isolastics. Good luck. 

I had this issue, had the cradle and the mating surfaces on the centre stand welded and then angle ground until I got the 1" lift at the rear wheel. 

I have marked up one of your photos showing where to get the weld applied. You cradle does not look too worn so on yours you could just get the 2 flat pads on the centre stand that touch the cradle welded. My guess your stand has never been right as I replacement I bought in the 90's was with the pads in the wrong position.

I have done 2, one where the cradle and centre stand were worn so both needed welding, a second where the centre stand had the large pads in the wrong position so that just had the pads welded.

Hi Phil,  can you post a close up pic of the bike with the stand down ,so we can see what sort of angle the stand goes to ? Taa

That looks like a very newish TT100 on the back wheel. If you have something similar on the front then your mainstand is fighting a losing battle against the increased ground clearance. The wear in the stand stops probably do not help either. For a simple solution I would be brazing some pads on the stand feet.

are they longer than standard?

Both my 850's , Mk 1A and Mk 3 , rock easily back onto their centre stands but do end up with both wheels touching the ground. I've always found it easy to slip two one inch thick wood blocks under the centre stand by tilting bike first one way then the other nudging a block under each stand leg with your foot as bike is tilted - 20 second job.

The rear dampers aren't too long. So perhaps the front forks have been fitted with longer damper rods or a damper upgrade that has increased the travel ie greater extension.

I've modified a paddock stand for my Mk3 to lift the centre stand clear of the ground to enable me to slip under a turn table pad. Its a real "bodge it and co" mod but works a treat. If you're interested I'll take a photo or two of it.

The foot tang on the stand looks to be touching the road, the wrongly made stand was the same on mine but worse, so bad it broke off. 

So if they are slightly longer in extension that would sit the bike further back on its centre stand causing both wheels to be grounded. Not sure how I find out if that’s the case but will look into it.

There are mods to the front forks which give an extra 1" of travel if you do not also extend the top bush or install a spacer. This extra travel allows the top and bottom bush to get too close at full extension and with the loose clearances of the day the legs can momentarily jam giving stiction.

Hi, my MK3 was exactly the same and its been like that (both wheels on the ground) for the last 30 years, at the moment i'm part way through a well deserved full restoration and when i removed the cradle the wear was quite bad to say the least ! (see attached pictures).

A good friend of mine TIG welded the cradle and i dressed it back before paint, the bike isn't on wheels yet but hopefully this should have at least bought it back to factory standard hopefully.

Kind regards,

Ian

I can only get these three photos on. It's just an old paddock stand squeezed in to achieve the correct width, Spacers fitted to get the adapters to the correct height, two modified spindle Hex sockets and a couple of lengths of steel pipe. A bit rough but it works.

Dave

Looks like there's only one Hmmm?

Philip:

What tire (tyre?) size are you running on the rear?

350 or 410?  Might make a difference on how the rear tire is hanging?

Mike

Plenty of wear spots here.

Resulting on a well used bike in elongated mounting holes in stand and in cradle, worn pivot bushes, scraped surfaces at the feet of the stand (the flattish part), dented welded-on stop strip on stand, dented cradle.

It all adds up.

I would think it could be hard to find a Commando fitted with these 19" 4.10 tyres with 1" room under the rear wheel. With say 90/90 front and 100/90 rear Roadriders, it's a different story.

Hi Philip,

Nice looking MK 3!

You could try something like this, also helps with storing bikes in small spaces...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ryde-Motorcyle-Centre-Stand-Mover/dp/B07GH53Y99/ref=asc_df_B07GH53Y99/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=375465821417&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16957826966825907155&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006918&hvtargid=pla-815896594722&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=75109684965&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=375465821417&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16957826966825907155&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006918&hvtargid=pla-815896594722

More robust versions are vailable for more dosh...

My MK 3 (with Avon RoadRiders) sits on one of these & the rear is clearly raised above terra firma, it's just like a skateboard ;-)