SIDE STAND

[ArthurFarrow]

Bit of a disaster last Saturday the day after I was in hospital trying to get my heart back in Rhythm. Cardioversion... jump start!. I have been pretty bad for some time. Ok bike riding but 50 paces crashes me into a mass of breathless blubber

Surgeon  tells me take it easy, but I go in the workshop and the Hesketh is on its side!! Fall partly broken by my 1954 BMW but tank paint previously immaculate is bashed and a tank dent. Bike had been on its very upright side stand and looks like I had a rear tyre puncture from last use the previous Tuesday (actually it was a loose tyre valve core!) . Result rear of bike sinks and bike crashes to right

Incidentally : A friend at Triumph says it is standard practice when designing a stand to ensure bike vdoes not fall over with a flat tyre hence why some modern bikes lean a bit radically.

I got it back upright again god knows how but no way I could get on centre stand with flat tyre, infact it was almost impossible to move fore and aft.  Dropping the side stand again was not a solution as she is going to fall again immediately. What as bastard !! The only way I could leave it was to let it fall over again!! So I’m left holding it like a nerd with nowhere to go, what the hell happens with a flat when out riding?!

A puncture I can fix but to be honest what an impossible swine on the road. I'm not weak but nothing like strong enough to get it on the rear stand with a puncture. Do you just have to sit on the bugger for hours before somebody offers help?

Fortunately I had my mobile in my pocket so was able to call a friend who came over in 10 minutes and between us after several tries got the sod on its centre stand

My  bike sits pretty upright on the stand, but the rear end sinks a bit on the side stand when raised from the “park” position maybe rear springs are a bit soft but seems normal otherwise

I find it very hard to believe nobody has redesigned a Hesketh side stand..or have they ? It just cannot be impossible and I seem to recollect seeing a picture of one of the so called "finale" ones with a very different side stand.

Any thoughts would be most appreciated and if anybody has a buggered side stand could you pass it over for experiments...if successful I know a bloke who would make a batch.


ARTHUR aka Depressed  of Stretton on Dunsmore 

[Chris N]

Hi Arthur
i have little faith in the side stand too, the bike is very upright when on it compared to my other bikes.
the designers must have been limited by the fact the assembly is engine mounted and not frame mounted.
my bike has a small issue i will be dealing with soon in this area.

[Dave Snr]

Hi Arthur,

Sorry to hear of your ongoing health issues - we missed you at the HOC/Vincent rally - there were some very experienced Hesketh owners there.

You mentioning a puncture or tyre valve problem leads me to ask a serious question. Knowing you've  only recently bought the bike, make sure it has inner tubes in the tyres. May sound a daft question, but I have come across Heskeths with Astralite wheels running tubeless. While the Astralite wheel is reasonably air tight, the rim profile is not correct for tubeless use - it doesn't have the small ribs that the tyre pops over when inflated that helps keep the side wall tight on the rim. The net result if you run tubeless is that the tyres deflate, slowly at first, but more rapidly as the pressure drops. So with Astralite wheels you have to run inner tubes.
If you want to run tubelss and radials, then you need to update to the Triumph wheels and suspension that Mick did on the Mk2 V1000 from the mid 90's onwards.

Side stands - I have seen a different side stand on later Heskeths, probably introduced by Mick. It's much longer and can be operated when sitting on the bike. Seem to remember it on a Mk2 V1000. I've looked through my photo collection, but can't find a decent view of it. Hopefully someone who has one, may respond on the forum.

Dave H

[Rob B]

Hi Dave,

As just mentioned to Arthur, the angle that the bike leans over and ease (or not) of hefting it onto the centre stand depends largely on the position of the rear wheel spindle eccentric. A lot of people have this "over centre" to reduce the seat height but the bike stands dangerously upright and is a struggle to lift onto the centre stand. I have the spindle "under centre" so that the bike leans sufficiently to stay upright in case of a puncture, and lifting onto the centre stand is easier!!! Mind you, if anyone has experienced a Laverda triple then they will know that that is the best designed centre stand ever and Hesketh is possibly the worst....

RB