Side stand bracket
Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 10:15 pm
I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but on my seemingly never-ending ride back through France last week (I left my UK house keys in the French gaff and only realised at 4 o'clock in the morning in a hotel room halfway back to the Channel port), my side stand bolts vibrated themselves loose. So loose that one of the bolts had about half of its thread free and the other bolt had loosened off by a couple of turns.
When I realised this, the bike was propped up on its bar end against a wall and the toolkit 13mm spanner pressed into service as best I could. But by the time I got home (and felt like looking at the bike again), the bolts had loosened off again, although not as badly as before.
So this afternoon I have been removing said sidestand unit, degreasing the bolts and bracket and degreasing the frame mounting points, running a tap down them to remove any crud, and then blowing everything out with an airline. Once all mating surfaces were clean and grease-free, I applied semi-permanent Loctite to the bolts and torqued everything up again.
Now let's see the little bastard come loose again. I'd recommend everyone check these bolts for tightness, especially if you've been doing a lot of high-speed mileage. Loosing either or both is not recommended.
When I realised this, the bike was propped up on its bar end against a wall and the toolkit 13mm spanner pressed into service as best I could. But by the time I got home (and felt like looking at the bike again), the bolts had loosened off again, although not as badly as before.
So this afternoon I have been removing said sidestand unit, degreasing the bolts and bracket and degreasing the frame mounting points, running a tap down them to remove any crud, and then blowing everything out with an airline. Once all mating surfaces were clean and grease-free, I applied semi-permanent Loctite to the bolts and torqued everything up again.
Now let's see the little bastard come loose again. I'd recommend everyone check these bolts for tightness, especially if you've been doing a lot of high-speed mileage. Loosing either or both is not recommended.