Honda NT650 Hawk GT tip: centerstand stop

Ok, so you've got your trick aftermarket exhaust, and you've installed it. Whoo hoo! But you had to remove the centerstand because it either a) gets in the way of the exhaust pipe (you have somethhing like a TBR) or b) the stock exhaust isn't there anymore to prevent the centerstand from bonking into the chain and swingarm.

feh.

Now you can't oil the chain easily, or work on the front wheel, or the rear wheel, or put your 6 year old daughter on the bike, or check the oil level easily, .... Not having a centerstand is a pain.

But wait! you bought a Supertrapp that comes with a centerstand stop bracket thingie! That should solve your problems! No such luck. For starters the instructions suck, and you need a honda part that only came on bikes with california emmisions for the bracket to work as designed. This means you're one step ahead of ground zero, but still stuck. Here is the bracket they're talking about, it's part number 9.

Here's what you do:

If you have TBR exhaust you can cut the upper cross brace out entirely without problems. I expect this trick will work with other exhaust systems but I've not tested it. At the bottom is a picture of one that's been reinforced, but I don't think that's necessary.

Don't buy the Honda part to make the Supertrapp part work. It's expensive, heavy, and might require drilling and tapping your frame to install it. One of my Hawks was missing the hole, it's a 49 state version and didn't ever have the emisions equipment, so they never noticed the frame wasn't finished.

If you don't have the supertrapp part, just call them up and they'll sell you one for $15 or so. The rubber bumper is a separate part, and they're cheap, and wear out. It's worth getting a couple.

CSS(center stand stay) P/N 030-2489 for $15.14
Rubber Bumper for the CSS P/N 020-1961 for $1.37

Take the Supertrapp centerstand stop to the hardware store and buy a bolt and two nuts and assemble them like this:



Get stainless metric hardware so you can use all the same tools as on the rest of the bike and so they won't rust and get stuck. You'll want to adjust them sometime when you change your ride height with a fancy shock. Stainless metric stuff is a little more expensive, but worth it just for the hassle factor.

Then install it on the bike like this:



This picture shows it with the centerstand spring removed for clarity and so I could adjust the height of the centerstand. The height can vary a lot if you have an adjustable shock, or one that's longer or shorter than a stock one, and I expect there's a certain variation in the Supertrapp Part.

This particular bike has a TBR exhaust, not a Supertrapp, I had to remove the upper cross brace from the centerstand to clear the pipe. I've had no problems with it at all. If you're wary of just cutting parts without reinforcing them, you can brace it like this:



This image came from Greg Dunn, it's his centerstand. The diagonal bits are the parts he welded on. The bit he cut out would be above the top of the diagonal bits.