I need to increase my budget...

[crazy steve]

... so I can pay better attention...

Been thrashing on the 'for resale' SG pretty hard, and got the forks rebuilt and on today. Woo hoo, the bike's now on two wheels! But quickly found a boo-boo...

When I was selecting parts for this bike (picking the nicer/easier to repair or clean/most functional out of my 'spares'), I compared the three 'extra' centerstands I had and noting they were all the same height (with the 'standard' being taller than all of them), assumed I could use any. So after sandblasting/powdercoating it, using it to hold the bike up while I installed the remainder of the chassis bits, today I went to drop it off the stand and it wouldn't go up all the way. The foot pedal hits the special exhaust, dammit.

Well, it seems there's three centerstands; The 'regular' standard, about 1/2" taller than the Special stand, the Special stand, and a shorter, same-height-as-the-special 'standard' centerstand. The problem is the special exhaust is 'splayed' out wider, so the foot pedal extends out further to match. Of course, I picked the wrong one... back to the parts pile...

Lot's of little oddities... the special brake pedal return spring is different from the standard, as is one of the brake hose clips. The other interesting thing I found was inside the '80-81 standard air forks. As has been noted, these have different springs compared to the '78-79 standards. But that's not all that's different; the dampers are longer (by about 1/2"), as are the rebound springs. These also have better seals on the dampers. The spring differences were that the 'air' springs are actually longer than the non-air units, but uses a smaller wire size for a lower, softer rate.

I'll post some pics later this week of the build....

[SFerinTEXAS]

Sounds like the Star Ship Enterprise. Going where no ones gone before.

[jwhughes3]

Damn Steve... thanks

Thanks for that bit of info to file away and forget later.

Its timely since I was just going to search for a CS for Great Ranger and now know to look for only a Special CS. I thought they were all the same.

Your catalogue of parts must be impressive.

John

[lee_dutcher]

I got a center stand for sale? pm me if intrested

[crazy steve]

I got a center stand for sale? pm me if intrested

Oh, I've got the right stand for it; actually, two of the three 'spares' I had would have been right, I just used the one that had the least amount of minor damage. Didn't even think of checking the length of the foot pedal arm...

What I want to know, where did this oddball stand come from? I've run into numerous 'strange' parts (that according to the parts fiche don't exist), so it makes you wonder.

[Kit]

Interesting. I wonder if there are different sizes of side stand as well. The little "knob" or whatever you want to call it, sits underneath the exhaust, and it takes a little fishing around to find it. I was thinking about welding a little extension onto it, but if it turns out there is a standard and a special version, I suspect someone put a standard on it.

[crazy steve]

There's at least two different lengths of sidestand too. Maybe I'll pull the various bits out and post some specs....

[cywelchjr]

Interesting. I wonder if there are different sizes of side stand as well. The little "knob" or whatever you want to call it, sits underneath the exhaust, and it takes a little fishing around to find it. I was thinking about welding a little extension onto it, but if it turns out there is a standard and a special version, I suspect someone put a standard on it.

Yes there is a special and a standard side stand. They are different lengths because of the different rear tire sizes, which also is something that needs to be addressed if changing the rear wheel on a standard to a 16", you need to get the special center and side stands, or cut the stand ones down because of the size difference. Same with putting a 17" on a special, you would need to get a standard center and side stand to go with the larger tire size.

[crazy steve]

....because of the different rear tire sizes, which also is something that needs to be addressed if changing the rear wheel on a standard to a 16", you need to get the special center and side stands, or cut the stand ones down because of the size difference. Same with putting a 17" on a special, you would need to get a standard center and side stand to go with the larger tire size.

It's not that simple unfortunately...

After further research, it appears that the centerstands are all the same height, or pretty close. Measuring the various ones I have here (two off Es, one off a F, one off a SG, and one off a H/SH), they're all within 1/8" of each other which could be accounted for by build tolerance (about 10 3/8" from the bottom of the 'foot' to the centerline of the pivot bolt hole). Now, where they are different is the 'arm' the foot pedal mounts to. The Special centerstand moves the pedal out about 3/4" compared to the standard. If you're running the OEM mufflers on a Special (or H model), the '78-80 'standard' stand won't come all the way up; the pedal hits the muffler. If you're using an aftermarket exhaust and it doesn't stick out more than 1 1/4" (measured from the back end of the muffler/footpeg support to the outside of the muffler) past the support, you could use either, although the Special pedal would stick out rather far.

To a certain degree, you have the same issue with the sidestand. While these are different lengths between the models, these also have different length 'arms', again to conform to the mufflers. The Special stand has a longer arm compared to the 'standard' sidestand and is shaped a bit different. It's interesting to note that the '81 Standard (which uses the Special exhaust) uses the same center and sidestand as all the Specials, even though it has the 17" rear wheel.

So if you have a '78-80 'standard', you could use either type stand, but if you have a Special (or H) with OEM exhaust, you have to use the Special bits...

[cywelchjr]

That would explain why guys with specials complain about how hard it is to get them up on the center stand. that means a LOT more air under the rear tire on them than with the standard. At least the side stand is shorter giving the proper lean to it. I'd think the H would have a different side stand cause I'd think the special side stand would leave it leaning too far over with the right tire on the rear.

[skids]

[QUOTE=crazy steve;325734]Lot's of little oddities... The other interesting thing I found was inside the '80-81 standard air forks. As has been noted, these have different springs compared to the '78-79 standards. But that's not all that's different; the dampers are longer (by about 1/2"), as are the rebound springs. These also have better seals on the dampers. The spring differences were that the 'air' springs are actually longer than the non-air units, but uses a smaller wire size for a lower, softer rate.QUOTE]

I doubt you would be doing this, but I acquired 78 fork caps to replace the airfork caps on my 81H. I don't use air and I broke a schraeder valve on one of them. I thought I could just replace them with the manual adjustibles. No dice. They dont work. Air caps were supposed to be hi-tech (like the oil cooler) for their time. HA!