Bike stand?

So I'm curious as to whether or not anybody has ever found a regular stand, be it front or back, that would work on a first generation VFR. I'm not talking about the center stand, thankfully I've already got that covered. I mean just one of those regular stands that folks would normally hook to their axles and push that into a motorcycle up into the air. Since I don't have enough room for a lift table in my garage, I was thinking that maybe I could just grab a couple of regular stands and use those to get it off the ground. If anybody has ever found one that is ideal for one of these bikes, I'd love to know and hopefully get a hold of one (or two, one for each end of course).

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The RC24/26 rear axle is hollow and lends itself to running some all-thread thru it with two bobbins for a more secure forked style stand. One of the bikes I bought had it.

Just need to make sure the stand has enough lift going up the the axle to get the wheel off of the ground. You can drill and tap into the swingarm, but I really dislike drilling holes when I don't have to.

I have a couple just standard pad type rear stands that I have zero issues with too. The VFR swingarm is square and flat and is a perfect candidate.



Oh and Pitbull makes really good stands.



Front fork stands always seem a bit sketchy for me, but It's probably just the ones I've tried. I think the VFR has decent access to the bottom of it's steering stem so that style might be an option.

 

+1 on the flat rear stand. That is what I do for all rear bike action.

 

Flat pad is what I use as well


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Chris,

I asked the same question back in October.

These are usually referred to as "paddock stands". You will LOVE getting a set for your bike! They are pretty much mandatory for doing any serious work on your bike. Too bad you can't get a lift table too. Those are a real game changer!

BTW...I know you said 1st Gen.......but exactly what year and model VFR are you talking about here?

Here's the thread I started, in case it's of interest:

https://vfrworld.com/threads/paddock-stands-recommendations.61299/

 

+1 for flat pads. I have used a Pit Bull front stand on a previous bike and does take a minute to master and 2 minutes to develop a confidence.

 

The flat pads work fine. The stands that work with swingarm spools are a whole lot better, but you work with what you can. I just won't sit on a bike that's up on flat pads whereas I wouldn't have an issue jumping up and down on another bike of mine on a Pitbull rear spool stand.

Harbor Freight used to have the best flat pad stand. I've had this one for like 10 years now, but I don't think they sell them anymore. If they did, I'd buy another one or two. They have a little lip on the end of the pad that gives some security and they also extend really far in--far enough that I can use it on a KE100 which might as well be the same width as a bicycle.



I bought another paddock stand on Amazon really cheap. It's what I'm using on my VF now. It works fine, it's just not as nice as the Harbor Freight one. For $43 though, you can't argue. "Donext Motorcycle Stand 850LB Sport Bike Rear Wheel Lift Swingarm Paddock Stands Black".

 

It's the same maroon bike in my avatar....it's my 1987 VFR700F2. I think the front axle is hollow, but the only thing on the rear axle to "grab" are the bolts on the ends of the axle.

So the 1st pic here is exactly what I'm working with on my rear axle, so that flat pad rear stand looks perfect. I wish I had a hollow rear axle like that 2nd pic, cause that's how I thought most paddock stands for the rear of bikes are set up (though I could obviously be mistaken).



So my big question now is, would this set work for both the front and back of an 87 VFR700F2?

https://www.amazon.com/Donext-Motorcycle-Swingarm-Paddock-Stands/dp/B0BTSD2BP3/

 

Then buy an 86 swingarm. Actually I'm surprised the 87 is different. It might not be the original axle.

 

From the looks of it, the flat pad stand should work just fine on the 87's swingarm. The only difference is that the 'U' mount *might* work to grab those bolts on the ends of the axle.

 

So did someone tap and install bolts in your original hollow axle? The 86 and 87 axle part #s are the same.

How about some pics of what you're talking about?

 

Well how about that, I stand corrected. The rear axle is in fact hollow, and I can put a stick all the way through it. The front axle, not so much.

 

Chris, I think you'll find your front axil to be solid, at least my 86 is solid.
Colddevil up there on post #7 has a good set up for almost everything except front end removal then its the bottle jack under the front head pipes.
Word of warning, if you are jacking the front from the head pipes with the bike supported on a rear stand, the bike will want to tip off the left side of the rear stand. I fashioned two angle iron brackets to hold the swing arm to the stand just long enough to put jack stands under the forward frame members.The picture shows the bracket reversed and not being used, I did this to both sides of the PitBull stand.

 

Y'know, I do intend to pull the front end off and apart to rebuild the forks, and I was kind of wondering how in the world to accomplish that (though I figured I'd cross that bridge when I got to it), but this is a pretty good explanation of how to pull that off. My front wheel is seized in place, and I'm guessing it'd due to the caliper(s) not wanting to loosen up, so there's probably 2 caliper rebuilds (if not 3) happening, too.