Bike stands

It is almost winter and I am going to be storing my bike soon. I need some advice on purchasing a bike stand. Is it necessary to raise the front and back of the bike or can I get away with just putting the back up on a stand. Also, which stands do you guys recommend and approximately how much should I look at paying?

Thanks for your help and ride safe.

My friends leave there bikes on the tires all winter and it doens't change anything. I only have a stand for the rear of my bike and it will be on the front tire all winter, I don't think it will do anything. If you want to make sure, just move it a little bit every week so it won't be on the same spot all winter.

yeah, the rear is fine, just make sure your tires presure is at the MAX. It would really suck having to change tires before they are needed, cause they got flat spots.

You can get stands with wheels to slide under or without wheels.

Thanks for your help guys. I stopped by CycleWorld in my area today and got a price quote a couple different stands.
Is it difficult to actually raise the bike? Will it take two people or can i do it myself?

It's real easy raising the bike on the rear stand, you can do it by yourselve easy. If you get a flat spot, you will have to do a huge burnout till the flat spot just goes away(this is just a joke so don't go ahead and do this):bigup: but don't do it in the garage at home. The last time I pulled a giant smoke show I did it in my garage not to damage my new driveway and I couldn't do it in the streets because I couldn't have riden the bike home because I smoked it till it blew up (just before I changed the tire on my Gixxer), my girlfriend got real pissed off because the house smelled like burnt tires for a week This is what the tire looked like when I was done:







As you can tell, it made a real mess on the bike and I don't advise you to do this unless you like scraping rubber from your undertail (and your garage door) and endure you gilfriend nagging you for a month about it!!!

Ouch. Nah, I might just get that stand. Doing a burn-out on my bike is not in the plans for the near future at least. =) Thanks.

Yeah right, they all say that but once you do your first one, you'll want to do those all the time, it's really cool doing it on a bike, alot more than in a car.

hahah.... alright. I will take your word it for now. Maybe one day I will have to light up the rear tire on my bike.

What do you ride?

I have a 98 GSX-R 750 with alot of mods (stroker kit to 852cc, full Hindle exhaust, K&N, TRE mod, remapped ECU (that's right it's got fuel injection), sprokets, Yoshimura stage 1 cams and I will be porting the head this winter. What do you have?

Well, not much compared to your work of art. I am riding a 99 CBR F4. I love it but I am still a relative rookie so no mods in the near future at least. Perhaps an exhaust so I am at least a little more noticeable to other cars on the street. I love riding though, I have definitely fallen in love the freedom of being on a motorcycle.

I know what you mean and my bike is not a work of art, I stunt with it and it's full of scratches and shit like that but that's the way I like my bike. I don't like having a perfect bike because whe you stunt like I do with my friends, your bike will go down (and so will you) and when it does, it will get scratched so I don't mind scratching a bike that is not perfect but doing it on a new perfect bike, then that's a different thing. You should come and ride with me and my friends next year, you'll have fun with us don't worry!!! My bike is still nice and all but not perfect. Here's the latest pics of it:


it's the first bike in the pic and


again first bike in the pic (and I'm the guy with beige pants and black coat in the back) and those guys in the back are my riding budies. They all stunt with me and there all better than me (the guy with the red coat is my best friend and he use to race professionnaly in the states!!) (note polished frame and anodized swing arm and flush mount flashers)

Alot more pics of me and my friends (it's one of my friends site) over here (our stunt sessions and some of the guys when they went down ): http://www.visiondigitale.com/moto/

I don't think I could keep up with you and your buddies. I do however need a riding group. A couple of my close friends are still thinking about getting bikes. I need to ride with more experienced riders so I can step my skills up to their level.

Your bike is looking sweet though. Damn... I am a Honda fan right now. Will you be going Gixxer all your life?

Well this was my first summer riding so I'm sure you can keep up. I just got good real quick thanks to my friends who showed me how to stunt and shit like that but I'm good with anything that as an engine. It's like riding a bike is natural to me but I go at my own pace and the important thing is not to try to follow your friends, ride at your own pace (very very important). Like you said, ride with me and my friends for a summer and you'll be doing burnouts and stoppies and endos and wheelies and can cans all day long. Whe go to a special little place whe have and whe stunt there all day long and cops can't do anything about it because it's a private property. Next year, you ride with me and that's an order!!!!:bigup:

Well considering this is my first bike, I can't say if I'll stick with Suzuki all my life but it looks like that now. I've tryed all my friends bikes (F4s, VTR1000s, TL1000R, Ninjas, ZRX1200s etc...) and my favorite bike so far is the Gixxer. My bike is so dam fast I don't think I'm ever going to sell it but that's what I said about my last Civic with a B16 turbo with forged internals and it's long gone (I wanted money for a house and now I have it so I'm glad I sold it though) and now I have a bike wich I like a million times more than driving a car but you know about that already:bigup: . So where are you from?

I am actually from Toronto! That kinda sucks because it is a little bit of a distance from where you are located.... but hey, a damn good excuse to go for a ride! hahah I sat on my friend's '02 Gixxer 600 and it didn't fit me at all. My legs wouldn't fit properly into the molding on the tank. I am 6'2" but I haven't really heard of anyone having a problem like that before.

I agree with what you say though, go at my own pace and learn that way. It is much safer to ride with a group of friends though, especially ones that you can trust and know how to ride well themselves. You are lucky to have that already.

Damn, it is getting cold around here... are you still riding?

I know your from Toronto but it's a big place, wich part exactly. My in laws live in Missisauga so I go there about every month and I'm getting very intimate with the 401!!!!

Well I rode yesterday and I'm pretty sure it was the last time. I'll be putting the bike away when the snow is on the ground so maybe still one or two rides (I hope). You, are you still riding?

My bad... i live in Scarborough. So east of Mississauga. You would pass the exit to my area on your trip down the 401. Well, i am contemplating putting away next week. I rode last week because it was beautiful outside but once that sun went down it was friggin cold.

Are you doing all the storage-prep stuff yourself? or are your buddies going help walk you through it?

Nope I'll do everything alone, I know all my stuff about bikes and cars.

Well it's official, my bike is winterised because of the sh!t load of snow whe got this weekend (I'm sure you got that to). I guess it will be out in about 5 months (beginning of April for sure). Next time I go down there, I'll let you know and whe could meet and you could show me your bike. It will give me an excuse to leave my inlaws place for a couple of hours (god I hate my inlaws!!)

Bye bye bike. =( Mine is sitting in the middle of the garage still. I put the cover on her though. Oh what a sad day it was. I think I will do the rest of the little things this weekend... what steps do you take to prepare your baby for the winter?

When you head out in spring, definitely gotta hook up. I have only ridden with one other rider once so far... that is one of the best parts of riding is cruising with other bikes.

Damn snow!!

Well I have a cover on it for now to just to keep the dust out and it's in the corner of my garage so I can park my family car in the garage so the wife and kids don't freeze their asses off when they leave for day care.

Well basically I wash and wax it, then fill the tank (to the top so it doesn't rust) with nice fresh gas and stabilizer, then change the oil and filter, check the air pressure in the tires so I don't get flat spots on the front tires (the rear is on the stand so it takes up less space that way) and put a little bit of oil in the cylinders to keep rust away. I usually start it every two weeks and let it run to get to operating temps to make sure everything stays nice and in working order and I always add a little bit of oil in the cylinders after I've ran it to make sure I don't get any rust in the cylinders.

Well for sure whe'll hook up next year. All my friends like to ride so whe could meet half way and ride somewhere (like Calaboogie!! if you know that place).

Thanks for the help.

Caboogie? Where the hell is that? But hey, sounds like a plan to me. I will try to get some buddies out for the ride as well. Just have to sit for about 5 months and be all sad and depressed.

Have a great weekend.