O.K. here's yet another post from me. Sorry to be such a pain, but I have somewhat of a poll to take.
I am going to buy a jack or front and rear jackstands for my motorcycles. Which do you guys prefer?

I am leaning towards the actual motorcycle jack over the front and rear stands because it seems to me that you wouldn't be able to use the stands if you needed to do something like remove the front forks. Right?

The jack is very slightly more expensive, but maybe worth it.

What say you?

 

Make the stands yourself and save a heap of cash - see previous posts. You can make a front stand that fits into the bottom of the triple tree, so fork removal is easier.

 

I have a set of front and rear universal stands that I got new from Handy Industries for $100. They work pretty well, and no, you can't remove the forks with the frontstand but you can remove the front wheel. How often do you need to remove the forks anyway?

 

Why not ? My front stand fits under the triple tree, not under the forks.Once the bottom of the triple tree is braced you can remove the forks by loosening the pinch bolts and move them up or down, once the wheel has been removed...But, as Paco says, how often d'you want to remove the forks anyway.

 

My front stand attaches at the bottom of my forks.

 

That would explain why you can't get the forks out, I guess....

 

It doesn't seem like it would be all that easy or convenient to use a motorcycle jack with the 1kf as the exhaust runs right under the bike where the jack would make contact. I'm able to do most work I need just putting the bike on the center stand. When I need to pull the front wheel I counter weight the rear end.

 

With the bike on the center stand, I remove the rear wheel. I place a piece of wood between the two tangs hanging below the lower case. Using a floor jack I take the weight off the front wheel and remove it. This is how I replace tires, both wheels off.

Whit the bike on the center stand and the piece of wood and floor jack, I lift the front until the rear tire is just touching. This is how I do fork work.

I have never needed to use anything else. The center stand by itself works for everything else.

 

Some of us (me) don't have centerstands. I bought the Tandy stands because the front and rear stands cost the same or less than most rear stands alone.

 

Let me explain something here, if you need more than what I just described, you are not working, you are just playing.