Trail Tech Side Stand

Anyone who hangs out at KTMTalk knows what a pain in the butt the OEM side stand is. It is weak, too short, tippy, prone to bending and it can shear the small pivot bolt when you least expect it. Don't even think about kick starting the bike while on the stand! My stand was in sad shape and I decided to go with the Trail Tech unit rather than the glitzier and more expensive Pro Moto Billet unit, simply because it was advertised as stout enough to start your bike on. I didn't care for the exposed spring (the PMB spring is internal) but I could live with that. I ordered a KTM kit and also a spare spring and pivot bolt, which is a special shape and thus hard to find.

The bracket is a stout plated chro-moly steel part. It is heavy, but you don't want to skimp on strength for this part. Picture is from the Trail Tech website.

The stand is cold forged aluminum alloy with a black oxide finish which resists scratching and boot wear. Picture is from the Trail Tech website.

One reason the stand is so stout is the hardened steel bushing that is precision fit and pinned in place at the pivot hole. Due to the tight tolerances you need to keep it clean and well lubed. (I like to blast the side stand pivot  with the pressure washer when I wash the bike, and then use Tri-Flow to penetrate and lube.) Picture is courtesy Trail Tech .

The bottom bolt goes through the OEM stand mount hole and the plastic chain glide. It's a medium strength stainless bolt, and you are expected to reuse one of the OEM nuts on the inside. That is fine - the upper mount was a bit of a problem for me. The back of the bracket casting is "dimpled" to fit into the recessed hole in the frame left by the removal of the countersunk sub-frame bolt, but it isn't a very good fit. The dimple is smaller than the hole, so it really isn't doing anything except taking up a little of the space. If it fit properly it would actually add strength to the upper mount area. Also, the ear of the mount is rather narrow and it doesn't fully cover the big hole in the frame when it is tightened into place. That is more than just a cosmetic issue, as I shall describe a little later..

The kit-supplied medium strength stainless "button head" bolt partly tightened. The internal hex stripped out at about 16 ft lbs torque. KTM actually calls for 25 ft lbs in their Pre-Delivery Checklist, the only place I have found this described, but 25 ft lbs really seems too high for these 8 mm sub-frame bolts,  so 18- 20 ft lbs is more realistic. Most of the other 8 mm RFS chassis bolts require 18 ft lbs.

A clearance check with my boot centered on the peg shows lots of room.

Unfortunately, I like to ride with the ball of my foot on the peg, and when the boot is put there, you can see that the exposed bolt head has the potential to chew up the boot heel cup. Add this to the too-soft button head bolt and I knew that I needed to change the mounting method.

The stripped out bolt. Not only is the steel too soft for a structual subframe attachment, but the burrs around the opening that result when you tighten the bolt will cut into your boot like little knives.

After a trip to the bolt store I had some longer hardened flush-head bolts similar to the OEM ones. I countersunk the Trail Tech bracket as deeply as possible. If the bracket were wider by about 1/8 inch, the head could be fully contained (and the recess in the frame would be covered).

The new upper bolt torqued to 20 ft lbs, using blue loctite on the threads and silver antiseize under the head to keep the bracket from rusting. There is lots of clearance.

The stand tucks in very close to the swing arm. That is good.

The final installation. The kit includes a little stainless button head Allen screw to install in the threaded hole on the side of the swing arm, to prevent contact with the stand. If you don't use the plastic chain guard and don't mind an open hole, just leave this screw out.

After lubing the pivot bolt and spring attach points I tried out the stand: it is MOST excellent!!!! It extends out further, is very stable and holds the bike more upright than the KTM stand. It's easier to retract the stand with your foot, it doesn't fly away from your boot but is controllable all the way up, and it seems really strong when you move around on the bike with the stand down. I will post more pics later, showing the angle of the bike,  when the weather permits.

Followup:

I emailed Trail Tech and expressed my dissatisfaction at the upper bracket design and the soft bolt. I got a long, very helpful  message back from the designer of the bracket explaining the constraints they have in supplying kits to fit an assortment of models, and assuring me that they thrashed these stands for years and have had no issues with boot wear or upper bracket bolt failure. So if you decide to stick with the original design I don't think you will have any serious problems, though you may have difficulty getting adequate torque on the soft bolt.

UPDATE - 3/24/07:

After my first ride I realized that the stand was hitting the swing arm HARD in the retracted position - it was simply going up too far and there wasn't adequate clearance. So much for Model Specific Design! I removed the bracket and fabricated an upper stop extension. It sure would be nice if Trail Tech would install an adjustable stop here.

The new stop is a wedge of steel plate, 1/4 inch across at the widest end, and tapering to about 1/8 inch at the other end. You can see the damage to the inside of the stand arm - this is with less than 20 miles of easy riding in an ORV park.

The stop, welded in place on the back side, where the weld doesn't show and damage to the plating is minimal. I coated the area with "Cold Galvanize" marine primer. It blends in pretty well and has "self healing" abilities to help stop scratches from spreading.

The stand stop in operation.

Downward view showing the generous clearance between the stand arm and the swing arm. The stand is easier to reach with my foot now, when deploying it.

Updated Mar 24, 2007