[serrge]

Compared to my previous bike (F800ST) I find the R's kickstand nerve-wracking. IMO the less one has to think about operational quirks, the better. Having to constantly answer "not sure" to the question "is the bike leaning enough on the side stand" is really annoying. For example here in the NL it is pretty common to have streets with a curved pavement profile to assist in pushing water to sewage drains located where the sidewalk begins. I still didn't manage to get used to automatically park the motorcycle on the left side of the road, because on the right side it just won't work.

I still haven't found a reasonable explanation why does the R/RS lean so upright on the kickstand. The GS has a nice lean when on the kickstand.

 

[serrge]

so I got to research this in the meanwhile and apparently there's a 15mm shorter kickstand from BMW for the Chinese market, part 46 53 8 564 609. Also mentioned in our forum.

I also read what seems the most plausible explanation for having such an upright kickstand: "this is general in boxer engines, having this so long side stand for the bike to remain very vertical when parking, not letting the oil enter into the left cylinder".

Another similar explanation: "the logic for keeping the bike fairly vertical - to help avoid oil draining into the nearside cylinder"

Hmm. Not sure if this is true and this doesn't explain why do GS bikes lean so much in comparison.

 

[serrge]

That's it, I'm getting the shorter side stand and get back to normal! 😄

 

[serrge]

keep the bike pointing slightly uphill (never downhill)

A bit of an off-topic question, but why can't the bike point downhill when parked?

 

[serrge]

Because it could roll forward off the stand and continue downhill.

if the bike is in 1st gear, how can that happen?

 

[serrge]

I never had a problem parking downhill in first. I do always let the bike roll down a bit until the tranmission stops it and only then I deploy the kickstand. Never downhill in neutral. In fact, I even got into the habit of almost always stopping the engine with the kickstand in first.

That said, I never leave the bike unattended when parked downhill and if it’s easy/convenient to park uphill, then I’ll prefer that and benefit from not giving a chance for the kickstand to fold with the direction of gravity and also benefit from easily putting the rear wheel against an obstacle for added safety, if available.