Long Way Home - Warsztat - KTM 690

The light version of a centre stand

In the life of every motorcycle traveller, there will be a moment when he will have to face a punctured tyre problem. This may be pretty easy with tubeless tyres. All he needs to do is use a repair kit like pressurised tyre sealant or plug special rubber strip into the hole. Then get to the nearest tyre fitter, where he can make a professional repair. However, in motorcycles with inner tubes, the situation gets a little more complicated. In order to be able to make a repair, the tube has to be patched or replaced. For this purpose, the wheel should be dismounted from the motorcycle and tyre removed. And here a small obstacle comes in a way – KTM 690 Enduro R does not have a centre stand, which allows the motorcycle to stay upright with one wheel removed.

Some riders use aluminium panniers as a support. Others look for a large bit of wood or stones which can hold the weight of the motorcycle. You can also put the motorcycle on its side, but access to nuts, axles, screws is limited and the whole repair process takes longer.

In my opinion, another solution which is worth considering is to have a light, foldable aluminium trail stand. Unfortunately, in Europe, I could not find a seller of such stands, but there are a lot of them for sale in the USA. However, based on the pictures available on the internet, I decided to make my own which would travel the world with us. I only needed access to the milling machine and lathe. I do not keep such toys in the garage, however, I got in touch with the mechanics at work and I could use the equipment in my time off.

The main element is a 265 mm aluminium pipe and a 217 mm rod. The tube itself has an outer diameter of 19 mm, an inner hole of 12 mm and a wall thickness of 3.5 mm. The purchased rod was a bit thicker than the hole in the tube. I turned it down to a diameter of 11.8 mm so it can slide in the pipe without much resistance and there is no unnecessary slack to the sides.

The next step was to make holes in a pipe side (every 30 mm) and one hole at the bottom of the rod. Thanks to it I can freely adjust the rod position and insert a bolt into the drilled hole to block it in place. In the upper part of the rod, I drilled a deep hole 6 mm in diameter, in which I mounted a stainless steel rod. I bent it in a shape resembling the letter Y, thanks to which I can hook it in one of the holes in the engine cover or place it under the swingarm.

The foot of the stand is made of a 4 mm thick aluminium rectangular plate (approx 60 x 115 mm) with a hole drilled in the centre. The second part is a 47 mm long piece of the rod (11.8 mm in diameter) with a cut thread for a 6 mm screw that joins together two mentioned elements. There is also an additional side hole in the rod, in perfect line with one bottom hole in a tube.

For the safe use of the stand, I need to block the brake – the rear one when disassembling the front wheel and the front one if I want to take the rear wheel off. It stabilizes the entire structure and the blocked wheel will not spin. For this, I use a strap which I wrap on the throttle grip and front brake lever, or the rear brake lever and the engine cover hole which I cut for this purpose.

After putting everything together, adjusting the length and locking the position of individual elements, it is necessary to tilt the motorcycle to the left side with the side stand opened and place it under the front or rear part of the motorcycle. It depends on which wheel I need to have off the ground.