I recently visited a friend (after not seeing him for over a decade) - I mostly use the center stand but opted to use the side stand. The stand didn't engage fully and the bike (and me) toppled over into his car, leaving a nice dent in the passenger door.

We had a good chat and he has kept in touch with the bill from the garage for me!

Has anyone else had similar problems and is there any way to rectify the problem?
There is a little play on the final part of travel of the stand - is this just wear and the only solution is to completely replace it (and possibly the center stand)?

Many thanks.

Carl,

I have found that the bolt is usually the part that wears.  I coat of grease always helps and some models may have a grease nipple fitted.  The side stand and the mounting point on the frame should be fine.  Parts should be available from Motobins/Motorworks. 

Others may have had different experiences. 

Cheers, Dave.

There's a steel bushing on the side stand pivot that can be replaced. I've used a bronze bushing on one repair. Found a bushing taht was close at a bearing supplier. I enlarged the center hole and put the stand back together. The slop in the side stand disappeared. One thing to keep in mind is that BMW produces two different cams for the top of the side stand mechanism (the device that allows the clutch handle to retract the stand). One cam allows the side stand leg to lock in the deployed position, the other design does not. You may have the latter, which lead to your accident. Does your stand automatically retract if you lift weight off the stand?

Thanks for the comments - I have just replaced the main bolt - there doesn't seem to be any play or wear at that point and the clutch lever returns the stand seamlessly - it may just be the overall age of the stand and usage. It isn't too much of a problem, but I am a little concerned as I don't want to book it into a garage and the bike to fall over in their hands.

Robmack may have the answer as I have had both types of side stand.

I got used to the 92 LT which had the later clutch lever operated retraction and I found it great.

When I took the 84 RT out for a test ride I discovered it had the side stand that retracts when you take the weight off it. I couldn't get off the bike as the side stand did not lock in the down position, just retracted. I felt the bike would go over exactly as yours did. Anyway before I even bought the bike I got the seller to cut the bolt which projects past the boomerang shape plate the springs attached to so that the boomerang plate passes over the remainder and allows the side stand to lock in the down position.

Put the bike on main stand and then lower the sidestand and you will see the plate meeting the projection, this stops it locking in the down position. A hacksaw will sort it but then you must remember to retract it every time you use it.

New to the K100 and only bought the bike for a cafe racer project.  
Must admit though I have been suprised at the side stand action and will be looking at trying some improvments as I go along. 
Thanks for the Info here It will be useful.

One thing I always do on K75s/100s is that once I put the side stand down I give it an extra little kick forward just to make sure it is fully deployed before leaning the bike on it.

Just to go off on a bit of a tangent, K100rs (1984), the side stand retracts when you take the weight off the bike, however, I also think that it leans to much when on the side stand! It doesn't look like its bent but I always feel uncomfortable when it's not on the centre stand! Could this be just the plate wearing away to much over time or am I just worried about dropping her too much?

K bikes lean quite a way over right from the factory. The best "cure" for this I've seen to date is this extra metal welded to the base of the side stand on my K75 Turbo:

The other method that some of us have adopted is to screw a hockey puck to the underside of the sidestand plate. It needs shaping (obviously!) but the main thing is to ensure that the back is trimmed down so it doesn't interfere with the mainstand. Search 'hockey puck' on the forums.

This is an older thread but maybe the best place to ask the question. I will certainly do the mod adding a thicker foot to my side stand as the angle is alarming, especially given the habit of early K bikes to seep oil into the cylinders.

The auto retract on my 84 K100 seems like a recipe for disaster though. Also tricky to hold in place while leaning the bike. Is it possible to adjust the springs to allow the stand to stay in place? I see the springs are designed to contact a stop to flick the lever back, perhaps that stop could be removed?

The pivot bolt has a spigot on it to prevent the horseshoe shaped spring holder form locking, if you cut that spigot off all will be done to keep the stand down.

To follow up on RickG's post that's exactly how I solved it. Put the bike on the centre stand and then pull down the side stand and you will see how the boomerang shape plate that the springs are attached to get pivoted on the spigot. A regular hacksaw will cut it so the boomerang plate passes over where the spigot has been removed.

Fantastic, thanks Rick and Olaf. It looked like what was needed but I was afraid to start cutting.

The only time I had a problem with the side stand is after I greased it. Parked at a gas station on a little downhill slope and over it went. Which is always embarrassing. So now I only park uphill. Or use the center stand.

Mine failed recently .The stand fell off as I put the bike's weight on it.Fell into my car doing no damage to either vehicle.It was the bolt.It worked lose and fell out right there in my driveway. My solution was a new bolt.I went to the hardware store and bought two of the right bolts a little longer.I turned down the end  on my lathe to make that pin on the end then ground off the excess.Made a spare too that I now carry . I may safety wire it,not sure on this yet, but when I installed it I did use blue loctight to secure it. So far so good .

Golden Rule. Always engage 1 st gear when on side stand .

moriarti wrote:Golden Rule. Always engage 1 st gear when on side stand .

And run the bike forward to remove the transmission slop entirely before letting it onto the side stand.

Hi all, noobie here. Just bought my K100 at the beginning of the year and now finding out its quirks thanks to this forum.

So, i thought my side stand was bent as it really leans over when on the side stand. I bumped into a guy at the IOM TT who was on his K100 and his stand was the same.

I've read through the above comments and tips and it has backed up my thought of adding some beef to the bottom of the side stand sole to prop the bike up a bit more than it is.

But what i wasn't aware of was that it was mentioning that the stand is a suicide stand? Is this correct? Mine has corroded a bit and needs stripped and lubricated so I haven't found this out yet as its quite sticky and i need to back heel kick it up back in to place.

It would be good to know if the stand is originally designed to flick up when the bike is propped up by the rider?

Thanks
Stu

Early Ks had a non-retracting stand. BMW quickly added a crude retracting mechanism that used a linkage from the clutch release arm. If it works, you're very lucky - in my humble opinion.
Take it off, throw it away, and pay attention (you're riding a motorcycle for God's sake), is my approach 

Is that what all those linkages are!!! Well i never have heard of that , thaks for the info  

Thanks Suzi 

moriarti wrote:Golden Rule. Always engage 1 st gear when on side stand .

I failed to follow this rule.   After stopping on a slight slope I dismounted and started to walk away, after two or three steps I was suddenly crashed tackled to the ground by Izzy my Brick. SSD and Mick had to extract me from under the bike. Mick is a Physio and suspected all sorts of damage however after a quick examination found I was pretty well intact except for a couple of strains and bruises. The guys had to help me remount and followed me home to lift me off Izzy. I had previously been discussing getting another bike and we think Izzy in a fit of jealousy decided to extract revenge. Izzy knew what she was doing and suffered no damage using me as a buffer for her to fall on.
Regards Martin.

I am of the opinion that the side stand angle is intended to allow people under 6'4" and older than ~50 years to swing their leg over the stupid high seat BMW put on the bricks.(they're the only bikes I've owned where I am looking down at the drivers in SUV's and 4x4 pickup trucks)

I have found that the retractor mechanism for the side stand functions more as a warning than an actual system to kick the stand up.  That hard pull on the clutch lever is an immediate indicator that something is amiss.  After a moment or two of confusion and concern, I realize the stand is down and kick it up.

My current brick has an engine shut down when the stand is down.  This leads to periodic episodes of engine flooding while I stupidly crank away at the starter.

the one i have here will not crank unless the clutch is pulled which in turn folds the stand away , no problems so far but i keep it well greased

firstle wrote:the one i have here will not crank unless the clutch is pulled which in turn folds the stand away , no problems so far but i keep it well greased

K75/K100 bikes will start with the side stand down if the bike is in neutral.

not the one i have here , ex service, this one even in neutral the clutch must be pulled , i can see why they did this , or is this a service only mod ? front and back brakes must also be used to put the warning light out

firstle wrote:not the one i have here , ex service, this one even in neutral the clutch must be pulled , i can see why they did this , or is this a service only mod ? front and back brakes must also be used to put the warning light out

Hitting both brakes - that's how the bulb monitor is supposed to work. It's a safety feature. If it doesn't go out after you hit both brakes then you know that one of your brake light switches(or a bulb) has gone bad. You don't want to apply the brakes and slow down without signaling to the driver behind you via the brake light illuminating.

If the gear position indicator circuit board in the cluster is working correctly then the same circuit that illuminates the N light in the cluster also sends 12V to the start button. In order to move off, you need the pull in the clutch lever to shift into first and which engages the side stand retractor. I can't see why a service vehicle would operate any differently. There's only one gear indicator circuit board which was used in all Ks - civvy and police. Why would a service vehicle not be able to start in neutral with the side stand down? What would be the point of that?

not sure but maybe a fail safe feature , you cannot start the bike without the clutch pulled in even in N so the side stand would be up if all adjusted correct , this is a 1991 bike and does have some strange things i think , the horn is deafening and should be on a lorry , its quite quick for a k100 i think and i have had a few .

Well, as this topic has come up again, IME since posting nine years ago the reason for the looong lean is that the pivot and/or pivot hole (seemingly usually just the pivot) have worn badly. It doesn't take very much wear to translate into what seems to be a ninety-degree lean. Depending on the degree and placement of the wear, I've found there are a few solutions:

1. Replace just the pivot
2. Take a chance on ebay and get another sidestand. Probably need to do (1) as well
3. Drill out the sidestand holes and the frame pivot hole to the next metric size up where everything is circular again. Replace the pivot with a suitably-sized cut down bolt (NOT a set screw - the difference is that a set screw has the thread all the way up to the head)

At some point I've done all three and roundly cursed the exhaust system for getting in the way.