[Arizoni]

A good part of the reason I let my rear tire go unchanged for so many miles is I didn't have a good way to jack up the motorcycle so I could get the wheel off.

I didn't have $300+ dollars to spend on a fancy motorcycle lift and besides, I don’t have anyplace to store one.
Most of the other lifts need to have both wheels resting on them so that won’t work worth a damn if I wanted to remove one of the wheels.

Obviously, a little thought was needed here.

I noticed that when the center stand is in the “up” position, it is still a sturdy bit of structure and the stop keeps it from moving up further upward.
The legs of the center stand are also big enough that they won’t bend with just the 400 pound weight of the motorcycle so I figured it would work to hold up the motorcycle if I came up with a cross-ways piece that was easily attached to it..

Buying a length of 1 1/4 inch square tubing about 2 feet long, two 3" C clamps, two 2" C clamps and one scissors screw jack to go with the scissors screw jack out of my Miata, I was in business.

Clamping the square tubing to the bottom of the folded center stand, just forward of the two springs with the two 3" C clamps seemed sturdy enough so I blocked the front wheel with bricks to keep the motorcycle from moving and put the jacks under the ends of the tubing.

Being somewhat paranoid, I also used the 2" C clamps to secure the tops of both jacks to the tubing so they couldn't slip off.

My first attempt to lift the motorcycle quickly showed me that the side to side stability was a problem.  The slightest sideways push on the motorcycle caused the jacks to move dangerously with a real possibility that they could let the motorcycle fall so I lowered it back to the ground and turned one of the jacks so the base was cross-ways (90° ) to the bike.

Turning first one jacks screw and then the other to raise the bike somewhat evenly, the motorcycle was. soon sitting with the rear tire a good 3 inches off of the ground and I still had over 50 percent of the jack height to go if I needed it.

The cross-ways jack did a good job of keeping the bike from moving sideways too easily and the fore/aft positioned jack provided a little rigidity in that direction.
I do recommend blocking the front tire though.

I didn't try it but a piece of 1 inch steel pipe could be used in place of the square tubing I used but if you use this, make damn sure it is securely clamped to the center stand legs and to the jacks.
It will try to roll when the motorcycle is being lifted and if it does, the whole thing could come crashing down.

[Mr.Mazza]

Nice idea but I just put it on the centrestand, then tilted one leg up, kicked abit of wood under, hauled it onto that wood and kicked another bit on the other side, with the rear fender in the up position I had plenty of room.

[singhg5]

A good part of the reason I let my rear tire go unchanged for so many miles is I didn't have a good way to jack up the motorcycle so I could get the wheel off.

Jim:

That is  a nice jugaD - make do with what you got  .

If you have nothing available to raise the rear of the bike, just remove the front wheel and gently lower the front of the bike to let both front forks touch the ground - place rag underneath. This raises the rear of bike high up in the air and you can easily take off rear wheel or work under the rear fender.

PS - It seems you have about 15,000 miles on your rear tire !

[Arizoni]

PS - It seems you have about 15,000 miles on your rear tire !

Actually, it has 17,440 miles on it.

[AmBraCol]

That's an interesting way to do it, for sure.  I'm curious as to why you didn't merely use the centerstand, perhaps on a block of wood if more height was needed.  That's what I used to do with my little GN125H.  Granted, it's a lot lighter bike than the RE's are.  Currently with my XL200 I just tilt it up on the kickstand and slide a jack stand under the right side foot peg at the pivot joint.  It's extended to where it gets the rear wheel off the ground with plenty of clearance so run the engine and facilitate lubing the chain. 

Anyway, I'm curious as my experience with bikes with center stands has been that removing the rear wheel is just a matter of using the center stand .  If it's a bit tail heavy then as soon as the wheel comes off it tilts toward the front, no problem.  The only one that didn't work for me that way was the old CB500Four that had extended forks.  The center stand was pretty much a decoration as it was too short to work with the front forks. The kickstand was modified so it wouldn't tilt too far over and worked fine. 

[High On Octane]

I do a 4x4 under the center stand.  Tilt the bike to one side and slide it under and then the other side.

[Arizoni]

The center stand will get the rear wheel slightly off the ground with the 19" wheel the G5 comes with but the rear fender won't allow the wheel to be removed.
The C5's rear fender can be rotated up after a few nuts are loosened/removed but the rear framework on the G5 doesn't allow this.  I'm not sure what situation on the the B5 is but I think it's fender support is similar to my G5.

Anyway, I toyed with the idea of doing as Singhg5's picture shows but because the center-stand is made to fold back (and up) with just a slight forward movement and tipping the motorcycle nose down could cause that to happen I was leery of using it.  I guess my fears were unfounded based on Singh's picture.

Still, removing the front wheel sounds like more work than just clamping a piece of tubing to the folded center-stand with a couple of C-clamps.

By the way, a big Thank's to Royal Enfield for including a center-stand.
The new Triumph Bonnie's don't have one and adding one isn't easy and it costs an arm and a leg.

HOO:  I'm one of those skinny guys who has a hard time lifting heavy loads so I like to use a bit of engineering to let the equipment do the work for me. 

[mattsz]

I'm not sure what situation on the the B5 is but I think it's fender support is similar to my G5.

Not sure how similar they are, but the dual seat prevents raising the fender - 4 fasteners to pull the seat first.  With solo seat, just loosen 4 fasteners to pivot the fender:  lower ones (passenger foot peg mounts) release, upper ones to pivot on.

[TWinOKC]

By the way, a big Thank's to Royal Enfield for including a center-stand.
The new Triumph Bonnie's don't have one and adding one isn't easy and it costs an arm and a leg.
/quote]

An arm and a leg??  Really
http://www.tecbikepartsusa.com/Triumph_Bonneville_T100_Center_Stand_Kit_p/t-cs-b-100.htm

[AmBraCol]

The center stand will get the rear wheel slightly off the ground with the 19" wheel the G5 comes with but the rear fender won't allow the wheel to be removed.
The C5's rear fender can be rotated up after a few nuts are loosened/removed but the rear framework on the G5 doesn't allow this.  I'm not sure what situation on the the B5 is but I think it's fender support is similar to my G5.

Thank you, sir.  It'll be a while 'til I get a chance to look over that aspect of the RE family so I appreciate you explaining what's going on in such an endeavor.  Seems weird to me to have to either jack it up or take it apart just to change a tire!  I'd not realized how much difference in clearance there is around the rear fender on the RE's and the little GN125H. So there's one more piece of Royal Enfield trivia to tuck away for future reference.  My goal is to obtain either a Rumbler 500 or Continental GT (to turn into my vision of an "ideal" tour bike for my area of operations) - now I'm wondering if they share this same idiosyncrasy.

[High On Octane]

.......HOO:  I'm one of those skinny guys who has a hard time lifting heavy loads so I like to use a bit of engineering to let the equipment do the work for me. 

Some days my back doesn't like me doing anything to the bike.          At work, I use a pair of scissor jacks to get cars mounted to my frame repair rack.  I have the bottoms of each welded to a piece of 5"x8" 1/8" plate to give it more support and stability.  What if you did something like that, and modify the top to brace the frame under the motor just in front of the center stand, jack it up and then slip the 4x4 under the center stand?  Then you wouldn't have to worry about clamps slipping off.  Also, the jacks at work I have a 1/2" drive deep socket welded to the eyelet drive of the jacks so they can be raised and lowered with an impact wrench. 

[mattsz]

Also, the jacks at work I have a 1/2" drive deep socket welded to the eyelet drive of the jacks so they can be raised and lowered with an impact wrench. 

Smart!! 

[Richard230]

It looks like the RE B5 might be a candidate for my Drag Specialties rubber-coated flat scissor jack, as I have use on my electric motorcycles.  See attached photos.

[creaky]

It looks like the RE B5 might be a candidate for my Drag Specialties rubber-coated flat scissor jack, as I have use on my electric motorcycles.  See attached photos.

Great looking jack but I guess it is expensive. How much and where from?

[Richard230]

Great looking jack but I guess it is expensive. How much and where from?

My recollection is that it cost about $100.  I think I bought it on-line from Motorcycle Superstore in Oregon. (It has been a couple of years since I bought the jack.)  It is supposed to be able to lift 1000 pounds (more than even the Enfield weighs) and I really like the rubber padding on the top of the jack.

[Arizoni]

I replaced the rear tire on my G5 today using this jacking method.

All went as planned although when I installed the cross tube I did locate it about as close to the rear tire as I could.
That turned out to be a mistake because its close location caused some interference when I was dropping the tire downward to get it out.

No biggie though.  Just jacking the bike up a bit higher allowed the tire to be pulled out without a problem.

I did discover that placing a couple of 4 X 4's under the cross beam and lowering the jacks down so that the beam rested on them made the whole jacking system hell for stout.   Resting on the 4 X 4's the bike was rock solid with no movement at all in any direction.

[AmBraCol]

I love it when a plan comes together! 

[High On Octane]

Nice!   

[DanKearney]

Can you do this on your model?





http://www.royalenfields.com/p/technical-tips.html


Cheers,

Dan K.

[Arizoni]

Nope.
There's a rear frame that supports the long seat on the G5 so the rear fender can't tip up like that.

I think the B5 is like the G5 and that trick won't work on it either.

[mattsz]

Jim - FYI, the B5 is more like the C5 in that regard - it has the low "horizontal" struts supporting the fender, and you can pivot it up out of the way of the wheel.  Provided, of course, that you have a solo seat!  Otherwise, you'd have to remove the seat first as well...