Diary Of A Winter Rider: Part 5 – Getting Jacked on Paddock Stands

Dear Diary,

Sadly, my time with the Suzuki V-Strom 800RE is coming to an end. It has been an excellent companion through the winter months. The balance of power, traction, flexibility, and weight has made the dry days fun and the soggy ones easy to manage.

The Puig Visor improved the factory screen, but I was a little late discovering this. Had I fitted the Puig visor earlier, those mornings when a cold blast of damp air was needed to keep my visor and glasses from steaming up could have been swapped for a much more pleasurable experience.

Adding handguards was a good decision, and the SW-Motech rack and DUSC top case were all but compulsory through the damp months of winter.

Besides that, the Suzuki V-Strom 800RE is everything a V-Strom should be: Simple sophistication – a motorcycle that does it all without making a fuss about it.

The twin torque peaks make the engine a delight. I‘m not sure it would be my first choice for a two-up, luggage-laden tour, but it would be an absolute delight for touring solo. Just remember to ditch the OEM tyres in favour of some Dunlop Mutants.

The Mutants complement the V-Strom’s chassis design and complete the overall package. It is at this point that I would usually rant about fake, cheap OEM tyres and despair at manufacturers that develop wonderful motorcycles and then stick crap tyres on them. But you have read it before, so I’ll not go there.

Perhaps the only other addition to the V-Strom 800RE would be a main (centre) stand. The side stand has sufficed for day-to-day use, even if I did borrow my colleague’s paddock stands when it was time to brush the grime out of the chain. Perhaps I should have fitted a Scottoiler X-System to the V-Strom?

Where Can I Find …

MPW Paddock Stands

I did do some internet shopping for an aftermarket main stand. The decent chaps at the Two Wheel Centre in Mansfield offered me a genuine Suzuki main stand for £241, or I could have bought the SW-Motech one for £204.

Yet, as the bike would eventually go back to Suzuki, spending £200+ was a bit too much for a stand that would only fit a Suzuki V-Strom 800RE – the part number for the V-Strom 800DE main stand is different, I assume because of the 21-inch front wheel.

Yet no one likes to be “that guy”, the one who is always trying to borrow your tools, paddock stands or drink your beer. So, for the final degrease, wash polish and general fettle before returning the V-Strom, I got a set of paddock stands from Motorcycle Parts Warehouse, the people who sent us a battery to test a few months back.

I opted for the L-shaped plates for the rear stand rather than the bobbin option and the Y-shaped fork attachments for the front. My logic is that these are the style Mark from Mobile Bike Tyres has always pulled out of his van, except during my time with the single-sided Multistrada 1200.

The paddock stands are simple enough to assemble. They are made from 3mm steel and have fancy nylon wheels. Assembling the paddock stands from the surprisingly flat packaging they arrived in couldn’t have been easier. Even I couldn’t make a mess of fitting a few bolts.

Jacked Up and Planted

I’d never considered the ergonomics of a paddock stand before, but making them the perfect length so there is enough leverage to raise the bike without making them so long that you can’t steady the bike and including the right amount of curve in the handle so you don’t trap your fingers, seems like a tricky calculation.

Whether it was skilled design, experience, or luck, the MPW paddock stands fitted securely and makes lifting the 225 kg V-Strom effortless. MPW even has a video to show you how to do it. It is well worth watching just for the funky 1970s B-movie soundtrack.

The width of the paddock stand’s steel loop is bigger than the width of a traditional main stand. Once on the stands, trying to push the V-Strom sideways would require significant effort. Pushing it backwards or forwards would be equally difficult, especially with both wheels off the ground.

Put simply, once “jacked up” on the paddock stands, the motorcycle isn’t going anywhere.

Money

Over winter, I sinned by failing to ensure the side stand was fully extended, and I subsequently watched the V-Strom slowly descend onto the tarmac. Knowing that the bike is absolutely planted on the paddock stands while I’m cleaning the road crap from the sump cover and suspension linkages is a small thing, but it makes me happy.

And so, to the vulgar question of money. I think £78 for a pair of stands is a bargain. The last time I looked at buying a paddock stand, it was £60 for just the rear. This seems to be MPW’s way of working. They design something and then have it built in bulk so they can sell it at an attractive price.

Does this make them substandard or of lower quality? I don’t think so. The stands are well-finished and powder-coated in grey. They are cross-braced at the stress points and have a solid feel. Even the nuts and bolts are anodised (I think that is the right term).

Adios Winter

And so, Dear Diary, it appears we have endured another winter. Yes, it is only February, and there are no guarantees, but El Nino hasn’t been interested in the UK this winter.

The V-Strom has seen salted roads and its fair share of road grime. It has been soaked in FS365 once a week and had a top-up when the gritters have been out.

Getting up close and personal with the parts of the V-Strom you don’t usually see, there are a few bolt heads that have furred up (pinch bolts at the bottom of the forks), the disc bobbins need cleaning and oiling, and the brake banjos have tarnished. Otherwise, the Suzuki’s finish has stood up well to the ravages of winter.

Ten minutes with a can of WD40 on the bobbins and ordering some stainless steel bolts form Pro-Bolt (if the bike was mine) is all that is needed.

Downside

The downside of writing about motorcycles is that you have to move on to the next one no matter how much you enjoy the one you have. I have always been biased towards V-Stroms after I bought my first one as a winter hack several years ago. I liked it so much that I sold my Kawasaki SX and gave the V-Strom some love.

Two years later, and heck knows how many miles later. I part-exchanged it for a KTM 1050, which turned out to be a stupid thing to have done.

With a street price of around £8,000 for a new V-Strom 800RE, tricked out with all the desirable extras, the ‘Strom has pride of place on top of my “What do I fancy this time?” list.

After all, I’ve got a fancy pair of MPW paddock stands that fit perfectly.