Do you like to undertake basic motorcycle maintenance like cleaning and lubricating the chain? Maybe you like to go one step further and even do an oil and oil-filter change by yourself? Or are you one of those riders who likes to take apart their motorcycle and put it back together by themselves? In all these given situations, a paddock stand will be the best friend you could ever have.
What is a paddock stand?
A paddock stand is essentially a metal contraption that keeps a motorcycle stable while it is stationary. Don’t confuse it with a side-stand or a centre-stand of your motorcycle as with a paddock stand, you can keep one wheel, or both wheels in the air. This is possible with a centre stand too. However, when using a centre stand, only one wheel of the motorcycle can stay in the air. Also, if the motorcycle is not held in place, it will keep oscillating forward and backward.
How do you use it?
A paddock stand for both front and rear wheels uses the axle bolts to keep the motorcycle stable. It has wheels on one end. Once secured to the axle bolts, you can simply push and the paddock stand will raise the wheel off the ground, while keeping the motorcycle stable.
How is a paddock stand helpful?
For starters, using a paddock stand means that one or both wheels are free. Put the motorcycle into neutral and you can freely rotate the rear wheel. This is helpful if you are looking to clean your motorcycle’s chain and lubricate it.
Even if you are working on a part of the motorcycle that doesn’t require you to rotate the wheel, the paddock stand ensures that the motorcycle is upright and not leaning to one side. This is quite helpful when draining the oil from a motorcycle engine. If you drain oil when a motorcycle is on a side-stand, the oil won’t fully drain out. It is difficult to engage the centre stand in this case as you need to place a pan to collect the oil in its vicinity. And most high-end motorcycles do not come with a centre-stand.
More so, if you are opening up a motorcycle’s engine, a paddock stand will ensure that your motorcycle does not move an inch from its spot. It can be a real hazard for the motorcycle if this happens. And even if nothing goes wrong mechanically, there is a chance you might end up misplacing some small component.
Paddocks stands for race bikes
In their quest to save weight, race bikes do not come equipped with any kind of a stand. Instead, they use paddock stands to stay upright all the time. Paddock stands also help in the use of tyre warmers. These are covers especially designed to warm up race tyres, and can only be used with a paddock stand. This has no real use for street riding, but you will find this helpful if you ever end up at a race track.