I thought that install would be a pain in the butt...

 

I was mistaken... it was a major pain in the butt. 

We went to Steph and Dan's house so I could use their garage - sure better than laying in the gravel (at our RV site), plus being in the garage gets me out of the sun.

The instructions show 6 short steps.  The last step is: "Install the springs."  If only it were that easy.

I left my riding jeans on, knowing I would appreciate the knee and hip armor when laying on that concrete garage floor.  That, and a chunk of cardboard helped cushion my old joints.  This center stand is designed for this bike.  Others have installed it; all of them state that the job is not fast nor easy.  They did not lie.

I intentionally took the steps out of order, mostly to be able to see what I was installing - the first step of the install is to put on a stopper bracket that blocks you view to where the actual center stand mounts up.  Even doing that step later, I removed some plastic covers to have better access.  There are bolts and sleeves that you still have to install mostly "by feel," since you can't get your head low enough to see up under the bike.  Plus, things are so tight under the bike that there is barely room to get a lock-nut on a bolt... much less try to get a wrench on it to tighten it up.  It took quite a few tries to get that all connected.  Then, I installed the stopper bracket (so the center stand doesn't raise high enough to rub on the chain.  It's a good design - just hard to work around the frame, exhaust, engine case, etc of the bike.

Then, the last part that I was dreading: installing a double spring that is used to pull up and hold the center stand when it isn't deployed.  This is a safety item, and you don't want to half-ass it.  The spring has a very stiff outer spring that you can't open up, even a little by hand.  Then another lighter spring that fits through the middle of the heavy spring.  I did a quick test with a screw driver to see if there was any way to pry the spring into place.  Not even close.  I used a ratchet strap attached to the end of the springs and anchored it on the swingarm on the bike.  Even with the ratcheting action, it took all the strength I had to stretch the spring far enough.  Unfortunately, the end of the spring didn't align with the post on the center stand - no way to hook the spring on there.  I tried prying it in place, pushing... nothing could get it even close.  I re-routed the strap from the ratchet and tried again.  And again.  And again.  Probably a few more agains in there.  Finally, I tried the springs one at a time.  Well, I got one mounted and when I tried to pry the other one into place, they both came off.  Well, shit.

I took a few breaks during this process, mostly to let blood flow into my legs.  During those breaks, Joan asked how it was going.  It wasn't ever a positive progress report.  When I got the big spring in place, I was ratcheting the lighter spring out again, but could not get it to line up.  Joan asked, "Could you tie a strap to the ratchet strap and I can pull it from the other side of the bike?"

OMG, she is as smart as she is pretty!  With her pulling the strap down low, I could get the spring to within 1/16th of an inch from going onto the post.  I put a big screwdriver on it, and "encouraged" it into place with a hammer.  It snapped into place.  I had read several threads on the CTX forum about how tough it was to get the springs on, even one where the guy took it to a mechanic and it took two of them a bunch of tries to get the spring on.  I was expecting it to be a pain to install... it exceeded my expectations.

The bike was unrideable without the springs on there - the center stand would be dragging.  I knew I had to stay on it until it was done.  I could not have done it without Joan's help.  The end result...

That part sticking down under the bike is the side stand and the center stand.  Yes, even in my tired state, I was able to get the bike up on the center stand.  It is going to make things much easier for chain maintenance and be steadier for parking when it isn't perfectly level.

I think I have done the things I wanted to do to this bike to make it better for my use.  Now, all I wanna do is ride!  ;-)