R100GS - an easier way to get off

[bcgilligan]

OK ..... I want to continue riding my 1991 R100GS. However, I'm getting a few more miles on me, as well as the bike, and would like an easier way to exit the bike. As is, I am too short to deploy the side stand from the saddle. I have to do a modified ballet dance (wearing out many left boot soles) to exit the bike, then put down the side stand AFTER getting off. Having done this for nearly 18 years doesn't make it easier.

So ...... any suggestions for a mechanism to deploy the sidestand while I'm still on the saddle? (I have a few ideas of my own, but it'd be cheating to post those here, while I'm asking for your ideas, right?}. I don't think the side stand detent from (cannot remember the supplier, but out of Montana) is the solution, especially since there is no side stand 'down' override.

Bob

[jobee58]

I glanced at the title of this thread... "R100GS - an easier way to get off", and I thought: Wow, there's a sentence that could misconstrued!:laugh

[RandyB]

There was some guy on advrider who made a contraption using a cable and a t handle. It attached to the stand, went around the front of the cylinder, then ended in a t handle on top near the left carb. He could pull the t handle and pull the stand down then lean the bike onto it. Can't find the pic, tho.

[From MARS]

I am a new GSPD owner and have thrilled both me and my riding buddies by pushing the side stand down with my left toe and then leaning the bike over onto it while transferring my weight to my left foot. Sometimes with a load of camping gear, a full tank, uneven ground, or a combination of these, I, and they, wonder if the bike is going to just keep going. Nobody parks too close to my left side anymore even though it has not happened, yet. So, I have put my mind to thinking about this "problem" as well.

To date, my thinking has revolved around using a clutch cable attached somewhere on the upper part of the side stand and run to a lever attached to the handlebars where it's position would be readily visible. This would require the addition of a bracket onto the side stand for the cable end, a stop welded somewhere to accept the sleeve, and some kind of bracket/turning block (a nautical term) to get the angle right to overcome the initial "in-line" pull. Maybe something along the lines of the old 'mouse-trap" clutch arrangement used on H-D's years ago:dunno. I chose a clutch cable as the actuator 'cause I could use it to replace the actual clutch cable if the need arose.

I'm still in the "thinking about" stage, so meanwhile, I'll just keep providing excitement, and hopefully not "entertainment", for me and my buddies.

Tom