Modern Vespa

I'm new to the GTS 300, and so far I haven't mastered getting it onto (or off of) its center stand. I miss the ease of getting a P (or even more so, a GS, Allstate, etc.) on and off of its centerstand. All it required was a gentle push with one's feet to get off, or hooking my left heel behind it and rolling back to get it on.

But this thing?! I have to stand next to it on the left, keep hold of the left grip and hold the rack with my right hand, then plant my right foot squarely on the peg and heave nearly all of my 175 pounds onto it, just to coax it onto the stand. Surely either I'm doing something wrong, or there's a better way.

Halp?

Just stand up on the lever, no need to pull up at the same time.

That's it? No special technique? -no magic incantation? 🤔

I have to wonder how say, a 100-pound woman can manage to get it onto the stand, especially if she's wearing any footwear other than Doc Martens boots...

I find it helpful to roll the bike backwards while stepping on the centerstand. The rolling mass helps propel the bike up onto the stand.

When you put the center stand down rock the bike from side to side and make sure both feet of the stand are on the ground. Then press down as hard as you can while lifting the bike up. Too many people try to lift with only one of the feet on the ground thus trying to lift the bike one handed instead of letting the center stand do the work. I used to have no problem with my 600 pound Kawasaki doing it that way.

What Jess said.

If the suspension has been altered to reduce the seat height, you will be lifting the bike quite a bit more than with stock height suspension, and that will require more effort. I personally find my 2020 GTS very easy to set on/off the stand, but I also own a Honda ST1300 which requires significantly more effort...

I agree with KZ above. There is a temptation when putting the scoot on the stand to pull it towards yourself. There are in my mind two reasons, one it feels safer, and secondly bio mechanically its easier to lift items close to your body.

Both of these work against putting your scoot on its stand. To get both feet of the stand on the floor that KZ talks about you have to have the scoot perpendicular to the ground, so make sure where you are parking the bike is level. You can feel when both feet are down as the scoot is stable and doesn't want to move away or towards you.

Then a firm pressure on the stand footpad should see the scoot raise up, move back and sit on the stand.

Here's my 120 pound wife hoisting her 600+ pound Suzuki Burgman 650 onto it's center stand.

It is definitely technique rather than brute strength (in most cases)


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X3

Yes, a lowered bike will be much more difficult to heave up onto a center stand.,

Had the same problem until I greased the centre stand pivot bolt - made a huge difference.

The bolt itself doesn't need any grease but the sleeve (piece of pipe) that is the actual pivot point, and the part which is turning inside the engine block. These tend to seize without proper maintenance.

Part #4 [/img]

So how does one grease the bushing?

In short, pull the center stand, pop out the bushing, clean off the crud and grease, reassemble.

Getting the springs off is a right PITA, however. If you don't lubricate routinely, the bushing will corrode and you'll spend hours trying to figure out how to get it out of there.

Pretty sure the Wiki has a manual for your bike that should cover it....

Is there an easy way to tell if the suspension has been lowered (e.g., measuring clearance)?
Are we just talking about someone having swapped-out the rear shock/spring unit for a shorter one, or are there different mounting points on the frame, or something else?
Thanks!

Yes, that's part of what I've been doing. It still feels a lot more unsteady to me than the P200s and earlier that I'm so used to, and ironically, more unsteady than heavier motorcycles I've owned. I think that's at least partly because of its width relative to my motorcycles, which allow my feet to be placed directly under their center of gravity. With this GTS, its width leaves my feet to the side, which means that to keep the scooter balanced, I have to find the optimal angle to lean my body while at the same time rolling it backward while standing on one foot. It feels a bit like a sobriety test. 😅 Perhaps it will get easier with time.

I get what you're saying about rocking the scoot to make sure that both feet are down; that's useful advice.

It's been my observation that this is really tricky for me to do on SF's many non-level surfaces, while keeping hold of it. I have to wonder how many local scooterists have lost control of their large-frame Vespas while trying to get them on the stand; perhaps that's why so many of them have dented cowls, from toppling over.

I also wonder why Vespa had to mess with a good thing. The P200 may not have as heavy as the GTS, but the center stand was a model of simplicity of design and ease of use.

Thanks for that helpful advice!

Holy crap -- a scooter that weighs 600 lbs?!

That's impressive technique on your wife's part.

Ah! Good to know! 👍🏻

I'll grease all of the appropriate moving bits once I contrive a way to raise it sufficiently off the ground.

I've never felt completely honest by referring to the Burgman 650 as a 'scooter', and an argument could be made that it flaunts the spirit of what a scooter is, or should be.

Regardless, they're wonderful, capable, and a joy to ride...IF you can accommodate the notion of a 600+ pound 'scooter'.

My last 650 Burgman was a 2'nd generation 2013 model, and it tipped the scales, 'wet', at 625 pounds, but they carry that lard exceptionally low, are surprisingly easy to handle on the road, and also in the garage.

I should point out that many machines of equal mass and wheelbase of the big Burgman are not nearly so nice to get up in their centerstands, and Trixie would definitely have problems with some of them, but Suzuki did their homework on this bike and designed the stand well.

Yep. The weight of the bike and design of the stand make it a bit awkward. It does get easier with practice, though. If you get the bike moving backward with enough momentum and time your step right, it ends up just jumping up on the stand with very little effort.

Practice makes perfect. Or at least better.

I tried it today, on my lowered Primavera. It worked

I would never have thought a Burgman 650 weighed 610 pounds. That's more than my Sportster 1200, for half the displacement. I have no problem getting my Vespa GT200, Kawasaki Vulcan 750, and Royal Enfield Bullet 500 on and off the stand. About 10 years ago I had a Goldwing 1500, and had no problem getting it on and off the center stand either. While I can no longer safely ride a bike that heavy, I really don't think I would have a problem getting it on or off the center stand. I have lost a lot of the strength in my legs over the past several years. But putting a bike on a center stand doesn't require a lot of strength. It's more technique than strength. You basically just rock it back onto the stand. To get it off, you just put your foot right in front of the stand, and push the bike forward. Main thing is not to drop the scooter/motorcycle in the process. Unless you let it lean over, all you need to do is hold it upright. My GT200 has one of those self retracting side stands, so I mostly use the center stand.

Getting my BV on the center stand is easy using the technique Trixie shows.
Getting it off is more difficult. It really needs some rocking and a very forceful push forward to get it off. And it has the tendancy to not come off but slide over the floor.
In practice I always park the BV on the side stand, which is not self-retracting on a BV. Much more easy and simple.
Basically, I use the center stand only to check the oil level.

Never gave it much thought, but did exactly what you said yesterday and it worked lol!!!

Putting your foot up against the front of the stand will prevent it from sliding.

Indeed, that works, but it feels unstable.

GTS Owners are physically syronger than owners of LX, ET4, ET2, Primaveras, etc but they are far weaker than GTV Owners who are more intelligent, better looking & produce more Testosterone.

Lifting weights or getting an Advanced Degree or even Plastic Surgery will not help.

Sell the GTS!

Get a lighter, more effeminate model like a 150.

Or buy a GTV & be a Real Man ...

Personally, I have never had a problem with the Vespa main stand.

Then again, I cut my teeth on BMW 1200 GS machines.

Ha, same thing was on talks year ago, put a wife to show her style:

What's wrong with you? What a whisked shit...

Same here, I had 3 BMW Kbikes with the little handle used to rock it back, much heavier but easy to do....

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I think that I can remember Trixie's K75 as having a little fold out handle on it's left side to help when raising it onto it's centerstand, definitely an appreciated and helpful little feature to have.

The wife doesn't even bother to make sure both sides of the stand are down! It's leaning towards her with one foot in the air! She still got it up.

Yes, exactly, I did bother to get her to do any repeated "spot on" lifting, as she manages quite easily, is that the best style or not, actually it is better example like this, that it is no rocket science and anyone gets it up?

Nice K75, here is a pic of mine

I got my GTS310 yesterday! I was shocked at how easy it is to get on the center stand. If you're having difficulty it is probably the stand binding. I don't even need all my weight on it, just shove down with a foot.

What I do is squeeze the rear brake with my left hand and push down on the grab handle with my right hand. Push hard enough to raise the front wheel off the ground. I push back on the top box with my elbow.

Then with one motion switch from pushing down and back to lifting and pulling forward.

The rear brake will keep it from rolling.

Works every time.

YMMV