We ordered a weld-on, Sportster style, kick stand from CCI, and it arrived complete, with all chromed hardware and the bracket to be welded on the frame. There was one problem in determining the position. The front Avon was a 100/100 18-inch, and we planned to replace it with a 90/90. We needed to have the finished Performance Machine wheel in place.

The Avon Road Runner tire arrived, and we had it installed at the local Yamaha dealer. James pointed out to us that our front tire spacing wasn't perfect so I sliced a spacer to give us about a 1/4-inch spacer on the right side of the wheel and about a 3/4 inch spacer on the left. The tire, almost centered, now had clearance, and the wheel floated effortlessly under the modified Cyril Huze front fender.

Now we were cleared to install the Hot Match weld-on kickstand. This is a tricky assembly process. First, you need to be absolutely sure you don't plan to change the front wheel, to a 21, or extend the front forks. If you do, the kickstand will need to be bent or modified to fit. It's not the end of the world, but it will destroy the chrome.

The other trick is determining the right position. Here's what my feeble brain told me, since the directions with the Hot Match didn't cover positioning, except to recommend that you take your time--no shit. First I stood my Road King straight up and lifted the side stand until it was locked in place. Then I measured from the point that would touch the pavement to the ground. It varied from around 2.5 inches to 3 inches. I noted that the Hot Match lever was nearly 3 inches shorter from the point of contact to the center of the pivot point. I took that into consideration. I also noted that I had lowered my King with shorter shocks, then added a larger Avon tyre (a 150). Ground clearance was also a consideration.

Then we picked a placement area on the frame. Our design called for little or no forward controls. I kept the tab under the BDL belt drive system and hidden as much as possible, without being so far back as to create a balance problem. If the weight is forward of the kickstand, sometimes it can topple the bike. One other consideration. When the stand pops up you need to be able to reach it with a toe, and it better not ride on the belt, or you're toast. Make sure to check all that, before you burn any rod.

I sprayed the frame rail and the components with a silicone splatter preventative. It obstructs slag from sticking to components. It also made the frame a slipper bitch. I tried setting the stand end on a socket nearly 3 inches off the deck. Then I considered the differing lengths of the stands and shifted to 2.5 inches. Sin Wu was called, from the bedroom, to hold the stand firmly in place. I marked it, with a grease pencil, then ground the edges of the bracket to be welded to the frame. Extra grinding took place to form a snug, metal to metal fit. In order to make all this work we needed to partially assemble the kickstand without the ball and spring.

The easy-to-read directions called for disassembly, but we left it together and used it to hold the bracket in place for tacking. Before tacking I backed the bike out of the clamp, holding it upright, positioned the bracket in the white grease pencil marks and leaned the bike carefully until the stand rested on the flat surface. It looked cool, so we re-clamped the bike securely, held the stand in place, protected the belt from hot slag and tacked the sucker with our Millermatic welder. Then we took the stand arm off the bracket and welded it some more. That would hold it securely until we tore the bike down for paint.

The Hot Match unit from Custom Chrome is a well made precision unit delivered show chromed. The instructions included recommendations to apply anti-seize to the spring and ball. They endorse using Red Loctite on the pivot pin threads. We didn't because the bike would be torn down for paint in the near future. The arm needs to be placed firmly over the bracket and pushed into place before the pin will ease into the hole from the bottom. It doesn't hurt to have a spare set of hands and someone holding the bike. There's also a pivot pin set screw to prevent losing that precious pivot pin and kick stand arm, on a desert highway, in the middle of Arizona.

That's it, except to mention that when we head to the paint shop, we need to tape off the chrome bracket, so the painter will paint over the welds but not the chrome tab.

As you can see this bike is damn close to the spray booth. I need to coerce Giggie, from Compu-fire, to ride his FXR out to the Bikernet Headquarters with our mid-controls. Once the Joker Machine handlebar controls are bolted to the modified bars, we're ready for a trial run, then off to paint. Stay tuned.

--Bandit

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