[fjmartin]

So, something that could help folks get their bikes up on the centerstand and can easily be made at home is a mini ramp. Toss it on the ground and ride the back wheel up on it and then it's super easy to get the bike on the stand since it's higher up. I do it standing next to the bike in first gear. I made one that is just for my garage and I made another compact one that I take on long trips, like when I went to Alaska. Another field repair trick is to ride up on a dirt pile or rock or something with the back wheel then engage the center-stand. I came up with this as I'm a little dude and after lowering my F800GSA that made it impossible to get on the centerstand. It was even super hard with two people. Now it's easy peasy!!!

The garage version is made from stacked 2x10s. It's the white one. The piece of doweling is the wheel stop so I don't accidentally ride it off the ramp. Once I bump the stop I kill the engine, hold in the clutch and engage the center stand.

The travel version is a 2x4. I painted (black) it to protect it from the weather when traveling and on one side I glued on bubble wrap to keep it from messing up my luggage when strapped on. There is a stainless/rubber cable tie down on top that works as the wheel stop and I took some steel plates that have holes in them used for things like fencing and use them to swing out to make feet to stabilize it as the narrowness of the 2x4 made it tippy and would sometimes fall over when rolling up on it. They are attached with a wood screw.