How I made a Homemade ABBA stand

[Robby]

I'm very fond of centrestands. They make lots of things easy.

However, finding a centrestand for a bike made in the early 80s with a reputation of rusting isn't easy. I have one in the garage, but it needs a lot of work before I can use it. Both legs and the top gusset plate have rusted paper thin. I have the tubing and the plate to remake it, but cutting and shaping that plate is a horrible job.

So in the meantime, to assist in my rolling restoration and current engine rebuild, I wanted an ABBA stand. These are a lovely simple bit of engineering, a U-shaped stand that clamps onto the swingarm pivot with a nice strong level to get the bike upright and hold it there. So a similar effect to a centre stand. Simple, so I didn't feel like paying about £100 for one.

So I made one. Unfortunately I only have finished pics, but I'll go through the process.


Materials required:
About 3 metres of square section steel tube. I used 20mm, 40mm would be better.

About 300 square cm of 3mm steel plate, for gusseting. This is important if using 20mm tube, or it will flex and bend, possibly snapping near the welds.

Around 300mm of round section pipe, with an internal diameter large enough to go snugly over the larger of the swingarm spindle nuts. About 30mm ID should do it.

Around 300mm of thick threaded bar, along with a corresponding nut in mild steel. An old wheel spindle could work here, I used an old bearing puller.

A spool of mild steel welding wire.

Tools required:

Angle grinder. This would take forever with a hacksaw.

Welder - MIG makes the job easier. You will need to weld in stages, I kept on taking my hobby MIG up to its duty cycle and needing to leave it to cool down. Don't be tempted to just leave it for a few minutes to cool, or it will start cutting out halfway through a seam weld and leave a crap, splattery weld.

Welding clamps. You are relying on decent 90 degree angles. A good heavy clamp is needed.

Emery paper. The steel needs to be shiny and clean for good welds. You'll be putting a lot of strain on some of them, so you need good welds.

How to make it

1. Work out how far off the ground you want to lift the bike. Hold it upright, and measure from the ground to the swingarm pivot. Decide how far you want it to lift the bike, and add this to the measurement. Then add another 30mm to allow for the suspension static sag. In my case I added 100mm overall, to lift the about 70mm at the swingarm pivot. This ended up with lifting the back wheel about 100mm off the ground.

2. Take this measurement, and add 200mm on each side to give you plenty of margin for error. You will end up with a measurement of around 700mm. Mark this mesurement on your bar (preferably using a set square and scribe to be accurate) and cut it, then repeat. You now have two identical lengths of tube, these are your uprights.

3. Measure the width of the bike at its widest point near the swingarm pivot. For me this was around the footpegs, at around 600mm. If you have a fairing then this may be the widest point. Take this widest point, and add 30mm for easy clearance, leaving an overall measurement of around 630mm. Cut this section from your tube. This is your bottom bar.

4. Clean each of the bottom bar and one end of each of the uprights ready for welding. Clamp the bottom bar and one upright in your 90 degree welding clamp, so that the upright is on the outside. If you put the upright on the side (ie welding all around the section of the upright) then it will foul on the widest point of the bike.

5. Tack weld this join, leave it to cool for a few minutes, then repeat for the other side. Leaving it to cool whilst clamped is important, any warping as the weld cools will be difficult to correct later.

6. You now have a U-shaped basic frame. Have a cup of tea and a smoke.

7. Now to make some gusset plates. Put the frame in position under the bike, around the swingarm pivot. It will be quite big, I canted it backwards so that the bottom bar is beneath the middle of the engine. You will be putting in gusset plates and tube to reinforce it at the bottom corners, so make sure that the nothing on the bike will foul down there. This is only likely if you have a wide, low fairing.

8. Measure out triangular gusset plates on your sheet steel, I made mine 100mm each side of the 90 degree angle, so about 140mm on the long edge. Cut out each gusset plate.

9. Above the gusset plates will be a small section of steel tube, so that you have a triangle of steel tube with a gusset plate in the middle. This is very strong. Measure out this tube, bearing in mind that you must cut each end on a 45 degree angle. The inner edge measurement is the same as the long edge of the gusset plate, so just hold up the plate to measure instead of using a ruler. Scripe the lines to cut at a 45 degree angle out from this line. Cut. You now have a piece of pipe which is about 140mm on one side and 180mm on the other. Do the same for the other side, making sure to measure against the other plate - it's easy to have the two plates a slightly different size.

10. Clean up the inner edge of the frame you made previously with emery paper. Clean up the inner edge and both ends of the short tubes. Clean the entire surface of the sheet, and dress the rough edges off the gusset plates. I did this by running them along a bench grinder.

11. Position a gusset plate in the corner of the frame, so that both edges run along the inside of the frame. You may have a suitable clamp to hold it in place, I held it by hand. Tack weld it in place.

12. Position the short bar above the gusset plate, completing the enclosed triangle. Tack each end of the short bar to the frame, then tack the gusset plate to the short bar. Repeat for the other side.

13. You now have a reinforced basic frame. Have a cup of tea and a smoke.

14. At this point you may choose to do some or all of these welds properly, to save time later on. Seam weld all areas where the bars contact first, then seam weld all around the gusset plate on both sides. If you have a hobby welder like mine then you can do one full gusset plate before letting it cool.

15. Put the frame in position around the swingarm pivot. Measure the distance between the inside of the upright and the base of the swingarm pivot nut. This will be a little more than the width of a footpeg. Repeat the measurement on the other side, adjusting the position of the frame until both measurements are the same.

16. Mark this measurement onto the round section pipe that will go over the larger of the swingarm pivot nuts. Cut.

17. You should be getting the hang of cleaning surfaces prior to welding now. Clean the surfaces to be welded, then weld the round bar onto the inside of the frame when you want it to connect to the swingarm pivot. This is not the end of the upright, because you left about 200mm on the end for leverage and margin for error. It will be around 500mm from the bottom of the upright.

18. Make a small bracing bar as you did to fit around the gusset plates, around 60mm on the long edge. Weld this in place to support the round tube FROM ABOVE. If you put it below the round tube then it will foul on the footpeg. Gusset plate optional, the gap for it will be very small. I didn't use one.

19. You now need to make up the clamping device for the opposite side, using your threaded bar and nut.

20. Mark the lifting point on the bare upright, about 500mm from the ground. Work out half the diameter of the nut, and subtract this from the 500mm, leaving you with a mark around 490mm from the ground. Cut here, and weld the nut on. The centre of the nut should now be at the same level as the centre of the round tube on the opposite side.

21. Brace around the nut. I cut some short sections of square pipe to box it in, and seam welded it all around.

22. Put the frame in position around the swingarm pivot again, and screw in the threaded bar until it clamps against the swingarm pivot bolt. You want to have about 100mm sticking out of the outside to screw it in without grazing your knuckles. Mark this 100mm, then cut off the excess.

23. You now need to decide how it will attach to the swingarm pivot. I used an old socket, slightly bigger than the pivot bolt so that it would clamp up without turning the bolt. You can also use a section of round steel pipe. Weld this onto the end of the threaded bar. I didn't give the threaded bar any additional support, my bike is lightweight. You can give it some support by using some round tube of a slightly greater internal diameter than the external diameter of the threaded bar on the inside of the upright, and supporting it from above as on the other side.

24. On the outside of the threaded bar you need a turning device. This could be a T-piece handle out of steel bar, or a nut so that you can get a ratchet on it. I chose a nut. Weld your choice on the end.

25. You now have a way of clamping the stand to the bike. Have a cup of tea and a smoke. Avoid temptation to do it up tight just yet.

26. Go over the whole thing and finish off any welds, your welder should be cool enough to get them all done by now.

27. Time to make support legs. The longer the better. Hold the stand upright on the ground, then cant it back about 20 degrees. Measure from the frame to a point on the ground that is further out that the swingarm pivot connector, so that when the frame is supporting a bike it will support it at about 20 degrees without toppling over.

28. Cut two lengths of square steel bar to be the support legs, then weld them in place along with gusset plates and bars as you did for the inside of the frame.

29. You now have a stand that can support a bike.

30. Find a suitable lever to slot over the side with the round bar, where you still have 200mm sticking up. A length of round steel bar will do, I just welded on another section of square bar because it was lying around. If it slots on then it can be removed, which is useful.

31. Go over the whole thing and finish any welds. Remember that each gusset plate has a total of 6 seam welds, and its easy to miss one.

32. Have a cup of tea and a smoke. Let it fully cool, or you will burn yourself.

33. Fit the stand onto the bike, making sure that it is clamped on good and tight. If you are worried that the tube will scratch your frame where it clamps on, a few layers of gaffer tape on the tube will do the job. Don't be worried about tightening it up, there is some flex in the tube gut the gusset plates will stop it from breaking.

34. Hold the bike upright, you may also need to swing the side stand in. Keeping it upright, pull the frame up on the lift handle until it settles back onto its feet. The back wheel will now be off the ground. Give the bike a wiggle whilst firmly holding onto it, if the stand it going fail it will do it now.

35. Assuming that all worked, you have a working ABBA-type stand. Paint it if that's your thing (I will, when I get round to it).


Some pics of my one:

https://cdn.bikechatforums.com/files/imag0008_148.jpg
https://cdn.bikechatforums.com/files/imag0010.jpg
https://cdn.bikechatforums.com/files/imag0004.jpg
https://cdn.bikechatforums.com/files/imag0006.jpg