Forum bmwbike.com

The kit for the stock black /2 side stand contains a little metal tab with two holes in it. The tab is made in a very specific and careful way, but I saw no use for it, and was not able to use it when I installed the new stand. What is the purpose of this tab and where does it fit in the installation?

Hi Allan - I'll admit I'm just guessing here, but could it be that the part provides a place to hook the sidestand spring to? I think that the pressed-steel oil pan has a hole for the spring stamped into it, but the cast aluminum ones don't. Maybe.
- PCE

I am sure it is not a tab to provide a place to hook the spring on an alum sump (the stock metal pans already have a spring hole).

The small hole is indeed sized for the spring, and the large hole is indeed sized for an oil pan bolt. But the tab is flat, not bent as it would need to be to hold the spring. And the large hole has another slightly smaller hole growing out of it - a very specific and difficult thing to drill or machine.

Allan,

I think that Paul is correct when he says the tab is for the aluminum sumps. The sump I got from Mark did not have a place to hook up the spring from sidestand so I made my own. Originally the aluminum sumps had an integrated spring holder in the casting but Mark told me it broke off so he removed it completely.

The tab that Allan is talking about is the link between the spring and the side stand. This link presses against the extension on the side stand bolt when it is in the open position, so causing the side stand to automatically retract when the bike is lifted as is required by legislation.

Best regards,

Mark
Mark Huggett GmbH

Thanks for the illustration, Mark. It is easy to mistakenly install the side stand without the tab, as I did, by hooking the spring directly to the side stand where the tab is supposed to go. When the side stand is extended, the end of the spring then bends around the bolt extension, which makes the side stand retract strongly. I guess this is not so good for the spring.

Tried a long time to install the tab, and can't make it work. The picture is viewed from under the bike, and the sidestand would point down, and the spring would point back to the left. When the spring is attached to the tab, the tab adds its one inch to the spring, and removes all the tension. I reinstalled the spring without the tab, and the sidestand auto-retracts strongly as soon as the bike is lifted, due to the spring extension bending around the bolt extension.