I have crashed my motorcycle many times, but among the more heartbreaking was in my garage, when my long-term SV650 project fell off a pair of jackstands onto its own gas tank, denting it. It was something of a milestone—I never thought I’d be able to actually crash a motorcycle into itself—but this would have been prevented if I had used a Bursig stand instead of my usual jury-rigged swingarm stand/jackstand/car-jack craziness to do a suspension swap.
The Bursig Stand is a cleverly engineered product that lifts a motorcycle via the swingarm pivot and a motor-mount bolt hole (some models need an insert left on the bike). This creates very secure and stable lift points so the three-legged stand (four if you install the optional casters) can hoist both wheels about 3-6 inches off the floor by swinging a lever. You operate the stand next to the bike—not behind it as with a traditional swingarm stand—making getting the bike on the stand a safe and easy one-person job. Once it’s on the stand, you can strip it down to just the frame, swingarm and motor, and even remove the engine with some motorcycles. You won’t need a second (or third) stand (or assistant) to change the front tire or service your front end.
The 35-pound powder-coated steel stand isn’t what you’d call compact…or cheap. But it is easier and lighter to schlep around than separate front and rear stands, and if it’s on the casters it’s easy to roll around a pit area, as long as the ground is reasonably level. It’s also very stable—you can kick or bump the bike and be confident it won’t fall over with an expensive-sounding crunch.
Knut Wagner, who also operates the Remus Exhaust distributor in the USA, sells the Bursig stand. “I look at it as the iPhone of motorcycle stands,” he likes to say, a product that doesn’t just replace the array of stands some of us have in our garages, but actually adds more functionality—you can wheel the bike around in tight spaces or use it to store your bike, as it unloads the suspension and prevents flat spots or rot on your tires.
The German engineered and manufactured product is $575 plus shipping, and the caster set adds $90 to that. It comes with one adapter—specify your motorcycle model when ordering—but additional adapters are $149. Most modern sportbikes from the last 15 years or so are compatible, but some, like our freshly dented SV650, aren’t, as the frame design doesn’t work well with the Bursig. You also have to leave the adapter sleeve on the frame for some models.
I don’t have a compatible bike, but I did try it out with Knut’s Yamaha YZF-R6 track bike at his shop, and found the stand as easy to use as advertised, even if you have to practice with it a little. Match up the prongs to the appropriate holes and swing the lever until it locks into place and you can safely push, roll or bounce around on the mounted motorcycle—it’s as solid as a piece of heavy furniture.
Check out the Bursig USA site at bursigusa.com or call Max Moto at 510/595-3300. Bursig in Germany updates the compatibility list often, so ask your moto-doctor if a Bursig stand may be right for you.
Gabe Ets-Hokin is the Editor of City Bike magazine, and a frequent freelance contributor to MotorcycleDaily.com
this type of stand has been promoted in a few forums, its nice.
especially if you want to take both wheels off at the same time, and push it sideways up against a wall. This, now, is something I would never do.
my cheap harbor freight lift at $300 and a couple of other stands to take the wheels off one at a time, works for me.
Now if I had a HUGE garage with lots of smooth cement, and dozens of bikes, unlimited cash, and…
The harbor freight lift can be used as a work bench when not in use.
If folks are considering a swingarm pivot stand (as I was at one point), they may also want to have a look at these very similar products:
Heindle Pivot Stand
http://www.heindlengineering.com/Online_Store/pivot_stand.htm
Anderson Swingarm Pivot Stand
http://andersonstands.com/other_stands.htm
Abba Superbike Stands
http://www.abbastands.co.uk/product_details.asp?id=1
pitbull.
My dream bike stand would be Yoda.
Clumsy with that wrench you are!
I see what you did there…
The force must be strong with you, then.
LOL
coincidentally, I just had my first experience with this type of stand on Saturday. removing the wheels from an S1000. I was impressed and I don’t impress easy.
Did Gabe buy this stand? Did he get it for free?
I think if he did get it for free (or a discount) it should at least be disclosed in the article.
I don’t think that is relevant. He isn’t telling anyone to run out and buy it or going on about how much better it is than product XYZ or even doing a full evaluation. This is just an informational product spotlight (found my word Dirck!) to inform us about this stand. I never knew such a stand existed, but I do now. I’d love to see more articles like this, especially full evaluations. There are plenty of them in print mags, and I love seeing what is out there.
I think it DOES matter. You might be able to forgive or overlook a few warts if the product you received was free, whereas things are scrutinized more closely and with different eyes if they payment is out of pocket.
Either way, I think it should be disclosed when something is received for free from a manufacturer.
I don’t think it is relevant because he didn’t endorse it in any way in the text or the video – it was just a neutral, “check it out” type of article. That’s all I’m saying.
YOu are right, Jeremy…I’m just telling the readers about the product. I didn’t get one because (as I say in the story), I don’t have a compatible bike.
Consumer’s Union has what appears to be the best format. They purchase reviewed items at retail outlets like any non-reviewer.
Sorry, CU is about as interested in motorcycle gear as the plague.
Just about every review of gear I am interested in is either a pro like Gabe or user reviews. We can rightly consider both type of reviews in purchase decisions. Yes, pros almost always gets breaks on prices or other items of value (meals, hotels, trips to exotic places for product launch, etc).
Gabe’s personal motorcycle biases are on naked display for all to know. He doesn’t hide his biases. For instance, he’s not a huge cruiser fan.
IMO he would not let any financial benefit affect his product reviews. If you’re near Knut, stop in and look at the product and post any negatives you think Gabe missed.
“Most modern sportbikes from the last 15 years or so are compatible…” but none of the 3 in my garage. Sure looks like a quality tool. Need more of this sort of coverage on this site.
I love my Bursig stand. I recently got new tires and the stand made it so much easier to remove/install the wheels. Maneuvering the bike around the garage (got the wheels on the stand) and placing it in a tight area is made simple. Well made and great customer service at Max Moto. You can often find a deal that includes the castor wheels and shipping with the purchase of the stand on bike specific websites. I have no connections to Bursig or Max Moto but I do recommend it and feel it’s worth the cost.
This little Bursig thing is really neat but to pay $160 for each bike you want to lift after buying the lift itself is a bit overpriced assuming your bike will even work on it. I have six bike and this would only work on one of them.
A few years ago I bought a Handy Lift like most of the dealers use. It was $1000 with the wheel vice but it is literally the handiest thing in my garage. You can do just about anything to a motorcycle on these lifts and they double as an awesome workbench if you need it. Best of all MADE IN THE USA and lifetime warranty.
Knut tells me (and I think he says in the video) that his customers live in cities and have limited garage space, so a hydraulic lift isn’t in the cards for them. Also, the stand lifts the bike into the air so you can remove both wheels at once, something you can’t do as easily with a standard shop lift.
I visited with Knut several times in my motorcycle travels when I lived in the “left coast” State of KaleeFOWneya. Knut’s about as passionate for the sport as anyone you’ll ever meet.
In the mid-late 90s he imported an excruciatingly rare and costly all-carbon fiber frame for the Ducati 916 motor. He also raced it. IIRC it also ran CF wheels. The latter upgrade decreases un-sprung weight and gyroscopic effect with huge increase in suspension performance and cornering transition speed. Such wheel is not a street mod, but likely reduces lap times more than any other bolt-on mod.
IIRC his street ride was a nice anthracite colored R1100RT.
Knut’s got some genes! In the image above he barely looks older than when I met him!
Best wishes to Knut and all his motorcycle endeavors. You support a great representative of the sport when you send this man your money.
Dirck, it’s great the way your blog has such superb reporting from both the N (Gabe) and S (yourself) side of the State!
I saw a design for a DYI stand made from a 4 x 8 and a length of plumbing. You just put the 4″ width under the bike and rotate it to the 8″ width with leverage from the plumbingd tube, and one end of the bike goes up. Or use two to lift up both ends. I’m going to construct that.
don’t forget the duct tape and milk crate
Rabbit’s foot and rosary beads, too! Throw in a “nam myoho renge kyo” while you’re at it (westernized fast-food Buddhism).
You won’t believe thid, but I did that “nam …” chant once, wishing I’d get laid, and that night a strange girl I’d never met, total babe, knocked on the front door and stayed the night. And we had a GREAT time!
‘Scuse me, boys, but this is a product review, as in one product, not every product in a class. That would be more like a buyer’s guide. And it’s not a comparo, where Gabe would compare and contrast two or more products in a class. I haven’t noticed any whinging he reviews a single bike without mentioning every possible competitor, or when he reviews a Chinese, Japanese or German motorcycle without mentioning HD, Victory or Indian, so why should this product review be different?
I am amazed at the number of bikes that fall off of lifts, stands and pickup trucks. If one must lift their bike off the floor, having a good lift one that costs less than 5% of the cost of the typical bike seems logical to me.
Nice article on the Bursig stand. I didn’t see an applications list on their website, just photos. It’s not unfair to know what other alternatives are out there, I like the concept of this configuration.
Could care less where it’s made, just as long as its made well.
Click on “Shop.” Then click on “Additional Adaptor Plates.” You can select the plate for your bike there.
“I look at it as the iPhone of motorcycle stands”
Enough already of that overused comparison. Or am I to believe we should expect motorcyclists camping out at the Bursig store days in advance of the Bursig 5S’ reveal to the world which will feature a gold finish?
Looks like a very nice stand regardless.
$560.00 for the stand without wheels and another $100.00 more with wheels.. and it’s not made in America. Overpriced I’d say, and it doesn’t work on all machines.
How about the American made Peg Lift from peglift.com
I purchased one in 2006 for my 2004 Buell XB12 for $250.00 and it worked great. The guy who designed, built and sells them, was on a segment of Two Wheel Tuesday years earlier. Just a thought on my part for those who don’t know.
Doesn’t a Peg Lift get only one wheel off the ground? It isn’t a comparable product. Even if you combine two peg lifts to lift both wheels simultaneously (can you even do that?), you are getting close enough to the price of the Bursig that I’d fork over the extra money for the convenience and mobility it offers.
If you have need of getting both wheels off the ground with the PegLift, simply place a bottle jack or mini floor jack under the front portion of the chassis / motor area and let the bike pivot on the stand. Pretty simple. I am not a fan of castors on a stand, preferring to have the bike stay still when I wrench on it.
Glad to hear you still use and like your PegLift, JR.
The stand you mention looks like it may be a Chinese-built knock-off of the Bursig product, which Knut mentions in the video.
Do you really think it’s fair to tell readers about a Chinese-built knock off when I’m reviewing a product?
I’m not trying to instigate anything, but why would bringing readers’ attention to similar products be unfair? The first thing I do when I am reviewing anything that I might purchase is compare its value to alternative products. To me, this is a tool. It needs enough quality to do its job well. Anything more is just superfluous and not worth paying for in my opinion. I am not saying these copy-cat products do get the job done well as I am not familiar with any of them, but I think it seems perfectly reasonable to discuss competing products.
Re: “Do you really think it’s fair to tell readers about a Chinese-built knock off when I’m reviewing a product? ”
For better or worse, this is the kind of thing that’s invited with a public comments section.
Perfect for a reader to mention–but I have to much respect for my friends in the industry to undercut them in that way. It’s like saying, “Don’t pay $9.99 to watch the DVD of “Predator,” get a bootleg copy off the guy in the subway for $5! You’ll save money!”
Undoubtedly Gabe receives many requests for product exposure on this site. This product has made the cut. Maybe there has been “promotional consideration” or maybe he just decided it was worthy of his readers attention. In any case, he has no responsibility to give equal time to similar products just because he is writing an article about this one. If readers want something similar they can do their own research. That’s why we have an internet.
Instead of criticizing that he didn’t give free pub to your favorite competing product, maybe you should do so on your own blog site and let Gabe run his site as he sees fit.
Firstly, I have no firsthand knowledge of the Bursig or competing lifts and am not advocating any of them. Nor did I criticize Gabe for not mentioning other products. Whether there was consideration paid or Gabe just thought the Bursig worthy of attention (it certainly is), this was clearly a promo piece, not a comparison or evaluation: I would NOT expect other products to be mentioned in the article. I don’t know how you inferred any of that from my post.
Second, I am not telling anyone how to run this website. I love the site. I am just curious as to why he though the comment someone made regarding other products was unfair. The pros and cons of the Bursig vs the competition has to be the most natural format for a public discussion to evolve on this article.
Third, I appreciate promos like this as well as comments from others about alternative products. Especially if they actually use the products they are talking about. It makes me more aware and my research easier.
What is a “promo”? Gabe is a freelance contributor to MD, but if I suspected any bias in a product evaluation, I wouldn’t run the piece. I let the readers comment pretty freely, and competing products are brought up all the time in our comments section. Feel free to do so, but don’t make unfounded accusations about Gabe, or anyone else.
Dirck – I am not accusing him of bias or the site for accepting ad revenue for posting the article. The post I was responding to mentioned “consideration” which is the only reason I mentioned it. “Promo” was a poor word choice, but I couldn’t think of what else to call the piece at the time: a product “highlight” maybe? Dunno.
Regardless, he found a cool product and went to check it out at the distributor’s facility to get us some video and info on it. It would be bad form for Gabe to throw alternative products selling for much less in the face of Mr. Wagner in such a setting, but I don’t think your readers are out of line doing such a thing in the comments section. That is all I was trying (unsuccessfully it would seem) to communicate. My sincere apologies if I have offended Gabe or anyone else with the comment.
Cool. Thanks Jeremy.
I’m gonna take a look at both. I have an American made lift table that has taken a lot of garage crashes out of the mix at a cost of a lot of space and money. I’d love to see an American knockoff with a little more adaptability. I love the idea but I doubt it’d fit very many of my eclectic collection. I’m glad it was reviewed.
The Bursig stand is a nice piece of equipment, but there are less expensive US manufactured alternatives that could have been mentioned. Both Moto-Mfg and SV Racing have similar products for hundreds of dollars less than the Bursig.