Featured 1980 Darmah 900 Ssd In France

I suspect for cost reasons the same lever mounts were used on all their bikes and mirrors only fitted were possible e.g. on the Darmah.

 

I have never owned a Darmah, but did have a Mike Hailwood Replica, and also struggled with the centre stand.
As a solution I bought an aftermarket side stand that did improve things until it cracked with the bike lurching sideways, luckily I managed to stop it falling over altogether.
After checking out the side stand, it turned out to be a copy, which obviously was not suitable for the application.
I contacted Tony Brancato for help and he told me:
"Yes i did design develop and make them, for many years... ....I sold this product's design and manufacturing rights to Andrew Jones at Mdina Italia. Call him on 0845 680 9005 or mail him at [email protected]."
I believe Andrew Jones has sold the business, and it is now operates as: Mdina Italia Ltd T/A Ricambi Desmo, but since you have ordered a side stand you are no doubt aware of this.
Tony sent me the attached images of his stand, and mine bought from Andrew Jones was the same as the images, was
not obtrusive, worked well, and made life much easier.
Hope the stand works well for you, and good luck with the remainder of your project.
Well done.
Tom.

 

Hurrah! and now you'll have to fashion a side stand switch Btw what's the large ring in the plastic bag for?

 

This is one of my favourite threads ever. The pictures are just stunning. I'm so impressed Guillaume - chapeau.

 

@Guillaume69
I must emphasise that, without realising it, the first side stand I bought was a copy of the original design, with no details of its manufacture provided. Following its failure I reported the fault to the supplier, who eventually refunded the purchase price, but still no details of its origin.
At this point, I engaged in more research, which I should have done in the first place, and that's how I came to contact Tony Brancato, who couldn't have been more helpful and his original design appeared better constructed, more substantial, better presented and held the bike more upright. This original design of side stand performed its function faultlessly, throughout its use on my bike, and appeared to still be going strong on its sale.
Regarding the failed stand, which seemed to allow the bike to lean excessively from the start, the attachment bracket was fabricated and on subsequent close examination the weld runs did not have smooth, uniform beads of a given size. Also, in places the weld was not fully penetrating and may not have had full fusion to the base metal. The separation appeared to start at a discontinuity in the weld bead, and run along its length, until insufficient load bearing material remained to support the bike, when final collapse of the bracket structure occurred, causing the bike to fall to the side.
Since the failure was not prompt on first use, it appears that it was progressive, perhaps suggesting a gradual weakening of the bracket by a cracking process; possibly metal fatigue?
However, these observations are not supported by evidence from non-destructive testing before use, nor destructive testing after failure.
From my experience, the original design and manufacture of stand was sound, and the product was fit for purpose, so on this basis your stand being an original should perform reliably, although I wouldn't recommend overloading the stand in any way, including when getting on and off the bike.
If you would be happier with firm confirmation of the manufacturing quality, you may consider carrying out NDT of the key load bearing features before installation, although a thorough visual inspection may suffice.
I hope this helps, and if you need anything further please let me know.
Good luck.
Tom.

 

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Interesting... mine also allows the bike to lean over at an alarming angle although it is exactly the same as the (red) one in the photo you posted earlier. I think I may just nip out to the garage to check.

I also notice Guillaume's stand has a different spring arrangement with it attached to the front of the stand rather than the rear. It also has a double spring which initially does look to be a better solution than the original.

 

Ah... I know exactly what you mean. I am shorter and not massively strong either and getting off the bike without the stand down involves lots of practice foot placements and body movements. The positioning of the foot pegs don't help either & I suspect the dropped bars on the SSD compound the issue for yourself.

Many years ago I stopped at a gas station and did my usual little foot dance in readiness for getting off and completely forgot about the luggage strapped to the pillion seat that hampered the leg swing. Down it went with me underneath - not cool at all plus he's a big heavy lump to lift off the floor.

 

I've just found the place where I bought the stand from and the following is interesting "Note that the lean angle of the parked machine using this stand is co-dependant on the leg length of the stand, rear shock length AND the tyre profile."

 

I noticed that the stand for Guillaume's Darmah has a number of differences to the one I purchased for the MHR. The bracket seems to be a variation, the spring is compound as Andy Bee said, and the spring attachment plate appears straight and not curved.
I realise that these differences may be to accommodate the model differences, or they may be developments in the stand design over time, presumably to improve its performance?
It will be interesting to see how the stand and bike look with the stand in use.
A further image attached may help in assessing bike lean.
Tom.

 

Yeah... as per the mdinaitalia web site "Now with improved deployment and retraction and double spring."

That lean is a lot lot better than mine... as mentioned previously it does rest at an alarming angle @Guillaume69 what length is your stand leg? mine measured around 25 cm from the pivot point.

 

Christ on a stick, that's a concerning lean angle....

 

The lean angle of my MHR with the copy stand fitted was excessive and similar to that of Andy Bee's bike, but was more upright with the original designed stand fitted after the failure, as in the image in post #354, and the lean of the different Ducati models in that photograph appears to be equivalent.
It will be interesting to see what the lean angle is on Guillaume's bike with his side stand fitted?
Assuming that the lean angle from vertical has not been increased by suspension or tyre effects, and the prop leg is a similar length, perhaps mounting bracket differences can account for the changes in lean angle?
I'll look to see if I kept any of the failed stand components and will measure them for comparison.
It will be interesting to get to the bottom of this!
Tom.

 

Yes, it would be interesting to find the root cause.

I have 325 mm Maxton rear shocks fitted, that don't have a great deal of sag, plus I also fitted a set of progressive IKON fork springs. How these affect the ride height I wouldn't know. The tyres aren't anything radical either - 100/90 & 120/90.

The only other variable, as you say, is in the mounting bracket & specifically the angle (from the vertical) the stand leg sits at when deployed. Perhaps @Guillaume69 could take another photo from the rear of the bike when it is on the centre stand but with the side stand in it's deployed position. I'm thinking mine is at a too shallow angle.