Before I even picked up my new RGC motorcycle I had one of these on order. The build-quality, made in the U.S.A., the seemingly easy-to-engage You Tube video, and mostly the many posts here about what a stand-up guy the owner - Rod - is, all made me feel very easy about buying the product.
Unfortunately, I'm a cheap bastard. Well, not really, but when I buy something off the Internet (after I've done the research of course) I find the best deal I can. In this case that was from PowerSport Superstore.
So I get the stand in and sure as heck it looks like it's a quality build and installation could not have been easier and faster. Then came time to try it out. Easy up, my a$$. I could not get this center stand engage from a seated position at ALL. I think I actually got it to go up once and wrenched my back so bad that I couldn't walk for a week!
I was disappointed and more than a little annoyed at that You Tube video. I went and watched it again and noticed that the guy doing it is a gorilla and also it seems the bike is on a slight incline. I thought about taking the stand off and sending it back for refund but I was able to put the bike up when not sitting on it and it was still a center stand so I figured what the heck, I'll live with it.
About 2-weeks into owning and using it I went to put the bike up on the center stand one day only to have the long, angled metal arm break off almost causing me to drop the 850 pound bike on top of me! Needless to say, I was some p.o.'d.
I called up PowerSports Superstore and they (of course) just said to call the manufacturer. I called Wheel Dock - the makers of the EZ Up center stand and was explaining my situation to the guy. He asked me to check a couple things on the stand and sure enough I had the wrong size stand!!! He said that the stand I had was WAY too tall for my bike and no wonder I couldn't get the stand to engage easily.
What followed was several increasingly frustrated and heated phone calls as I tried to get PowerSports Superstore to refund my money but they were claiming no responsibility. Finally I called back EZ Up to see what they might be able to do for me. I ended up talking with the owner, Rod, and learned some very interesting things: First of all, these after-market resellers are some real fly-by-night operations. Rod informed me that he is no longer selling to many of them for just this reason. He mentioned several by name and all of them were ones I had considered purchasing from because they were the least expensive.
He asked me to send the stand in to him and he would evaluate it what he could do for me. He said that if the stand could be repaired he would do so and then just charge me for the repair and then shipping for the new, and correct stand back to me. I sent out the stand and a week later got a call from a woman that said they were going to repair the stand for free, charge me a $20 re-stocking fee and ship me a new and correct center stand for another $12. Needless to say, I was ecstatic! The new stand just arrived and it took all of a minute to install (having already gone through the process) and this thing works SLICK! It truly IS easy to put up!!!
Lessons learned - Rod IS a stand-up guy. He makes a great product. I would recommend buying direct from him or one of his APPROVED suppliers. These are listed on his web site. This stand works GREAT and is everything I'd hoped it would be. I can put the bike up on the center stand even with the wife on the back very easily.
Thanks so much, Rod. You make a great product!
Photos of the stand pre and post installation:
Unfortunately, I'm a cheap bastard. Well, not really, but when I buy something off the Internet (after I've done the research of course) I find the best deal I can. In this case that was from PowerSport Superstore.
So I get the stand in and sure as heck it looks like it's a quality build and installation could not have been easier and faster. Then came time to try it out. Easy up, my a$$. I could not get this center stand engage from a seated position at ALL. I think I actually got it to go up once and wrenched my back so bad that I couldn't walk for a week!
I was disappointed and more than a little annoyed at that You Tube video. I went and watched it again and noticed that the guy doing it is a gorilla and also it seems the bike is on a slight incline. I thought about taking the stand off and sending it back for refund but I was able to put the bike up when not sitting on it and it was still a center stand so I figured what the heck, I'll live with it.
About 2-weeks into owning and using it I went to put the bike up on the center stand one day only to have the long, angled metal arm break off almost causing me to drop the 850 pound bike on top of me! Needless to say, I was some p.o.'d.
I called up PowerSports Superstore and they (of course) just said to call the manufacturer. I called Wheel Dock - the makers of the EZ Up center stand and was explaining my situation to the guy. He asked me to check a couple things on the stand and sure enough I had the wrong size stand!!! He said that the stand I had was WAY too tall for my bike and no wonder I couldn't get the stand to engage easily.
What followed was several increasingly frustrated and heated phone calls as I tried to get PowerSports Superstore to refund my money but they were claiming no responsibility. Finally I called back EZ Up to see what they might be able to do for me. I ended up talking with the owner, Rod, and learned some very interesting things: First of all, these after-market resellers are some real fly-by-night operations. Rod informed me that he is no longer selling to many of them for just this reason. He mentioned several by name and all of them were ones I had considered purchasing from because they were the least expensive.
He asked me to send the stand in to him and he would evaluate it what he could do for me. He said that if the stand could be repaired he would do so and then just charge me for the repair and then shipping for the new, and correct stand back to me. I sent out the stand and a week later got a call from a woman that said they were going to repair the stand for free, charge me a $20 re-stocking fee and ship me a new and correct center stand for another $12. Needless to say, I was ecstatic! The new stand just arrived and it took all of a minute to install (having already gone through the process) and this thing works SLICK! It truly IS easy to put up!!!
Lessons learned - Rod IS a stand-up guy. He makes a great product. I would recommend buying direct from him or one of his APPROVED suppliers. These are listed on his web site. This stand works GREAT and is everything I'd hoped it would be. I can put the bike up on the center stand even with the wife on the back very easily.
Thanks so much, Rod. You make a great product!
Photos of the stand pre and post installation: