Forum

Product Reviews

Product/Service: Rear Stand
Manufacturer/Provider: Martin Racing Products
Reviewed by: Jeff Kufalk

Stands stands and more stands! That's what it sounds like when you're buying a new stand for your bike. There are many to chose from, all of which having the same end function, but having different subtleties that make them unique, better or worse.

I was approached by Kenny Martin, owner of Martin Racing Products and asked to review his rear stand. After a quick overview of it on their website, I thought it would be a decent product to look into.

A mere 4 days later, the package arrives via UPS ground.

What's in the box?
Well, what do you expect? Exactly that... Neatly wrapped in bubble wrap, with the small bits in a separate box filled with packing peanuts, is the new rear stand, top mounts for spool lift or under-swingarm lift a bit of hardware, and a small instruction sheet.

Initial thoughts.

Wow is this thing light
Dual wheels - very nice
Nice finish
Perfect welds

My honest initial assessment is that this is probably the best made stand I've seen. This of course has its downfalls in and of itself which I'll get to, but it really is a fine piece of hardware.

Putting it together is not rocket science, so it seems, but after I've pulled tags off of everything, I then realized that the spool lifts are left/right side dependent. Damn... Study... Curse... Study more... Bah... Pick up the phone and call Kenny for advice. He walked me through determining which side is which. Can you tell?

That's settled. Back to putting it together. Since I have a spool mount bike (and HIGHLY recommend use of spools), I put it together first with the spool mount option up.

Next, for those of you who refuse to use spools or have spool mounts fashioned to your bike, I've shown the stand with the swingarm lift pieces installed.

So we've got it fully assembled and ready for use.

It seems that the default "standard" of stands is that of Pit-Bull. If it doesn't measure up to a Pit-Bull, it's labeled junk (and in most cases rightly so). However, I'm looking at this stand and appreciating a few things that live up to and exceed the "default standard". Such as:

Impeccable Welds
U shaped handle making carrying and hanging of the stand MUCH easier
Very light weight (Aircraft grade aluminum)
4 wheels which adds greatly to the stability, especially when using on uneven surfaces (like at most race tracks)
Added support brace for strength and stability
Notched posts to ensure no movement of lifting arms once tightened
Perfect finish
All metric hardware! (this seems trivial, but hey! They are the only tools I own!)

Pic of corner brace:

How well does it work?

It works great. Exactly as advertised. Easy up, Easy down, perfectly stable all the way around. The stand is 13.75" high, which is a little more than 1" taller than my last stand. This provides me a bit more room to get my warmers on, and the bike is perfectly even.

Final thoughts:

So earlier I said that being one of the best stands made had its drawbacks. Really, there's only one drawback. Price. At MSRP of $165.00, the Martin Racing Products stand is more expensive than most other stands. Convincing someone to buy any rear stand that is more expensive than the cheapest stand available is somewhat difficult. However, people quickly learn that they get what they pay for.

There are brands you can buy both a front AND rear stand for slightly over $100. There are also single rear stands in the $100 range. I won't tell you what to buy, but I will tell you this. Cheap stands are just that. Cheap. They're made poor, from poor quality materials, to poor standards, and end up exactly that... Poor. Define poor? Okay. Wheels that break or fall off, stands that slip together and then slip apart (when you don't want them to!), stands that could double as an anchor for a large ship, spool holders that twist, swingarm pads that tear, lifting points that don't adjust.

The reality of it is that bikes DO fall off from stands. If you save a few bucks on a crappy stand, chances are, you may end up spending it and MORE in repairing your bike when it falls. Look at it this way. Would you put Cheng Shin tires on your new RR, or would do you use the cheapest tools that your local 7-11 can sell you? No, chances are you don't or you would have settled for a "cheap" bike.

Where can you get yours?

Tell Kenny you read this review!

Did you find this review helpful? Think it sucked? Tell us about it in the forum!