One of the first things that I was inadvertantly happy about when I bought my Goldwing, was the center stand. This makes it easier to check tire pressure, perform maintennance, wash the bike, load luggage, and more. But the first time I tried to get it on the stand, I was not successful. So the geek that I am, I looked online for tips or instructions how to perform this task. And I am going to share them with you.In an ideal world, you will always have a perfectly flat concrete spot when you are trying to do this. Asphalt is a good second choice, but if the weather is too hot, the asphalt gets soft, and your bike has the chance of sinking into the asphalt. Which makes this a good time to point out that the same thing can occur with your side stand. You also want as close to level as possible keeping in mind that once the bike is on the center stand, you have to control the 800+ lbs of bike when coming of the stand.

Getting the bike onto the center stand

1. Get on the left of the bike (kick stand side).
2. Place your left hand on the clutch side fro stability of you and the bike during this procedure.
3. With your right hand, firmly grab the seat handle.
   

   Seat handle

4. Put the heal of your right foot on the center stand foot pad.
5. Hold the bike level, you can feel both of the center stand feet make contact with the ground.
6. With a stiff right arm (locked straight elbow), push down with your right leg, an action similar to standing up.

If you perform this action right, the bike will just pop-up on the center stand.

To get the bike off the center stand

There are options for a “ride-off” center stand, but the factory one does not have this option. When the bike is unloaded (little or nothing in the trunk or saddlebags), just lean back, and rapidly rock your body forward. The momentum of your body will rock the bike off the center stand. Now you see why level ground is important to park it on.However, if you are loaded for a road trip, you’ll have 40+ lbs of road gear packed well behind the center point of the back, which means you may have to try this maneuver several times before the bike is back on two wheels.