The BMW side stand was hated by just about everyone, mostly because It wasn’t possible to deploy it while sitting on the bike.
Up through 1962, it had a mounting bolt of 12 mm. It often broke off flush with the frame and was hard to remove. In 1963, the bolt was enlarged to 14 mm, which didn’t break as easily by kicking to start the bike while on the sidestand.
Aftermarket manufacturers made several products to solve the problem.
Flanders made a stand that was mounted behind the rider’s footpeg. It was awful, ugly, and would damage the frame by pinching it.
A modification later was made by Bob Brown of Brown Motor Works, the former shop manager for Earl Flanders. It works well and is slightly different but is still available and generally accepted by /2 owners.
The best stand was the “Hall Bracket.” It used a Triumph leg that was mounted on a bracket made by a man named Hall. The bracket replaced the two spacers on the left side of the frame between the frame and engine. It was very solid and easy to deploy. I did a lot of business with Hall and could easily get the brackets. He had trouble getting the Triumph legs, but I had a secret source, so I sold many of them.
This is the Triumph leg attached to the original Hall Bracket. You can’t see the bracket, as it is very well hidden.
This is a “Hall type” stand sold by Vech. It seems to be getting the best reviews of any of the several side stands available today.
The center stand
The early center stand was mounted on quite weak frame tangs. These easily would get bent or broken, and we’re just not up to the job. When riders would deploy the stand, they would allow it to go over center and crash against the frame stops. In 1964, BMW beefed it up a lot and worked better.
The Bates ride off center stands never caught on. It was mounted up in front of the engine.