Kickstand Repair - Kawasaki Vulcan

Warning: your attempts at DIY repairs may not go perfectly. You might break something in the process. Join the club! Just don't whine to the adults in the room. A recent ride was cut short when I found the kickstand spring laying on the ground. I tried just putting the spring back in its place, but it was too loose, and the kickstand had a disgusting amount of slop. After some troubleshooting, I figured out what went wrong. The kickstand, spring, and bolt are all replaceable, but the real culprit is the bracket. It is welded onto the frame and therefore can't be easily replaced (you may be able to buy a new frame component, but that has to be hard on the pocket book). This is a total "repair at home" DIY with no new parts purchased. I added material to the frame and bolt with the welder. Using an angle grinder and file, I milled them back down to "close enough" specs. The legs on the kickstand were squeezed back together in a vice to remove some of the extra play as well. The bolt that holds the kill switch was eventually replaced and I added a drop of thread locker to keep it from working loose. I used a car jack to get this thing high enough to remove the weight from the kickstand. Be careful lifting the bike so that it doesn’t tip over and make a bad situation worse.