Just a quick note for anyone thinking of replacing their centre stand for whatever reason (mine was cracked).
I'd been putting it off for a while as i was trying to think of a novel way of extending the stand springs, because believe me, when you have the inner and outer springs in your hand you really will wonder how to get it hooked on as they are pretty damn solid.
I searched the internet and thought of all kinds of tricks i could use, but today found out it was all a fuss about nothing.
Once the old one is unbolted, with the bike on the side stand, you simply hook the springs on to the bike and the stand, then put one bolt in first (with a little grease where the stand will swivel) and put a nut on it to stop it falling out, then you can really easily lever the other side into place, then stick the other bolt in.
I put a little bit of Loctite on the the nuts before tightening them up.
And that was it !!!
No wonder i couldn't find any tips or tricks because it was that easy, but i thought i'd put it on here just in case some other poor sod has the same dilemma.
One thing i will mention is that i have a new exhaust, and the replacement stand was slightly hitting it so i had the edge of the stand taken down a bit to stop it rubbing.