Your right, I never raced but have had 3 Kawasaki Z1/KZ900's and a KZ550A that I used alot for canyon riding hear in California, they all had center stands and did scrape the ground or at least now as much as my pegs, even my old Honda's had them too, this is my first Harley and the fact that it didn't have a center stand, immediately stood out to me. As I'm looking at the accessories page for this Harley Street, I see now that I could have ordered it and had it put on when my wife bought the bike. She doesn't know that much about bikes and bought it as a surprise for me, so she had no idea. I'm an ex Kawasaki mechanic and so I just like having it on for maintenance reasons, it probably wouldn't be practical to have on as a racer but I'm looking at it as an everyday commuter / do it your self owner. They come in handy for oil changes and keeping the rear of the bike clean. Anyway, I may put one on eventually. Thanks.