I thought long and hard before posting this!
Opening myself up to ridicule

But I've just spent hours trying to get my front wheel back on and thought I'd share so no one else has to

Most important tip is use a front paddock stand that lifts on the stearing head, you will avoid all the problems I had if you do.

Problem 1. The pins on the stand were too long and encroachd the space the wheel shoud have been in, meaning the wheel twisted out of line and the axle wouldn't go in. Once the wheel is out this is very difficult to correct

Problem 2. Although my paddock stand is adjustable, I'd obviously gone to far meaning one side was lower than the other, the axle was trying to go in at an angle and just wouldn't work. It was hard to tell this was wrong when the wheel was in. Again very difficult to correct when the wheel is out, I had to put a car jack under the one side to lift it up

The good news is its all ok now, but hopefully some one will find my mistakes useful by avoiding them!

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2009 Buell XB12 XT
1992 GSXR 750
2009 FZ1-N
2003 CCM 644 DS
1999 R1150GS

If the pins are too long you should check the threads on the axle as you may have damaged them removing it - the hole in the bottom of the fork allows direct contact with the threads there. Maz clued me up to that one.

I got stands like this:


Although the forks are unequal lengths my one like this holds the bike fine.