General Cycling Discussion - Do you use a kickstand?

I have not had a kickstand on a bike I've owned since I bought my first good mtb about 10 years ago. I've purchased three more bikes since then and no kickstands on any of them.

My wife however always wants a kickstand.

We just purchased a tandem and the lbs refused to put a kickstand on it - stating it was not made to have one. I was amused but the wife was horrified.

What are your opinions on the subject?

Mark

My dad always thinks that I should have a kickstand. Frankly they bother me though and since I dont park my bike a lot except on the rack in the garage it really doesn't matter that much.

Does a flick stand count?

No kickstand here. Not ever, as far as I can remember. I prefer to rest the bike on the ground, drivetrain-side up. That way it can't fall over... :D.

If your LBS won't put a kickstand on then don't buy your bike there. Go to wal-mart, ALL of their bikes have kickstands!

As a local bike mechanic said "kickstands are for kids"

I'm trying to fit one on my Greenspeed..................just for laughs!!

It looks to me like people's opinion of kickstands is inversely porportional to how much they use a bicycle. Kickstands are very important to people who don't ride at all, not at all important to people who ride lots.

I've got nine bikes in my basement shop right now, zero kickstands. Several of the bikes, like my son's full suspension mountain bike, just won't take a kickstand. The majority of tandems fall into this catagory too. Even if one would fit, on some of them, like my Klein and my tandem, I'd be afraid of damaging the frame or at least scratching the paint if I mounted a kickstand.

Once you pass those hurdles, the fact is that kickstands don't really work all that well. You have to adjust them pretty carefully or they won't hold the bike up. If you're not careful to get it mounted straight, your heel will hit it when you ride. If you don't bolt it on pretty tightly, it'll vibrate loose. (Check the second paragraph on frame damage.)

Having said all that, I still think that having a kickstand on my beater bike might be handy once in a while. I just never think about it when I'm in the bike shop.

I don't have a kickstand on my road bike, but I have one on my hybrid. There's a girl in a group that I ride with who has one on her Specialized Sequoia. It's back by the rear wheel. I don't know if it's attached to the frame or to the wheel hub. I can't really say anything about it to her because she allways kicks my a$$.

One bike does the other does not.

"It looks to me like people's opinion of kickstands is inversely porportional to how much they use a bicycle. Kickstands are very important to people who don't ride at all, not at all important to people who ride lots."

I ride a lot. I guess now I need to start watching out for all the anti-kickstand nazis, as well as all the anti-bicyclist nazis! :eek: ;)

Honestly, all kidding aside, until recently I hadn't used a kickstand on a bike since I was a kid, but now most of my bikes have them. In case y'all hadn't noticed, most modern well-equipped cruiser and commuter bikes now come with kickstands (as did almost all vintage cruisers and Euro-style commuter bikes), and I for one find them quite usable and useful...so much so that I've retrofitted my hybrid, which didn't originally come equipped with a kickstand...

Did y'all ever think that maybe kickstands just have more appeal to certain types of utilitarian urban cyclists than they do to your typical lycra-clad roadie? And I have not had one single problem with a modern kickstand interfering with my pedals, or failing to keep the bicycle upright in normal use.

17 bikes, 13 kickstands.

My bikes won't accept a kickstand and I've found much better alternatives anyways so I don't bother with them. For MTBing, a kickstand is just plain dangerous so I've never had one on my MTB. For roadbiking, I've never found one that's reliable enough to stay put when retracted or keep the bike from actually toppling over anyways when deployed. I either lay the bike down thus lowering its potential energy state to a minimum, lean it against something solid and sometimes secure it using a light cablelock, use the pedal trick, hang it by its handlebars from a rail or by the saddle from a crossbeam or just walk around with the bike.

Here's also another method for holding the bike upright when you're not riding it...

I mean, what else would be considered classy enough to hold up a titanium bike? Why, another titanium bike of course!

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/2003STP-1/PICT0027.jpg

Now of course, your wife might not necessarily agree but this is one of the best stands I've ever seen for a bike...

http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=174773&postcount=102

kickstands on the cruisers only. no kickstands on the "serious" bikes (mtn bikes, and road bikes). kickstands are for tools.

Now of course, your wife might not necessarily agree but this is one of the best stands I've ever seen for a bike...

http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=174773&postcount=102

does anyone have a bike nashbar coupon for these? i'd like to order a couple ...

:)

-- michael

kickstands on the cruisers only. no kickstands on the "serious" bikes (mtn bikes, and road bikes). kickstands are for tools.
I take issue with your definition of what is and isn't a 'serious' bike.

Road and Mountain bikes - used primarily for recreational purposes; these bikes therefore are not 'serious' bikes.

Cruisers and commuters - used primarily for actual transportation needs; these bikes therefore are 'serious' bikes.

:p

i dont have a kickstand but that because i very rarely ever encounter times where i would need one...
at home i keep my road bike on my repair stand and my mountain agains the wall.
when im biking and there is a curb/rock/stump/anything curb height where i am stopped i will use the pedal trick to hold up the bike.
if there is a railing i will hook my road bars on it.
if im in the middle of nowhere and there is for some reason flat ground all around me and nothing to lean my bike against then ive biked somewhere ive never been before and the fact i cant lean my bike is not my biggest problem because im lost:D (but if i still needed to i would lay it down).

Your question assume we only have one bike!

We have 7 in the garage.

No kickstands on the roadies, yes on the round-town mtn bikes and the hybrid.

My personal take is that most of the time I put a bike on the kickstand it gets knocked or blown over, falling much harder than if I had laid it down gently.

Wife insists on a kickstand on her bikes - except the roadie!

I have not had a kickstand on a bike I've owned since I bought my first good mtb about 10 years ago. I've purchased three more bikes since then and no kickstands on any of them.

My wife however always wants a kickstand.

We just purchased a tandem and the lbs refused to put a kickstand on it - stating it was not made to have one. I was amused but the wife was horrified.

What are your opinions on the subject?

Mark

What kind of tandem is it? If its aluminum, like a Cannondale, they are very thin tubing and adding a kickstand can damage the tubing. A gentleman that added a kickstand to his roadbike (against our advice), wound up sawing through the frame basically, after a year or two, because the kickstand would move a little and scuff the surface apparently. I also think the length/weight of the tandem comes into play... if you mounted it at the back, like a chainstay stand, I don't think it would support the bike due to the leverage from the length. If you put one behind the stoker's bottom bracket I wouldn't trust it much more.

None on any of my bikes --- all road bikes. Maybe someone should develop a Ti or CF kickstand! Or has this already been done?

What kind of tandem is it? If its aluminum, like a Cannondale, they are very thin tubing and adding a kickstand can damage the tubing.

Yes, my new tandem is a '04 Cannondale Road Tandem. I don't use kickstands and didn't want one on it anyways. I'm glad the lbs guy wouldn't do it - I sure wouldn't want to damage the bike. I've just been leaning it against the wall in the family room when not in use. I sure wouldn't let a beautiful bike like that sit in the old nasty dirty garage with those smelly gas guzzlers. :D

Mark

None on any of my bikes --- all road bikes. Maybe someone should develop a Ti or CF kickstand! Or has this already been done?

I believe someone once marketted a kickstand with a CF shaft and titanium mounting hardware. I'm not remembering who though.

well, i use the kickstands on all my big tire cruisers, &
my new schwinn occ chopper. also on my muscle bikes.
but.... on the rigid ,crusty chopper i built......................
no kicker here, i'd have to make a two footer to stand it up. !
so i let it fall or lean on something. this is my "attitude bike"
measures eight feet fron to rear.

the only kickstand i've got is on my huffy cruiser/commuter (yeah, i know), and that's only because i can't find an allen wrench big enough to get the thing off.

I've got two bikes, both with kickstands. One's a hybrid, the others a bent. The hybrid bike has a lousy one. It would occasionally fall over. My bent which is a LWB has a good kickstand and the bike has never fallen over. I asked my lbs about it and he said that the reason most bikes don't have them anymore was to save money and weight. He said the ones that do offer the kickstand as an option charge about $15. Sounds like another way to get a few bucks more out of the customer.

I take issue with your definition of what is and isn't a 'serious' bike.

Road and Mountain bikes - used primarily for recreational purposes; these bikes therefore are not 'serious' bikes.

Cruisers and commuters - used primarily for actual transportation needs; these bikes therefore are 'serious' bikes.

:p
I commute on a mtn bike...so where does that fit in :p

Yeah I use a kickstand, even though it's near useless. Keeps falling over...but it's fine for assisting me with mounting my panniers in the morning. I need to find a motorcycle style stand...the kind that lift teh rear wheel up. Those are kinda hard to find though for a regular bike.

I have 11 bikes in the garage. 5 of them have kickstands. I don't have them on my main riders. What I don't like is that they always scratch up the paint. That and the extra weight is the origin of the "anti-kickstand bias", I think.

I didn't use one on most of my bikes, but I did add one to my rain bike. It is a VanDessel Straight-Up X 7. A great hybrid/city bike. I removed it because I used it so little though. Generally there is a pole/curb/fence nearby to lock the thing to.

The anti-Kickstand bias is a Style Guy thing. Most folks (and bikes) are just too cool for a kickstand. I have resigned myself to my lot in life as an unfashionable utility cyclist. I may even add a kickstand to my Pista just to hear the "serious" cyclists groan when they see it.

Dan

It's been my experience (from general observations) that bicycles used for sport won't have kickstands. While bicycles used for utility purposes will almost always have kickstands. Those of us that ride MTBs or road bikes for fun & excersize don't often use those same bikes for running errands, visiting friends, shopping, etceteras. I do have a "utility" bike in my garage for just such purposes. It's an old Raliegh GrandPrix.

I don't understand the anti-kickstand attitude. I always ask the LBS to put a kickstand on a new bike, and they've always been happy to accomodate me, and they've never charged me for it either. I've gotten free kickstands from three different LBS's just by asking them to put one on. When I bought my 4 1/2 year old son a new bike a few months ago, I also asked them to put on a kickstand. The kid loves it, and the bike is much better off. He's now careful about using it instead of just dropping the bike on the ground whenever he gets off the bike.

I had one on my Huffy when I was a kid and I used to love to burn wholes in the hot pavement with them ;) Today I don't have any b/c my road bike is used for racing and training and it's obviously not necessary, I won't put one on my fixie commuter b/c not only imho is it dorkey but fixies are light and swifty machines with a minimalist philosophy. I would definatly consider one on a beach cruiser or some such thing if I had one.

I don't understand the anti-kickstand attitude. I always ask the LBS to put a kickstand on a new bike, and they've always been happy to accomodate me, and they've never charged me for it either. I've gotten free kickstands from three different LBS's just by asking them to put one on. When I bought my 4 1/2 year old son a new bike a few months ago, I also asked them to put on a kickstand. The kid loves it, and the bike is much better off. He's now careful about using it instead of just dropping the bike on the ground whenever he gets off the bike.

Actually, the "free" kickstands might have been taken off (or just not put on when the bikes were assembled in cases where the kickstands are not preassembled) by them to begin with. Most LBSs probably have a good sized box of brand new kickstands in the back room that were removed/never installed because they just know that a fairly significant number of customers are going to take them off, or ask the LBS to take them off, anyway.

I use my Trek 7300's kickstand all the time - it's on a bookshelf keeping two stacks of magazines from mating :lol:

John

I use my Trek 7300's kickstand all the time - it's on a bookshelf keeping two stacks of magazines from mating :lol:

Dammit... I have that problem too. Why didn't I think to scam a few kickstands from the bikeshop? :)

I also think the length/weight of the tandem comes into play... if you mounted it at the back, like a chainstay stand, I don't think it would support the bike due to the leverage from the length. We have a chainstay/seatstay stand on our tandem, a relatively heavy mid '90s Schwinn tandemized hybrid. On soft ground, the foot will sink in. Otherwise, it holds the bike up steadfastly; the length has never been a factor. Unfortunately I have to remove it when we use the trailer that hitches inside the left side of the rear triangle.

I have a similar kickstand on my Rans Fusion semi-recumbent (came with the bike). I also have a conventional kickstand on my '69 Robin Hood English 3-speed. The Mongoose folder (rebadged Montague), the Univega hybrid winter commuter and the Cannondale R500 road bike do not have kickstands.

Pry bar, door jam (so the serious bikes without kickstands, can get out of the basement and into the yard and play.)

Bookends? hmmmmmm. I'm starting to decorate with bike parts. I love hanging chainrings on the wall.

I believe someone once marketted a kickstand with a CF shaft and titanium mounting hardware. I'm not remembering who though.
Great. $275 for a performance oriented, weight reducing kickstand. Where can I get one?

55/Rad

why do you want a kickstand by the way

I need to find a motorcycle style stand...the kind that lift the rear wheel up. Those are kinda hard to find for a regular bike.
I've got one of these on my wife's Kettler (German import). Not sure if they sell them as aftermarket accessories, though? Maybe check w/ other Euro suppliers on the web?

My bikes won't accept a kickstand and I've found much better alternatives anyways so I don't bother with them. For MTBing, a kickstand is just plain dangerous so I've never had one on my MTB. For roadbiking, I've never found one that's reliable enough to stay put when retracted or keep the bike from actually toppling over anyways when deployed. I either lay the bike down thus lowering its potential energy state to a minimum, lean it against something solid and sometimes secure it using a light cablelock, use the pedal trick, hang it by its handlebars from a rail or by the saddle from a crossbeam or just walk around with the bike.

Here's also another method for holding the bike upright when you're not riding it...

I mean, what else would be considered classy enough to hold up a titanium bike? Why, another titanium bike of course!

http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/albums/2003STP-1/PICT0027.jpg

Now of course, your wife might not necessarily agree but this is one of the best stands I've ever seen for a bike...

http://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=174773&postcount=102
Looks like there in love :love:

Looks like there in love :love:

Yep. Hot bike-on-bike action. :D

Which model Kettler? I can't seem to find a good picture of the kickstands of these bikes online.

Yep. Hot bike-on-bike action. :D
Whats with the coloured tyres on bikes these days?

If you dont stop,you wont need a kickstand.

Which model Kettler? I can't seem to find a good picture of the kickstands of these bikes online.
It would be an '01 Kettler Elegance.

Thanks for the pic. I'm going to go scrounge through a bicycle "junkyard" for lack of a better word to find one. The owner has all kinds of old, obscure, and strange bikes and parts. I found a nice 1930s scwhinn i was half tempted to buy for a restoral project...but then reality hit...i have nowhere to keep it :(

Yes I do.

If someone is standing too close to my bike, I kick them in the shin. Does that count? :p

No kickstand for me.

I don't think there's a right or wrong in this rather unimportant issue. My bike is the only one in my city without a kickstand; I took it off a wee while ago after using one for several months. It's no sweat either way, just an aesthetic choice. As for damaging the paint or stressing the frame, I'd think this was very unlikely unless you fitted the wrong one or fitted the right one wrongly. Any bike too fragile to attach something to it which will simply take the bike's own weight, is a no-go fo me.

As for damaging the paint or stressing the frame, I'd think this was very unlikely unless you fitted the wrong one or fitted the right one wrongly. Any bike too fragile to attach something to it which will simply take the bike's own weight, is a no-go fo me.

The two primary forms of damage from kickstands are:


Crush damage due to the clamping forces needed to keep kickstand secure
Excessive bending forces due to having a moment arm act upon the clamped area which can exert a load higher than what portion of the frame was designed to handle. This is especially true if the kickstand happens to snag on something while the bike is in motion.

After 20 years without a kickstand I finally broke down and put one on my MTB and I love it. To me it's not that much more weght, and I still can keep up with everyone on the ride, and it doesn't really rattle that much since I have a front shock and suspended seatpost. Now I don't have to look for a curb or tree to lean it on so yeah why not.