JasBike

He bought a nice 2002 Giant Yukon hardtail. Nice frame, usable components... however.. he REFUSES to take off the kickstand! Hes going to start riding with myself and another more seasoned rider, and we can't convince him to take it off.



Help!

ejgonz

After a few rides, he'll most likely realize that he's better off removing the kick stand.

diamondback_man

Do what i did...
when he's not looking..SMASH IT OFF! MUHAHAHA!

or be boring...and just let him ride with it.

tFUnK

tell him that it looks totally uncool! that, or tell him by taking it off it will shave off so much weight that he can make it up hills much faster.

seely

The first time it comes down on the trail or stabs him in the leg, he will be convinced.

themuffinman149

ill show him a picture of my scar from my kickstand, thatll convince him. went down a trail, fell, kickstand stabbed me. ill post it, its pretty sick

PeterG1185

or take it off, beat him with it just to show how heavy the damemd thing is

khuon

Is it one of those kickstands that mount to the chainstays? Here are some valid arguments I've used in the past for removing kickstands from offroad bikes:

• Kickstand can wander or be pushed into spokes either through loosening up due to vibration or during a crash. This will of course trash the wheels. Then go on to explain how much a new wheel rebuild will cost.
• Kickstand can end up stabbing you as others have mentioned. Go on to explain how painful it can be to ride with a 4" gash across your legs.
• Kickstand will hamper your ability to clear some obstacles as it will be lower than your lowest frame element.
• Kickstand can accidently fall down and/or snag on something along the trail. At best, this will simply throw off your line with the possible outcome of a crash... kinda like throwing out a boat anchor while in open throttle at max speed. At worse, it will rip apart your chainstay and cause substantial frame damage. I don't think you need to explain what the cost of a new bike would be.

What are his reasons for keeping it on? Tell him it's useless for holding up a bike anywhere except the showroom floor. What's he going to do? Deploy it while on the trail so it can sink into the ground and have the bike fall over anyways? There are much better ways of propping a bike up. Trees, poles, rocks... Also laying it down on the non-drive side never hurt a MTB as far as I know.

Maybe you should teach him the pedal-trick.



It works offroad too...

cyclezealot

Khuon..He raises some good points about kickstands. Never thought of them..My attitude about them... It is like cycling shorts/jerseys..Free choice to the beholder.. Should a cyclist not like wicking jerseys..Her choice...I just sit up steam at a lunch stop.
Now, on my wife's hybrid, we have a kickstand..Once in awhile I find them convenient. - Yet, the possibility of destroying spokes.Not worth it.
But, wonder if a kickstand might save the ocassional fall that damages the paint job...
I do find when propping the pedal against a curb, quite often the wind will blow it over. Had dings on a beautiful Klein paint job.

BlackDiamond

Hehe wait until your riding along...kickstand comes down and causes this neat poll-vault...you wanna talk about scratches and dings in the paint job. Nothing hurts a bike more than a good crash from having crap bolted on that does not belong there.

Oh, you can expect neat dings and scratches on your body too.

cyclezealot

Black diamond..I do not have a kickstand on any of my road bikes..Only my wife's hybrid..Never bothered to think of the downside of kickstands. Sounds like I had better take it off.

Rambler

Never used a kickstand. My old bike had one that I never used as it was a pos and never worked properly. So I'd just lay the thing down. Had never realised there were such consequences to having one on there. Although it was centrally placed, rather than at the rear, so it couldn't have gotten into too much trouble. It still owned me a few times.