miamicuse

Why do all "serious" bikers frown upon kick stands?

I find it very useful and practical. I admit I am not a very serious biker but I got the feeling when others see my bike with a kick stand they made me feel like I walked into a black tie event they are drinking cocktails with hands in white gloves with the pinky finger sticking up while I am in crocs or flip flop.

Don't be so mean!

frantik

they add weight and are not usually found on higher end bikes

Monster Pete

Because apparently if you use anything that makes using a bike more comfortable or practical, or use a bike for transporting yourself and your stuff rather than for racing around on a sunday morning, you aren't really 'serious'. Not to mention the massive weight increase you get that will obviously slow you down much more than, say a red traffic light.

wolfchild

I have no use for kickstands and never will... There are a million objects out there which I can lean my bike against, such as brick walls, sign posts, lamp posts, railings , trees and many others. I am not worried about scratches in the paint from leaning my bike against things. If there is nothing to lean my bike against then I would just lay it on the ground, no need for a kickstand.

Clarabelle

I put kickstands on our singles. We did a lot of touring with them so a little extra weight wasn't an issue. For our tandem, I bought a Click-Stand which weighs next to nothing and works great for the Mocha. (https://www.click-stand.com/) Guess I'm just not cool enough. But after 70, who cares?

Stealthammer

We have a winner!

My favorite method is simply to backpedal one of the pedals on top of a handy curb or rock, and then watch as people try to figure out what is holding it up. But I actually don't frown on them. I just look at them like carrying a lighter if you don't smoke, and I say "Why bother?".

Clawed

Some do, some don't. Who cares?

What I don't understand are the fervent evangelists who are proud of not having a kick stand and make fun of those who do. Who gives a bowel movement? That's like being proud of having brown eyes.

jon c. 

When I was a kid in the 70s and everyone was getting their first 10 speeds, the standard belief was that you should generally lay your bike down. That way it can never fall.

rebel1916

What about the irritating iconoclast types who insist that a kickstand is necessary. Some even act like anyone without one is a poser. If you are someone who want's one, that's fine. I find that they are unreliable. That said, I have one on my child hauling, around town bike. Sometimes it is helpful to have that bike stay balanced upright. I never trust the kickstand to keep it up on it's own though...

lostforawhile

My vintage bike came with one brazed on, it works fine after 41 years, I have never had the bike fall

mprelaw

I've seen 35 pound cruisers blow over in 10-15 mph winds. How much wind do you think it would take to blow over an 18 pound aluminum road bike, let alone a lighter CF frame?

If you want one, get one. It's that simple. My first road bike was what we would call today an "entry level" Motobecane, either a Nomade or Mirage. It had a kickstand (it also had Schrader valve tubes and center pull brake levers--real "pro" looking ). It weighed 29 pounds. Ask me how long that kickstand stayed on the bike, after the second time it blew over.

Nermal

Good point. Can we say the same about pedals. If a bike is sold with pedals, right away you know it isn't going to be a high end bike.

frantik

how long did that kickstand stay on the bike, after the second time it blew over?

frantik

Are you saying pedals are not usually found on higher end bikes?

Nermal

Exactly. Before they're sold, I should add. Naturally they have pedals when they are being ridden.

frantik

i didn't say anything about how they are sold.. people could add them to high end bikes just like they add pedals. but they don't.

I always remove kickstands (from flippers.. i avoid buying bikes that came with kickstands) because they add weight, look ugly, and don't do anything that the nearest wall, pole, curb, etc can't also do

I could see the benefit of a QUALITY, STABLE stand for touring and other cargo riding, but for plain riding, it's not worth carrying around imo

JanMM

Mean? Huh? Kickstands don't have feelings.

My bikes lean against stuff - sometimes the ground. They never fall over because a kickstand failed to do it's job.

Zorba

Yep, it was that way when I was a kid too. But then I grew up.
Correct. Higher end bikes come with motors.

krobinson103

I have kickstands on my beaters because it is handy to have the bike stand itself up when shopping or liading stuff onboard. My fun bike doessn't have one because I don't need it.

fietsbob

If every time you stop you lock your bike to sometheng, no problem..

OTOH... ever tried to load a touring bike , laying on the ground.?

GrouchoWretch

If I'm using a bike with no kickstand, my foot is always always always reaching for that thing that isn't there. Just an ingrained habit from age 5. I'm too old to go messing with my conditioning now.

Nermal

Fietsbob, that reminds me of a Dutch touring bike I once mentioned. Per tradition, it didn't look light, but very, very nice. It was fully loaded, even had a front wheel kickstand which got a nice little conversation going. Oh, it came with a real Dutchman, too.

Sixty Fiver

For when you might be carrying 80-100 pounds in the panniers... and 25 pounds of batteries.



Or when you tow a trailer and laying the bike down is a pita...



Or when you don't want to lay down a meticulously restored bicycle or have it scrub against walls... and because they came with side stands.





Touring bikes are easier to load and unload from a centre stand than from the ground... especially when you are old and can;t bend over like you used to.



Seriously.

Sixty Fiver

Just as seriously... you won't find stands on my road and mountain bikes save for the flickstand on my vintage Cooper.

chaadster

For me, the idea that kickstands aren't cool came from childhood, when my friends and I would race around on our cheap BMX bikes doing jumps. It didn't take too many jumps to figure out the kickstand could ruin your day when it deployed itself after a hard landing. We took them off out of necessity.

That was the late '70s, and by the early '80s, as i graduated to "10 speeds," I again found the cheap kickstands on my cheap second hand bikes not up to the task of fast riding over roads, because they'd rattle and work themselves around until they'd hit the crank arm when pedaling. Again, off it went.

By the late '80s, as I became interested in road racing and having an appropriately light MTB, the minimalist mentality gave no quarter to kickstands, and anyway, guys like Hinault and Lemond didn't use one, which said it all to me!

Those experiences cemented the notion that kickstands are not for serious riding, and the fact that bikes stopped being fitted with them off the showroom floor did nothing to disabuse me of the idea.

Today, I certainly can see that kickstands have improved over 30 years, and can be enjoyed over road without rattling, coming loose, or being 3lb anchors. Of my 7 bikes, two have them: my '73 Schwinn Collegiate cruiser, which is my "coffee shop bike" and often parked unlocked, and on my folding Dahon, which came fitted with it new, and because of the bike's size and design, often comes in handy when parking in lobbies or preparing to fold the bike and throw it in the car.