I understand about the damage, and I think it's fine if people don't like kickstands. I'm still not sure if I want to put one on my Fuji because it's in really good shape, and it would bother me if that one fell down. At least one of the kickstands I removed in the last year had a protective layer on it, which seemed like a good idea. I've dealt with some really bad steel kickstands the just work poorly or not at all, the ones with the curved stamped bit of steel that hold them in place. The one that was on my wife's Huffy was nearly impossible to kick into place, you literally had to drag it along the concrete and use the bike as a lever to get it to go up. Then the crap bit of metal that's supposted to hold it up there isn't up to the task, so every pedal revolution brings a tic ...tic ...tic ...tic So unbelievably annoying that the Greenfield is a joy in comparison.