Originally Posted by
Urbanis
Hi Chucky, thanks for your suggestions. For #1, I'm assuming it's a strap that squeezes the front brake lever against the handlebars to engage the brake, like the "
brake bands" pictured on the clickstand site, correct? For #2, I'm not quite picturing where the strap would go to secure the front fork. A clickstand could be an interesting option. Are you using one?
Yeah by "brake strap" I just mean something to squeeze the brake lever. I prefer a strip of velcro to the rubber band things usually marketed for this purpose because:
1. a velcro strip doesn't have any flex and you can adjust the tightness to make it as tight as you want.
2. when not in use you can wrap the velcro strip around the handlebar (under the lever for quick deployment) whereas a rubber band is always dangling unless you find something else to stretch it over.
3. I seem to have lots of velcro strip/loops in my parts box from lights and various other cycle accessories. Recycling is good.
For the front fork you can just wrap a bungee cord through the wheel and over the main tube (or the headtube). It really depends on the frame and what's there to tie the wheel to in order to keep the handlebars from turning. I suggest a bungee cord because you're probably carrying one anyway and fork/wheel doesn't need to be perfectly rigid to make it stable.
I haven't used a clickstand, but a lot of people recommend it and based on my experiments trying to get a kick stand to hold my body weight I believe it is the ideal design. I mean, think about it, if you needed to keep the leaning tower of pisa from falling over would you brace it from the bottom or the top?
However, I also think the clickstand is overkill for your purposes and too much hassle for a folder. With a brake strap my chain stay mount kickstand can hold my folder up with over 50 pounds of cargo in the milk crate I have bungied to the back. Much more than that and I need to use something more rigid than bungies to attach the crate and if I'm going through the trouble to do that then I don't mind finding a sturdy wall to supplement the stand.