Originally Posted by
SlimRider
I believe that the only bikes [for me] that shouldn't be required to have a center kickstand built into the design of the bike, is a road bike. However, the kickstand should be optional on even most non-racing road bikes.
The center kickstand would be quite useful on touring bikes, MTN bikes, CX bikes, and hybrids, for quite a few reasons. The first of which, would be stopping on the side of the road for an emergency tea break. I can't count the number of times that I temporarily stopped to chat with a friend, make a minor adjustment on my seat, my brakes, my handlebars, or some accessory, while the bike rested upon its kickstand. Three of my four bikes have kickstands!
Fixed it for ya.
For me, a kickstand has no utility whatsoever on any bike. On a mountain bike that is ridden off-road, they are a hazard. On a touring bike, they are of limited utility and the bike is likely to end up on the ground when using one.
At least one manufacturer suggests that you not use them on their touring bikes. The best quote of the whole article is this one
If they had asked us before they installed it we would have led off with the self evident advice that a bike which is lying down can’t fall over.
On a road bike...well, they are just wrong.
The world is full of vertical surfaces against which a bike can be leaned. And if there is no vertical surface, the world is one big horizontal surface. Not one of my 7 bikes has one nor has 30 of the 32 bikes I've owned over the past 30+ years. I certainly wouldn't try to adjust anything while the bike was on a kickstand. I've had to make plenty of adjustments to bikes in the field and leaning the bike up against something is always handy and probably more stable.