Originally Posted by
Johno59
The prevalence of the damage in this area across all of Raleigh's bikes from the 60s onwards suggests it was a design feature reflecting the inbuilt obsolescence/redundancy mindset that ending up destroying a industrial colossus that had a global reputation grounded in the complete opposite of such folly.
The death of Raleigh comes from them being a subsidiary of a larger company, and the belief that the bicycle as a method of adult transportation was now only for the very poor. Produce such products without investment until they met an expense sales figures couldn't justify then drop them. As such Raleigh died at the TI takeover. Their planned destiny was always to be shuttered and the name put on racing and children's bikes.
The bike enthusiast mass neuroses about kickstands never ceases to amuse me. Enthusiastishly finding lamp posts and walls to lean it against every time you get off, and then looking back to make sure it's not going to roll slightly and tip over, all because you think you're definitely going to ruin the frame by screwing them on too tight. Meanwhile millions of bikes a year leave the factory with them and their owners never notice this terrible catastrophe has happened to them. Similarly Harley Davidson owners often believe the front brake should never be used, and a particular type of wealthy music fan will spend hundreds of dollars on mystery devices that claim to improve sound but are actually totally inert. It's all hokum. Some sort of collective delusion spread by internet.