Originally Posted by
Doug5150
...................................The kickstand didn't turn out ideal, but it still works way better than anything else I could find. With the grocery baskets on, I can put three 2-liter bottles of soda in one basket with the other empty, and (on level ground) the bike won't fall over. I'd have liked to make it spring-loaded like a "real" kickstand is, but that would require a solid attachment point on the frame a couple inches long, rear of the back axle. I wasn't quite courageous enough to try that this time around.
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I have made rear racks from a skateboard (using pieces of an old frame and kickstand parts), an old child carrier and aborted attempts using wood and/or old bicycle frames. It seems there are as many ideas out there as there are backyard engineers and most work. I finally gave up and bought a well made and sturdy one for less than ten bucks on Amazon. However, the kickstand problem remains. When I have a real load for the three baskets on my home made long bike it tends to, in the words of my neighbors 4 year old," tump over". It's embarrassing
because I always seem to have an audience when it happens. I really thought of trying to fabricate one modeled after the delivery bikes of the 1940's but they seem a little massive and cumbersome hanging out behind the front wheel. Your design solves all of that and I intend to start on one for my bike as soon as it gets warm enough for my hands to work in the shop. Thanks for the idea.
