I've seen some older bikes that had some sort of spring or bungee that went from the back of the fork to the downtube which kept the front wheel centered when the bike was up on a center stand and the front wheel off the ground.

Googling around I can't find any information about such a thing or how they are set up. It seems that it wouldn't take much of a spring and that it shouldn't be so strong as to be even felt in normal operation.

I guess I could just make one out of a bungee and experiment but I thought I would do some research on the pros and cons of a such an item before making a guinea pig out of myself. It seems that there isn't anything out there. Maybe having the proper name for this component would help.

No clue. some old motorcycles used to have something like that.

I think it is called a steering stabilzer, I saw one somewhere but I can't recall if it was VO or Rivendale


AH HA.. is this what your talking about? https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...tabilizer.html

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Here is a similar thing on a Yuba I just found.

I've seen something like that on really old bikes, like from a century ago. But deflopilator? Sheesh, they just made that up.

Many of my pre-60s bikes have them. Never saw why commuters stopped having them. Ever notice your front wheel veering outwards and your bike tipping over when putting it up against a wall? That spring is there to prevent that.

And it becomes much easier to load a front basket.

i have one of these on my kid-n-stuff hauling xtracycle and it just makes sure the front wheel doesn't flop while parked and cause the whole bike to capsize. i hardly even notice it, except for the fact that my bike hasn't fallen over for quite a while!

What is this center stand that you refer to? I'm having trouble picturing a stand that would cause the front wheel to be off of the graound.

Double legged kickstand

Aaron

I accidentally got this effect when I made the cables on my non-C&V Cannondale too short. I really liked the effect, though, so I've been using it like that for quite a while now.

(kinda hard to see in the photo)

That stand lifts the rear wheel. I have one. I don't think there is a stand that lifts the front wheel.

I have the VO version on a bike. There is not enough space between the front fender and the down tube, so it scratches up the fender (plastic) and makes a "Schkronnnnnnng"sound. The wheel does stay stable when it's up on the stand, and you can't really feel it when steering. And mine is set as tight as it can possibly go without breaking. I know, since I broke the first one.

Probably not, if there is a lot of weight/rack/extracycle in the back...???

My stand lifts the front wheel because I have a 452lb lock in the rear rack along with a bunch of other stuff I haul around. The front wheel lifts when there is weight in back...

This is exactly why I want one of those silly spring Things. I think I'm just going to make one myself out of hardware-store stuff.

Many dutch women's bikes have them, old and new, to make basket/child seat loading easier and safer.

Even with front wheel on the ground, my Raleigh with the big front basket tends to flop. It happened with a load of fruits and vegetables in the basket and the bike fell over.

I guess it depends on the bike. On my Redline R530 the front wheel is the one that is always off the ground.

Aaron

Does it have 3 foot chainstays? A ten pound rear hub? The mounting point for those stands is normally well behind the centerline.

Interestingly some of the new Globe bicycles have the spring.

Brad

All of the above? It currently has a Nexus 7 speed with roller brake, ring lock, 41 liter panniers and IIRC chainstays are 455-460 range. Actually mine is close to neutral the way it is currently set up.

Aaron

I'm using a double legged stand and, if a wheel is off the ground, it is my front wheel. It's a touring bike with an upright setup; heavy in the posterior.

There's another aspect to the spring thingy. If the front end is loaded with panniers or especially a handlebar bag so that the weight is forward of the steering axis it will tend to destabilise the steering. This occurs because the weight acts as a positive feedback loop by exaggerating wheel flop. Some touring bikes are built with zero or near zero trail to combat this but that can make them iffy to steer when unloaded: flop follows trail so if you eliminate one you eliminate the other. Trail acts as negative feedback on steering deviations and stabilises the front end.

The right amount of tension in the centreing spring will counteract the wheel flop and allow the use of a normal fork rake and hence trail with a weighted front end.

Now that I have the S-A X-FDD hub finally built up and mounted up front the bike is a little more balanced front/rear against the massive SRAM 7-speed out back.

The front wheel touches down now with the bike unladen, but with the lock in the back rack the front wheel still wants to lift off the ground. If the ground is even a little bit unlevel the wheel flops all the way to the lower side . Now, without the headset-mounted cable-stop for the front cantilevers, there isn't anything to stop the front end from turning nearly all the way around except for pulling on the cable housings for the rear brake and rear hub something terrible.