Some of the tips you come up with, M.A., just floor me. Great idea.

I guess you possibly could be doing it wrong.

When I figure out how to do it right, I'll share it with you so that you don't have to be doing it wrong anymore.

I'm that kind of guy.

My bike in question, and my wife's bike are both Schrader valved.

On the bikes I have that do have a kickstand, I wrap handlebar tape (once around) and then attach the kickstand. Easy...and I don't have to lean the bike against something that will scratch or tear my saddle.

The weight of a useful piece of equipment doesn't even factor in to me. Sorta like a rack, or a lock or a full water bottle.

It is a 24 pound touring bike.

I'm almost at a loss to understand what would compel you to post that.

But thank you for taking the time to share your wisdom.

While it is possible to not crush frame tubes with a conventional chainstay-mounted kickstand, it's pretty much an inevitability that it will loosen with enough kick-cycles, and gnaw the paint off your chainstays. Putting insulating tape under them will promote loss of torque that much sooner.
The other possibility is it will go where it's not intended to go.


Schwinn addressed this long ago with their superior (but weighty) design. Likewise, some manufacturers provided dedicated brackets between the stays to obviate these problems.

It's a mystery to me why the chainstay-mounted kickstands prevailed.
(I always, always, always remove them without the slightest regret).

in the "old" days the bikes came with integral kickstands. never occurred to me as a kid to remove it, so I got used to them. I find them useful especially when traveling as a group in a tourist area. it makes parking them easier. there isn't always enough wall area available to lean them all. the stands just give us more options. my Bottecchia doesn't yet have a stand because frankly if I'm on that one, I'm not stopping.

I have used inner tube scraps or rubber tape on the stays and have added a bushing over the bolt to avoid the over tightening syndrome. I have a couple of Raleigh built kickstands that have a block that goes in between the stays to keep it from crushing and rotating. I also have a few bikes with kickstand plates (amazing invention) as well as a few more that have the mounting tube welded on.

To each their own, I prefer them on most of my bikes.

Aaron :)

I am a big fan of kickstands, I hate having to look for a place to lean a bike that doesn't have one & if it doesn't have a Flick stand on it it will always fall over as soon as I'm three feet away from it. All of the bikes I own were used & had a kickstand mounted sometime in their life already, so I'm not worried about being the one scratching the paint for the first time. I like the Greenfield type stands the best.

Glenn

So, when will we see some company make a lighter weight CF/Al sidestand?? I'm surprised nobody had tried to build one yet, at least for serious long distance tourers who'd want to save some weight. Maybe they can even integrate a small, double action tire pimp into its design??...

kickstands are not for the anal of heart

ah yes. i'm familiar with those. (i used to own a car.) that explains the valve cap.

btw, just because your bike falls outside the sub-20 pound category does not mean it is futile to shed weight where possible.

i guess if i found kickstands to be useful, i would appreciate them more. but i find them completely useless. i've never noticed a scratch on the bar tape from leaning my bike against a tree. and i probably would not trust a stand with holding up my bike to wind nor the occasional, too curious dog.

Unfortunately the two bike I would love a kickstand on don't have enough room for them! One day I may go with the stay mount Greenfield for the Volpe but really wanted a double legg for it.

The classic Greenfield is likely the best kickstand out there, but yes it can be hard on the paint.

And another reason for a kickstand or at least this style of kickstand; http://www.amazon.com/Pletscher-Two-...cher+kickstand is that it makes field servicing MUCH EASIER and less likely to scratch the bicycle. With these stands it is easy to remove front or rear wheel for servicing as well as derailleur or other adjustments that simply can't be accomplished by leaning the bike against a tree. Oh, and for some of us, trees are simply not all that common.


While a kickstand may add a little weight, in the vast majority of cases concern over weight should start with the bicycle's engine rather than other components whose weight savings are almost always less than 1% of the engines weight. For instance, kickstands can easily weight less than one pound, while virtually all of the bicycle engines exceed 100 pounds and many can approach twice that.

Make no mistake about it, the bottom bracket area, of a bicycle, is placed under tremendous stress over, and over and over, just by pedaling or spinning the cranks. Now, add a heavy, clamp on accessory to an already stressed area, and what do you get? Additional weight and more stress. Sadly...

The design of the clamp on stand is truly flawed. Yes, a competent mechanic can install one correctly and it will work for a while, but only for a while. Careless use of the stand (kick stand is sort of an operative description) will eventually cause the stand's clamp to loosen. The natural thing to do, is tighten it up more and get on with one's day. The correct thing to do is remove the stand, figure out why it came loose and correct that concern, if possible. However, it just might not be possible, because the stays will have already become slightly distorted.

And then, sooner or later, the above scenario will repeat itself, the stand get's the quick fix, once again, only this time the stays have suffered a wee bit more distortion. And so it goes, until one stay, the other or both crack, rendering the bicycle useless or in need of major repair. I have a Nishiki International in The Old Shed right now waiting for pictures of the damage before I strip the bike and toss the frame.

I have see the distorted stay sets hundreds of time, on high end bikes, as well as entry level models. I have seen the stays crack right where the crushed part of the stays ends (that is the issue with the forementioned Nishiki Inter). And, almost every bicycle I get my hands on, and that is about 1,500 - 2,000 a year, that has a clamp on side or stand stand, arrives at B4H qith the stand loose.

Anyway, use them, if that's what it takes to blow your kilt up. I, personally, do not use them, nor will I install one for one of my customers. I will not sell them, but when it comes to bikes being sent to Africa, I do insist that they be removed and sent separately. I have them removed to make packing 475 - 500 bikes, into a container, a bit easier, and I send the stands to Africa because that is our chapter's policy.

Rare do I rant, and sorry if that is what this appears to be.

Hmm, I'm having deja vu, I feel like these same points and arguments come up every time someone starts a kickstand thread.

Maybe we should discuss something a little less controversial, like helmet use?

I would love to see more nice bike frames being built with kickstand plates. Anybody have a list of nicer frames that have kickstand plates? I don't think any C&V frames came with them other than low-end Huffys etc, but there are some modern builders that are supporting the kickstand cult:

- Rivendell (Atlantis)
- Velo Orange (Polyvalent)
- Soma (Saga)

I have a Giant Excursion that came with one, that is a 4130 CroMo frame it was technically a trekking bike.

Aaron :)

Very cool, is that from the early 90s? I didn't remember those, but I looked some up and they look like nice trekking/touring bikes. If yours has the seat-tube mounted lever for a bottom bracket generator, is the bottom bracket generator mount serving as the kickstand plate or is there a separate plate/mount?

I found this picture from another thread:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8100/8...09b66944_z.jpg

Bike is either a 1989 or 1990 model they were on available in the US for two years, a bit longer in the UK. They came stock with flat bars, which I still have. I actually have two of them now and eventually will convert one back to flat bars or possibly butterfly bars.

There is a welded on plate and then there is a second plate that generator mounts to that is bolted under the kickstand. There is picture of that floating around somewhere too. I have to re-host my pictures and just haven't gotten them all moved over yet.

Aaron :)

My 1974 Schwinn Sports Tourer with kickstand still attached from Chicago. Hand fillet brazed CroMo frame built in same room as the paramount back then. I'm also a big kick stand fan, really don;t like laying a bike on the ground or needing something to lay it on.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/100_0344.jpg

Really like having a kickstand plate - the Puch/Sears/JC Higgins interpretation of the Raleigh Sports scores some points for this.

In the vein of "to everything there is a season," we might add kickstands

but

in general the more I use a bike for under 5 mile trips to the grocer, the library, or whatever, the more likely it is to have a kickstand.

Now *that's* a kickstand done the RIGHT way. Smooth, strong, rattle-free and built-in. Plus they can easily be removed if you don't like them. Nothing better as far as kickstands go, and that is one reason the '71-'75 fillet-brazed Sports Tourer is one of my favorite bikes.

Kogswell P/R

I would not commute on a bike without a kickstand.

I think at least the concept of the kickstand to be useful and functional. I would rather put a kickstand down and stand my bike up rather than walk my bike 10-20-50 meters to the nearest solid object to lean my bike against or lay my bike down. Especially if I'm with my wife who just puts her kickstand down and parks her bike. If I were uncomfortable with the weight of my bike and was looking to shed weight- perhaps I'd only bring one water bottle- which a full bottle weighs twice what a kickstand weighs. Or maybe some less stylistic wheels. Or maybe the kickstand. But the fact is, I've wished I had one more than I've congratulated myself for taking it off.

As with any equipment, there's a prudent time to use or not use the equipment.

And I do have red paint on my white bar tape from leaning the bike against my house while I close the garage door.