TheDazed

I've read that a lot of people don't cut the legs at all, and I've read people who cut the legs right down to ground level and were happy with it. I just ordered one that I'm going to hack on to my raleigh sojourn and I'm wondering what would be better for fully loaded touring... to cut or not to cut? It seems sorta stupid and unstable to have a wheel way up in the air to me, but cutting the legs means a narrower stance and possibly less stability on soft ground. I've decided I need this thing cause the flared handlebars make for a really unstable lean against a wall and it's always falling over and scuffing the crap out of the $150 seat. The fact that the thing comes marked for cutting makes me feel like I'd take the measurements and cut it as pletscher seems to have intended, but so many people don't cut at all that I thought I'd get some input from the experts here.

Thanks for any help.

xyzzy834

I cut mine to a length that left the rear wheel "light" on a flat, level garage floor. I don't remember how that lined up with any measurement markings on the legs.

In the real world, the smidge extra length made it easier to find a stable parking spot, especially on anything besides smooth concrete.

I'm not currently using mine since I got a simple Greenfield single-leg model that works fine, weighs less, and isn't finicky about exact length for good stability.

fietsbob

under load there is some splay, so measure the BB height, that is the scale numbers in the legs,

add another 30mm , say.. , the rubber feet are good, put on the end, bigger footprint for soft soils.

I had discs of 1/4" aluminum deck plate,
welded on the bottom of mine, Back to back D shaped so fold is unimpeded.

the splay needed a bit more length, so the thickness helped too .. cut a skosh short.

best if you have a Kickstand Plate welded on the chainstays, the clamp compresses the tubes
as you keep tightening it as it rotates a bit , in use..

Cyclebum

I use to have one of those things, until the bolt holding it on fell out after 1000 miles. Liked to have never found another bolt, and never did get around to reinstalling it. Use a $6 stand from WM now.

I cut mine long enough to elevate the front wheel slightly so that I could tilt it forward and spin the rear when needed for whatever.

TheDazed

I kind of impulse bought it from amazon after my bike fell over again, then immediately regretted it. I once screwed up my wheel when my bike fell over on tour and am quite worried about this happening again.

Cyclesafe

I always had the bolt loosening. When I torqued it down I dented my stays. Everything that I could think of to cushion the frame didn't work. The stand is very heavy and does nothing not also achieved with a click stand. Sold mine off. Good riddance.

ezdoesit

or you could send it back and get a clickstand it works much better.
I am not associated with clickstand just a very happy customer.
www.clickstand.com
check it out.

TheDazed

I'm mainly interested in hearing from anyone who's tried them both cut and uncut and can recommend one or the other. The clickstand does seem neat but I already just dropped 50 bucks on a kickstand.

Rob_E

Uncut, I felt mine lifted the wheel up too far, but I was also very afraid of cutting it too short and making it useless. I kept cutting a little off, reattaching it, removing it, cutting more off... Until I got tired of it. It can be tricky to install securely. Mine's a little loose, and I've been meaning to pick up the more secure bracket for it. Once I do that, I'll probably cut a little more off. As far as I can tell, there's no advantage to leaving it uncut, except the time you save not cutting it. But of course there are disadvantages of cutting it too short, so be careful.

Cyclesafe

My 700c bike was a tripod with the uncut Pletscher. I felt the weight of the panniers put a great deal of stress on it. So I cut it down so that on concrete the back wheel was only sightly elevated. On a softer surface the bike had four points of contact.

As mentioned above, if you cut it too much, the Pletscher is ruined. In fact, if you cut it at all, you might make it unsuitable for the person you end up selling it to. I sold mine for $40. I think the advice about the click stand is intended to help you avoid a possible nightmare. Good luck.

TheDazed

Why did you sell it? Did your bike fall over as much as it would have with a single leg kickstand?

Cyclesafe

I could never get it so it wouldn't rotate into my pedals. I ended up denting my stays. I tried several things, but then just gave up. It weighs nealy two pounds and does nothing that can't be achieved with a click stand.

wahoonc

I have mine cut down just enough to give the front wheel about 1/2" off the ground. I haven't used it on a tour bike, but I do use it on my city bike. So most parking is on hard paved surfaces.

Aaron

TheDazed

So the pletscher arrived today and... I see what you guys mean now. I've been screwing around with it for perhaps an hour and can not achieve an appropriate degree of tightness. I think the reason is that the top piece that clamps down on the chain stays is not threaded.. so the bolt can just turn freely in there no matter how tight you make it, and thus the legs of the stand can turn too. I'm gonna do some research and see how other people have overcome this before i throw it up on craigslist and buy a clickstand.

Thanks for the input all.

vik 

I have both. The ESGE dual legged stand is far easier to use and not likely to get lost. The clickstand can be more stable, but it's a lot more work to get it out and set it up as well as put it away. If you are the type that loses stuff don't be shocked when you realize you left your clickstand 30kms back down the road or worse it jumped ship and you don't know where you lost it.

In general I prefer the ESGE. I can see specific tours and specific bikes where I'd prefer the clickstand.

vik 

Wrap your chainstays with something that's got a lot of friction, but not too thick - just enough to protect the finish. Use some loctite or equivalent. You don't need to go crazy tightening down the mounting bolt if there is a lot of friction between the plate and the stuff you wrapped your chainstays with.

I cut my ESGE's legs quite short and it has worked fine for me - even in sand. Ultimately you can just cut a bit at a time so you can see what you think until you reach a length that works for you.

TheDazed

Can you suggest a suitable high friction material? I already killed the paint job on the underside of the stays just attaching it loosely to see how it would fit.

I just ordered a clickstand. I'm going on tour next month and I need something to reliably stand my loaded touring bike. This pletscher stand is really, really cool, but I don't trust it to not cause me grief in the middle of nowhere. Plus my bike is already heavier than I'd like.

Medic Zero

I have a Pletscher two legger. I picked it up from Swiss Link military surplus online. Although intended for bicycle mounted Swiss units (finally disbanded about a decade ago) it appeared new when I received it and paid closer to $35 for it rather than the $50 they seem to go for elsewhere for new production civilian models. It also came with a black paint finish rather than the (unfinished?) silver the newer ones seem to be.

I have yet to use mine touring (still assembling my gear after nearly a decade out of the game) but am using mine almost every day commuting to work and riding around the city and urban trail rides. My major disappointment with it is that since I am often only carrying a single pannier my load is unbalanced and the bikes stability can vary from a little unstable to still needing to be leaned against something depending on the load.

I've probably put a little over a 1000 miles on my ancient GT mountain bike that it is mounted on, during that time it did work itself loose once and I was concerned about how much force I had to apply tightening it back down. The Locktite and wrap suggestion strikes me as a very good idea that I will definitely do if it works itself loose again. I'd be curious to here suggestions as to what to wrap the chainstays in, and old tube?

Back to the OP's original question - I have yet to cut mine down. At first the bike was nearly perfectly balanced so that I could choose to have her resting on the nose wheel or the rear, but the addition of a seatpost bag of tools and tubes means she always rests on the rear wheel now. It was nice to be able to spin the rear wheel when it rested on the front. So far I don't see much point in cutting it down.

Amusingly I lost one of the rubber footpads for it, but since it is on the opposite side that I usually carry my pannier on it actually seems pretty well balanced most of the time. Swiss Link sells replacement rubber feet for it should you need them.

Because of the continuing balance issues I am looking for a more stable kickstand as I was hoping to be able to load and access my panniers loaded for touring while she rests on the kickstand alone.

I will say it works well without much of a load on the bike or a balanced load. I LOVE being able to park ANYWHERE under those circumstances. With good locks and a kickstand I can basically park and lock anywhere, only being concerned sometimes about the possibility of someone tossing the whole ensemble into the back of their truck.

Philly Tandem

Cut pieces from an old innertube and use them to pad the chainstay and provide friction. Use LocTite blue to keep the bolt from loosening. If you really like the stand, like I do on my tandem and triplet, have a kickstand plate brazed onto your (steel) frame and all your worries go away. Note that some older Cannondale touring bikes and possibly other brands also have OEM kickstand plates.

I also love having a built-in workstand. Makes changing a rear flat tire so much easier, for example.

irwin7638

I cut mine off, but really don't know how much. I pretty much just eyballed it. It sits pretty level with a full load on the bike, the front might be 1/2" from the ground when unloaded. Obviously they splay a bit with the load.



I also have had a problem with the bolt loosening, even with lock washers in place. I tried some locktite recently and we'll just have to wait and see. The bike has a kickstand plate for mounting and I still couldn't get it tight enough.

Marc

Captain Blight

I JUST installed one on a Sojurn last week at the shop. You're going to have to relieve the top clamp for the derailleur cable at the front side (5 minutes with a 3-sided file), and completely cut away the drive-side rear corner to get it to clear the extra spoke holder. I also had to take 3 threads off the bolt, as even with a lockwasher and a flat washer the bolt was bottoming out. In retrospect I should have just added another washer or two, I think. I left the legs stock length per the owner's request, and this put the tire about an inch and a half off the floor.

kayakdiver

I had one at some point in the past..... Thing felt like it weighed 2-3 lbs and maybe it did. I just search out a tree, road sign or building to lean against. It was nice for a kickstand I suppose.

Cyclesafe

With bolt 746 grams.

vik 

About the same weight as a large bottle of water.

stevnim

I used a wet, thick (1/8") slab of leather against the chain stays before tightening. Also used the different top piece from Pletscher. No probs since.

I found this sometime back, but never made one. Congrats to whomever for a good design.



-stevnim