Alternative to a kickstand?
 

I'm taking a 15 yo mountain bike and making a utilty out of it. I brought my first load back yesterday and the biggest problem was getting the bike to not fall over while you are loading it :( . The stock kickstand is pretty wimpy and unstable anyways so I was wondering what all you all are using for a stand? As I'm putting on a Wald 535 dual rear basket soon I'm thinking of cutting down a couple kickstands and mounting them torwards the outside of the two rear baskets to get a wide stance?

http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=1034
http://harriscyclery.net/merchant/37...esgek-open.gif
Pletscher Double legged kickstand

http://www.velorution.biz/images/acc...hebie605_l.jpg
Hebie Kickstand

http://click-stand.com/
http://homepage.mac.com/awcg/.Pictur...lick-Stand.png

I have a Pletscher, it works quite well. The Hebie is carried in the US by a board member, and the Click-Stand is made by a board member. I also have a click-stand. You have to lock your front brake with a rubberband around the brake lever, but it is more stable than the Pletscher.

Thanks! I also found this one that might be more in line with my "cheap" concept ;) .
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000AO9Z7K

Good find on that pyramid center stand, although my future order from niagra just went up by $22... gee, thanks! ;)

I use the Pyramid Pro. It is made from aluminum and does a pretty good job.

I found a reference to his website being http://www.bikefront.com but it seems to be down/gone?
:(

^^^
http://www.ucycle.com/
The Urbane Cyclist in Toronto carries Hebie too.

Several intersting options are discussed on the xtracycle forums (http://xtracycle.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=150). However, I don't know how to get them. Permaco, the Hebie distributor, says it's out of stock and I have not found a Goldstar distributor.

Just put on the Pyramid alloy double kickstand - very light and more stable than I thought it would be. Big improvement over stock. Only issue is now the front tire is off the ground and gravity swivels it around backwards. Maybe tighten the bearing up a bit? Spring load it straight somehow? When I put the front basket on I'll see if I can't come up with a "fix". Anyways two thumbs up for sure!
:thumb::thumb:

You may find your answer here

Thanks, looks like it would be easy to fab up an "ugly" version to test it out. I was originally thinking of something similar on top but underneath out of the way makes more sense now that I've seen it! Kinda poor that nobody is being serious about selling Hebie products in North America. :(

http://ucycle.com/components/item.php?name=hebie_intro

http://ucycle.com/images/311_2.jpg

They say: "Please check our website for further prices and more details at a later date. In the mean time, if you really must have them, please call or email us for prices and details." Been that way for a while I think? Doesn't look like they are serious about it to me :(.

From what I understand they are a real LBS and not a pure online venture. For something like a Hebie product, it would be worthwhile to call them. I will likely do that soon as I need a better kickstand for my Big Dummy and would like to know if there's anything they can recommend.

Hey, let us know how you make out! I'd be suprised if the Hebie double kickstand is any better than the Pyramid Pro (a.k.a. Kalloy?). It is light and well made - I'm happy with it. You should see if they can get that spring contraption too? :)

It has been call to order for a while, but I had no problem getting a Chain Glider from them last year.
They are primarily a brick and mortar LBS, the net store is a secondary venture.

All Hebie products are from Europe. It would not surprise me if a shop doesn't want to fix prices on a website on account of the volatility of the US Dollar.

I'm sure most (all?) of the products they carry are "from" a different country - and they have prices for those. "Serious" to me means stocking and retailing on their website at least a few of the products? These guys (http://hebieusa.com/) claim to be the North and South American distributor for Hebie and also retail a few of their products on their website - but not the double kickstand or steering stabilizer unfortunately :( .

There's one stand I haven't seen mentioned yet in this thread. It's the classic stand that can be found on older 'oma fietsen' (granny bikes).

These pictures aren't the best but are the only ones I managed to find quickly:

Attachment 74441

Attachment 74442

The stand is basically a U-shaped tube that rotates around the wheel. In upward position it's at the luggage rack. It can be rotated downward till it's under the wheel. ('locking' is by means of gravity, over-center lock)

These are a bit narrow but it shouldn't be too hard to build a wider one or modify one.

http://www.halfords.nl/NL/Fiets/Cata...oductId=707529

They're for sale over here, but if I wanted a stand like that for one of my bikes I'd probably build something myself, or modify a stand so it became a bit wider so as to increase stability.

Available here for $15:
http://www.bikeworldusa.com/product_...roducts_id/101

I was in there in person looking at the Hebie kickstands and found them quite pricey - different models varied in price but IIRC most were $50-60 Cdn=approx same US.

I ended up getting a Greenfield rear stabilizer kickstand that mounts at two points - in a triangle across the chain stay/seat stay. It worked extremely well for a fully loaded touring bike. I believe it cost me $27 Cdn but looks like it is available cheaper in the US.

Small frame clip
 

My Bianchi limited had a small clip that was attached to the the bottom of the down tube. It pulled downward between the down tube and front tire. It barely weighed anything. It stabilized the front wheel to lean against anything. It worked like a charm. I can't seem to find them anywhere for my other bike. Maybe an LBS may have one.

You can Best prepare for mounting a Pletscher Double legged kickstand, by removing the BB

plugging the chainstays , filling the part of the chainstay where the kickstand will go, with epoxy putty ,

so the act of tightening the kickstand mounting bolt won't deform the chainstay tube.. ..