To Kickstand or not to kickstand
#1
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To Kickstand or not to kickstand
I had a single leg kickstand on my old bike, but I used it with a trailer. The Fargo i.e. Ethel will be pannier. So do you have one? Why/Why not. Which one? Alternatives?
#2
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I have standard, single, Greenfield kickstands on all my bikes. However, once I've got the bike loaded for a trip, it's just too unstable so I don't use it.
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I have a Civia dual leg kickstand on my bike and love it. The little rubber boots only lasted a couple of weeks, but the metal legs have withstood two years of being parked on concrete and gravel. The only problem is that the front wheel isn't on the ground at all so it swings around. I currently have an aluminum Trek Allant and the only front wheel stabilizer that I've found, it's from Velo Orange is for steel framed bikes.
I just ordered a SOMA Saga frame that I'll be building up over the next couple of months and am debating whether to use the Civia kickstand that I already have or this one from Velo Orange.
With the Civia, it's important that your load is balanced. Trips to the grocery store often end with more weight in one pannier than the other, but the kickstand provides an amazing amount of stability. I find there's less damage to my bike overall because it isn't falling over all the time, nor do I have to always find something to lean it up against.
I just ordered a SOMA Saga frame that I'll be building up over the next couple of months and am debating whether to use the Civia kickstand that I already have or this one from Velo Orange.
With the Civia, it's important that your load is balanced. Trips to the grocery store often end with more weight in one pannier than the other, but the kickstand provides an amazing amount of stability. I find there's less damage to my bike overall because it isn't falling over all the time, nor do I have to always find something to lean it up against.
#4
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I have a Civia dual leg kickstand on my bike and love it. The little rubber boots only lasted a couple of weeks, but the metal legs have withstood two years of being parked on concrete and gravel. The only problem is that the front wheel isn't on the ground at all so it swings around. I currently have an aluminum Trek Allant and the only front wheel stabilizer that I've found, it's from Velo Orange is for steel framed bikes.
I just ordered a SOMA Saga frame that I'll be building up over the next couple of months and am debating whether to use the Civia kickstand that I already have or this one from Velo Orange.
With the Civia, it's important that your load is balanced. Trips to the grocery store often end with more weight in one pannier than the other, but the kickstand provides an amazing amount of stability. I find there's less damage to my bike overall because it isn't falling over all the time, nor do I have to always find something to lean it up against.
I just ordered a SOMA Saga frame that I'll be building up over the next couple of months and am debating whether to use the Civia kickstand that I already have or this one from Velo Orange.
With the Civia, it's important that your load is balanced. Trips to the grocery store often end with more weight in one pannier than the other, but the kickstand provides an amazing amount of stability. I find there's less damage to my bike overall because it isn't falling over all the time, nor do I have to always find something to lean it up against.
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I've had pretty good luck with a chainstay/seatstay kickstand with panniers.
Pretty good, because the bike will find its own stable direction, and turn to find it. Funny thing, we were on a deserted east-west road in the middle of Kansas and parked for a break. The bike turned north, away from the wind. A couple of cyclists came from the other direction, and parked along us to chat a bit. We blocked the whole lane with four bicycles all pointing north. Then came along the first traffic either of us had seen in a hour. They gave us all dirty looks as they had to change lanes.
Pretty good, because the bike will find its own stable direction, and turn to find it. Funny thing, we were on a deserted east-west road in the middle of Kansas and parked for a break. The bike turned north, away from the wind. A couple of cyclists came from the other direction, and parked along us to chat a bit. We blocked the whole lane with four bicycles all pointing north. Then came along the first traffic either of us had seen in a hour. They gave us all dirty looks as they had to change lanes.
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I have bikes with kickstands and they are no doubt handy, but on my Long Haul Trucker I have not added a stand due to what Surly says on their site:
"You can crush the chainstays of the Long Haul Trucker (and our other frames too) if you tighten the kickstand’s clamp bolt too much, or, if you leave it too loose. This is because the chainstay tube walls are not super thick. You can crush them or flex them to death. The LHT chainstays were chosen to optimize the strength-to-weight ratio for the task at hand --hauling gear various distances-- while minimizing unwanted torsional flex in the rear triangle. They are not designed specifically for the clamping forces imposed on them by chainstay-mounted kickstands. Thicker stays could be used, of course, but there would be a performance penalty, and we are not willing to sacrifice ride quality for the sometime-convenience of a kickstand. Since kickstands can safely and effectively be installed without hurting the stays, this is not a great solution. Why don’t we just add one of those kickstand mounting plates under the stays? Because those plates introduce more weld heat to an already sensitive area, meaning we'd likely have to go to thicker walled stays, and we're back to the design-intent and ride quality issue. And anyway they're fugly."
I haven't found it to be an inconvenience not having a stand as most times, I can find something to lean the bike against and times where I can't, I can always lay it down. One trick I've found on BF is to use a rubber band like the one that come on broccoli to create a parking brake. You wrap the band around the brake lever then around the bars and back to the lever so that in hold the brake on. This makes the bike very stable and less apt to fall when leaning against something. It would also mess with the head of a potential thief if he was trying to ride away with the brake on.
"You can crush the chainstays of the Long Haul Trucker (and our other frames too) if you tighten the kickstand’s clamp bolt too much, or, if you leave it too loose. This is because the chainstay tube walls are not super thick. You can crush them or flex them to death. The LHT chainstays were chosen to optimize the strength-to-weight ratio for the task at hand --hauling gear various distances-- while minimizing unwanted torsional flex in the rear triangle. They are not designed specifically for the clamping forces imposed on them by chainstay-mounted kickstands. Thicker stays could be used, of course, but there would be a performance penalty, and we are not willing to sacrifice ride quality for the sometime-convenience of a kickstand. Since kickstands can safely and effectively be installed without hurting the stays, this is not a great solution. Why don’t we just add one of those kickstand mounting plates under the stays? Because those plates introduce more weld heat to an already sensitive area, meaning we'd likely have to go to thicker walled stays, and we're back to the design-intent and ride quality issue. And anyway they're fugly."
I haven't found it to be an inconvenience not having a stand as most times, I can find something to lean the bike against and times where I can't, I can always lay it down. One trick I've found on BF is to use a rubber band like the one that come on broccoli to create a parking brake. You wrap the band around the brake lever then around the bars and back to the lever so that in hold the brake on. This makes the bike very stable and less apt to fall when leaning against something. It would also mess with the head of a potential thief if he was trying to ride away with the brake on.
#8
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I never like kickstands on my road or MTB bikes, but on city or touring bikes, I find them really convenient.
Last edited by Chris Pringle; 03-29-12 at 01:28 PM.
#10
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Wouldn't leave home without one. Simple, common stand. The bike occasionally falls over when I forget to position it into the wind when loaded for touring. Also on the DFs which I no longer ride.
#11
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I use a Pletscher double kickstand. I find it's better than a single leg stand for when the bike is carrying a load. But a big enough load or an unbalanced one can still tip it over.
#12
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I've never heard a good reason to NOT have a kickstand on a touring bike.
#13
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I've never seen the need for a kickstand.
Waste of money and 2 extra pounds carried constantly for no good reason. May as well start packing your pannier with a big rock, at least saves cost and hassle of ordering and installing a kickstand.
Waste of money and 2 extra pounds carried constantly for no good reason. May as well start packing your pannier with a big rock, at least saves cost and hassle of ordering and installing a kickstand.
#14
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Lemme s'plain it to ya; iffin ya ain't got nowhere to lean your bike up onto, you can just lean it over on the "kickstand". Otherwise you have to lay your bike on the ground. Or else gravity will make your bike fall over. Reckon it's just one of those convenient thangs.
#16
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Lemme s'plain it to ya; iffin ya ain't got nowhere to lean your bike up onto, you can just lean it over on the "kickstand". Otherwise you have to lay your bike on the ground. Or else gravity will make your bike fall over. Reckon it's just one of those convenient thangs.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
#17
Banned
My Koga Miyata WTR came with 2 ..
one on the bottom of the Tubus Ergo keeps the loaded wheel from rolling,
and pulling the bike over.
one on the bottom of the Tubus Ergo keeps the loaded wheel from rolling,
and pulling the bike over.
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I use the Click Stand with my LHT and have been happy with it. Weighs very little, folds down into a convenient size that fits in my handlebar bag, and stabilizes the bike just fine even with loaded panniers.
#20
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Yer missin the point, son. You have to actually kick the stand in the down position before you try to lay the bike over onto it.
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Yes, I think a rear-mounted kickstand works best if you have loaded panniers and rear rack. The popular Greenfield worked well for me on my 2008 Jamis Aurora with cantilever brakes. I've seen loaded touring tandems with rear-mounted kickstands.
Unfortunately, I'm trying to find a rear-mounted kickstand that works on my 2012 Jamis Aurora Elite with Avid BB7 disk brakes.
We have a common problem; maybe there's a common solution. We can hope. As I said in my earlier post, I'm hoping for a rear-mounted stand that will work with disk brakes, which take up a huge amount of space around the dropouts.
Unfortunately, I'm trying to find a rear-mounted kickstand that works on my 2012 Jamis Aurora Elite with Avid BB7 disk brakes.
We have a common problem; maybe there's a common solution. We can hope. As I said in my earlier post, I'm hoping for a rear-mounted stand that will work with disk brakes, which take up a huge amount of space around the dropouts.
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Never understood why people want them. Mst of them don't work too well, especially in windy conditions, and if there's nothing to lean the bike against I've never seen the problem with lying it down.
#24
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Yes, I had one and liked it. It supported as much weight as I could put in my Grocery Getter panniers, rear rack and front rack. My record load was 148 lbs and the kickstand supported the load as I loaded the bike and until I was able to mount my bike and get moving up the hill in lowest gear. I think only a rear-mounted kickstand would have let me get my bike upright and start moving with that much load.
My brother pointed out that that load was equivalent to Alberto Contador and his bike and I carried it 3 miles home up the hill. I didn't do anything like a TdF climbing pace, but without a rear-mounted kickstand, I would never have been able to get started. That's one of the points of loaded touring; we can carry ridiculous weights uphill as long as we don't have to carry it too far. The advantage of a rear-mounted stand is that it lets you position and center the load before you take off.
See my other post in the "Touring" section. I'm looking for a rear-mounted kickstand that works as well as a Greenfield but works around a disk brake setup.
My brother pointed out that that load was equivalent to Alberto Contador and his bike and I carried it 3 miles home up the hill. I didn't do anything like a TdF climbing pace, but without a rear-mounted kickstand, I would never have been able to get started. That's one of the points of loaded touring; we can carry ridiculous weights uphill as long as we don't have to carry it too far. The advantage of a rear-mounted stand is that it lets you position and center the load before you take off.
See my other post in the "Touring" section. I'm looking for a rear-mounted kickstand that works as well as a Greenfield but works around a disk brake setup.
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Dip****; have you ever gone to the grocery store? How expensive is your bike that you are willing to lay it down on pavement without locking it up? Does your grocery store have a bicycle rack?
Do you have a duffel bag or panniers that can carry a loaf of bread without crushing it?
How many of these questions are rhetorical?
I'm a refugee from CL BikeFo but you seem like many of the trolls that I'm used to. If you want to lay your $XXXX bike on the ground like a 10-year-old, I got no problem with that. You don't care what the rest of the world thinks. That's obvious. The rest of the world can draw its own conclusions.
Do you have a duffel bag or panniers that can carry a loaf of bread without crushing it?
How many of these questions are rhetorical?
I'm a refugee from CL BikeFo but you seem like many of the trolls that I'm used to. If you want to lay your $XXXX bike on the ground like a 10-year-old, I got no problem with that. You don't care what the rest of the world thinks. That's obvious. The rest of the world can draw its own conclusions.